Horticulture returns to JCC class lineup

SMITHFIELD — Christina Urbina-Cole, 53, of the Brogden community was looking to improve her gardening skills.

An online search took her to Johnston Community College, which had added horticulture to its roster of community classes.

“I found the class on the JCC website,” Urbina-Cole said.

She then made a happy mistake. Urbina-Cole thought she was signing up for JCC’s vegetable garden class; she enrolled instead in an introduction to horticulture.

“I’ve learned quite a bit — from how to take care of your soil to what time of year to plant stuff,” Urbina-Cole said. “We learned where to plant certain plants and if they needed shade or partial shade. I didn’t have any idea about all that kind of stuff.”

“I look forward to the vegetable course in the fall,” she added.  “This was more of an introduction, which I’m very thankful for because I learned a lot in this class and still am.”

Urbina-Cole hopes to eventually apply what she’s learned to a plot of land she owns. “I’m gonna hang on to that land and maybe one day grow watermelons or cantaloupe for the public and then give to the food bank as well,” she said.

Urbina-Cole said she was grateful for the course. “We have a very knowledgeable teacher,” she said. “And it was a very reasonable tuition. It’s not expensive to take this class.”

The six-week introduction to horticulture began on June 15 and wrapped up on Saturday.

Michelle Bennett, 54, of Benson said she had learned a lot about plants and what they need. “I think it’s been a real benefit to me as I’m beginning to grow things and those plants begin to blossom,” she said.

“I really didn’t know where to start until I came here,” said Bennett, who plans to put her new skills to work in her home garden. “This has been a great start for me. This is a practical application for me.”

William Craig, who has worked in the horticulture industry for 13 years, taught the class, which also featured a guest speaker, Marshall Warren, a horticulture agent with the Johnston County Cooperative Extension Service.

“We had Mr. Warren come to talk about the importance of soil and making sure you start a garden with a strong foundation,” Bennett said. “That’s when we were taught that to find out more about the soil, we could have a soil test done on our yard. I took the test to see what my soil was like for where I planted my garden.”

She would recommend the class to other beginning gardeners, Bennett said. “I think it’s a great fundamental class that people can use,” she said. “I’ve learned a lot about where to seek knowledge and what to do in many situations.”

The class teaches the basics of gardening, said Craig, the instructors. “The course is for anyone who wants to get their feet wet and learn to develop an interest in horticulture,” he said.

“We have a lot of hands-on activities, which is one of the best ways to learn,” Craig added. “We also have lively discussions and visuals … that we look at.”

Topics include soils, plant growth and development, plant management and selecting pollinators.

“I’ll have a special guest come to talk about different topics,” Craig said. “Like Mr. Marshall Warren, who was kind enough to come out here and give a discussion about landscape planning. I’m hoping to get several other major stakeholders in the community to come out here and talk about agriculture and horticulture.”

Like other community classes, horticulture took a long hiatus at JCC before returning this year.

“This is the first official class, and we’re hoping to have many more in the years to come,” Craig said. “We also would like to see a plant sale from the vegetable garden that we will have here in the future.”

Next up is the vegetable garden class in the fall. To learn more, go to johnstoncc.edu/continuing-education/horticulture.aspx.

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