A new teaching greenhouse has opened in Winooski’s Landry Park as a community resource and base for gardening education.
The partnership between the City of Winooski and the Vermont Garden Network, a statewide nonprofit that supports Vermonters growing their own food, is already offering several programs. This Saturday, April 19, it’ll host a free microgreens-growing workshop. Future events include instruction on pest management and garden-fresh cooking with kids. A giveaway of plant starts is scheduled for May 24.
“It’s a great way to bring in some real gardening expertise,” said Ray Coffey, Winooski’s community services director. He noted that the city has limited capacity to support residents who rent plots in its four community gardens.
It turns out that planting a greenhouse takes as much work as cultivating vegetables. Vermont Garden Network’s co-executive director Carolina Lukac said the organization received $20,000 for a Burlington-area community greenhouse from the Vermont Foodbank in 2022. But it was not easy to find a secure site for the greenhouse with water and electric hookups near a city center and on public transportation routes, Lukac said.
Everything eventually came together when Winooski moved an unused greenhouse from near the O’Brien Community Center to Landry Park and contributed about $7,000 previously allocated to park programming. The spacious, enclosed gardening space opened in late March next to the Myers Memorial Pool.
Lukac said the greenhouse is the nonprofit’s first dedicated space for growing about 6,000 plants for its programs. Those include long-season crops, such as African eggplant and Bhutanese chile peppers, that are staples for many immigrants.
Carolyn Goodwin Kueffner signed up for the greenhouse’s 10-week, fee-based early bird gardening course. The 68-year-old Colchester resident said she had been starting seeds “in a vacuum for years” and was excited to learn new techniques. An unanticipated benefit, Goodwin Kueffner said, has been learning alongside gardeners of all ages and backgrounds. She’s planning on growing the fragrant Asian herb shiso for the first time.
Learn more and register for the microgreens workshop at vtgardens.org.