Plants grown by Ligonier Valley students soon will be taking root in home gardens in the area — and raising money for educational programs at the school district and at the Loyalhanna Watershed Association.
The inaugural sale of herbs and flowering and vegetable plants, started from seed early this year in the Ligonier Valley Middle School greenhouse, will be held 9 a.m. to noon Saturday , or until sold out, on the watershed association farm just west of Ligonier Borough.
In keeping with social distancing precautions during the coronavirus pandemic, patrons will be directed to drive through the array of available plants at the Ligonier Country Market grounds. After they indicate their selections, a helper will load the plants in their vehicle.
“This is the first year the greenhouse has been up and functioning,” said coordinating instructor Ryan Podlucky. Construction of the 18- by 36-foot glass-enclosed growing space was helped along by about $45,000 in grants from area foundations and a discounted rate for completing utility connections.
“We did everything by seed this year,” after harvesting donated seeds last fall from local residents’ gardens, Podlucky said. “We wanted to sell plants and start butterfly gardens throughout the community, at different nursing homes, and develop a butterfly garden off the kindergarten wing of the (R.K. Mellon) elementary school.”
Saturday’s sale will feature three types of milkweed, a native wildflower that provides a breeding habitat for butterflies and nutritious nectar for a number of pollinators.
Milkweed is among native plant varieties the students have grown that required a cold start, under 40 degrees Fahrenheit, according to Patti Schildkamp of Unity, one of several local gardening experts who provided volunteer assistance.
Many perennial native plants “need to have that cold period to actually break the seed apart,” she explained.
Students started some of the native seeds in empty milk jugs that were left outside, collecting rain and snow through the open tops of the containers. Others were planted in the greenhouse after a brisk beginning in a refrigerator.
Milkweed plants in jugs began “germinating and sprouting very nicely once the warm weather hit,” Schildkamp said. “It does act like a mini-greenhouse.”
Ligonier Valley students in various grade levels, including members of the district’s outdoors club and horticulture program, have used the greenhouse for horticultural projects that added to their skills with and understanding of flora.
“Science classes would do experiments, trying to grow different things by cross-pollinating,” Podlucky said. “The Life Skills students used it for a hydroponics unit, where they were growing plants in January with UV lights.”
After statewide pandemic restrictions closed the district’s schools in mid-March and students continued instruction at home, community volunteers “kept everything alive and ready for the sale,” Podlucky said of the greenhouse plants.
“It was a really rewarding project to work with the kids and the community,” Podlucky said of the greenhouse plantings. As for Saturday’s sale, he noted, with the pandemic push for people to stay at home, “it’s never been more important for people to plant gardens.”
“We’re hoping (the students) take this home, these lessons, and do their own gardening at home,” Schildkamp said.
