Ag technology students prepare for plant sale

The NRHEG greenhouse, now five years old, is filled with vibrant colors. Seventh-graders step inside from a cool, gray, spring day to find themselves surrounded by summer-like temperatures and thriving greenery.

At NRHEG, middle-schoolers take part in three career and technical education (CTE) courses across the span of the year: family and consumer sciences, woodworking and agricultural technology.

Ag teacher and greenhouse manager Dan Sorum explains a different set of seventh-graders started these plants early in March using “plugs” acquired from a nursery; that set of students filled containers with the needed potting soil and placed the professionally prepared plugs at appropriate depths and distances.

Plants are in containers ranging from circular, made-to-hang pots, 10 and 12 inches in diameter to four-inch squares.

These 20 or so learners are here for their first lesson in caring for the plants, including the day’s task of “deadheading,” and about the ins and outs of managing temperature and creating an optimal growing environment.

In addition to providing a learning experience for NRHEG ag tech students, the petunias, begonias, mixed summer flowers, and limited set of vegetables, including tomatoes, green peppers and jalapeno plants, will be offered for sale just before Mothers’ Day the afternoon of Friday, May 9, and morning of Saturday, May 10.

Money raised by the sale will go back into the school agriculture program to support greenhouse and garden projects, along with others.

As students distribute themselves among the eight or ten tables of plants, they ask about distinguishing between flowers just in the process of opening and those which have finished their blooming cycle and are starting to close. They note the differences in color, shape and leaf type among the blooms. Sorum circulates, answering their questions and providing additional guidance.

Some show more enthusiasm for the tasks than others.

“I really like the greenhouse,” comments Isabella McKenna. “And I love plants.” She names the appealing mix of pastel-shaded miniature petunias in some of the pots as her favorites.

Nearby, Conner Donovan proclaims his favorite are the full-sized petunias in shades of red and white. “They look like peppermints,” he observes.

As students finish their tasks for the day, Sorum informs them another type of gardening task awaits them as the weather warms up. An array of raised gardening beds, including some with protective transparent coverings, will be planted with radishes and spinach.

“Those should mature quickly enough; we will still be able to use them in the school cafeteria,” Sorum mentions.