The Beaufort County Extension Center will be teaching a series of classes this month called “What You Need To Know So You Can Grow.” These classes will be held every Thursday throughout the month from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Classes are designed to go beyond basic knowledge to elevate gardeners’ knowledge in all areas of home horticulture. Classes will begin tonight and will be taught by both the Extension Horticulture Agent and Extension Master Gardener Volunteers.

The class topics will begin with soils. Participants will learn about how soils were made, soil types, fertility, compost, drainage, pH, how to measure pH in the home and ideal soil composition.

The next class will be on fall and spring vegetable gardens, on Oct. 11. Participants will learn what to grow, when to grow, site selection, weed control, irrigation techniques, planting, harvest, pollination, and disease and insect pest issues that are most common in the home garden. Tricks and tips of the Beaufort County Master Gardeners will be given.

Oct. 18 will be the class on growing fruit in the home landscape. The class will go over aspects of home fruit production. How to decide on what to grow, site selection, planting, rootstocks, training, pruning, harvest, pollination and disease and insect pest issues.

The Oct. 25 class will cover turf in the home landscape. This class will “dig in” to the types of turf that grow well in our area and how to establish, maintain, irrigate and fertilize your home lawn. We will discuss how to get your yard looking better than your neighbor’s with certain tricks of the trade!

The final class will be on Nov. 1. This class will be on ornamentals. The class will cover site selection, plant selection, native plants, planting, fertilizing, growing tips, pollinators, pesticides for home use, disease and insect pests.

This series of classes is based on the NC Extension Master Gardner Volunteer Curriculum. Those interested are asked to preregister for the classes. Preregistration is $10 per class, with registration at the door being $15 per class. Participants may attend any or all classes, however, upon successful completion of all classes, the participant will earn the Blacklands Friends of Horticulture “Homegrown” certification and a free Gardening Guide from the Beaufort County Master Gardeners. If participants registered for all classes in the series by Oct. 3, the last class is free! For more information or to register for the classes please call Sam Bowden or Gene Fox at 252-946-0111. More information can be found on the Blacklands Area Horticulture Facebook page of the Beaufort County Extension webpage beaufort.ces.ncsu.edu/.

These classes will serve as a precursor to the Beaufort County Master Gardener training series set to begin in January 2019. To be a Master Gardener Volunteer there is a series of classes and an internship required to earn certification. Applications are being accepted now through November and interviews for potential volunteer positions will be conducted in December. For details about the Extension Master Gardener Volunteer program please call Gene Fox at 252-946-0111 or email at gene_fox@ncsu.edu.