June 3, 2015 by Charles Bingham

• More classes set in 2015 Sitka Local Foods Network garden mentor program

The fourth classes for the 2015 Sitka Local Foods Network garden mentor program have been set for our four participating first-year families, and the classes will be open to the public. The classes will be similar at each location, except one where we will be planting a container garden instead of our usual raised garden beds.

The fourth class of the six-class series is about early harvesting and learning about which crops are ready to be picked and which should be left in the garden to grow some more. For our first-year gardener families, we teach them how to grow four hardy crops for Sitka — kale, lettuce, potatoes and rhubarb. These classes are essentially the same, so feel free to attend the class that best fits your schedule.

The class schedule and location for these first-year families is:

Josephine Dasalla, 1709 Halibut Point Rd., No. 31 (green trailer) — 4:30 p.m., Monday, June 8.
A.J. Bastian, 207 Brady St. — 4 p.m., Thursday, June 11.
Rebecca Kubacki, 1202 Halibut Point Rd. — 7 p.m., Tuesday, June 16.
Breezy, 616 Sawmill Creek Rd. — 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, July 1 (Note: this class was postponed from its original date of June 24).

Please note the classes at the Dasalla residence involve container gardens instead of building raised garden beds like we’ve done for our other families.

In addition, the third class for one of our other first-year students (Breezy) and second classes for our second-year students also have been set. These will be garden maintenance classes (slug and pest control, thinning, watering, garden care, etc.).

The two second-year families (Anna Bradley and Tami O’Neill) participated in the inaugural year of the program last summer, and now they’re back for more. Our two returning families will be planting carrots, chard, green onions and peas this year, which are slightly more difficult to grow than our chosen crops for first-year students. Even though this year’s crops are more difficult to grow, many gardeners in Sitka still have good results with these vegetables.

Again, the classes at each location will be similar, and they are free and open to the public. The schedule is:

Breezy, 616 Sawmill Creek Rd. — 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 4.
Anna Bradley, 4764 Halibut Point Road, 4 p.m. on Saturday, June 6.
Tami O’Neill, 2309 Merganser Drive, 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 17.

Michelle Putz has been contracted to coordinate the program and design lesson plans, after the Sitka Local Foods Network received a community development grant from First Bank. We also have about a half-dozen experienced Sitka gardeners who serve as mentors for the program.