Mill Creek MetroParks launches new horticulture certificate program

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Mill Creek MetroParks is offering a new program for home gardeners who wish to cultivate their skills.

The John & Doris Andrews Horticulture Certificate Program is now accepting registrations for its first module, which begins May 2.

After Fellows Riverside Gardens’ long-running Master Gardener series was put on hold last year, the park board asked Friends of Fellows Riverside Gardens, a nonprofit organization that supports the Gardens, to bring back the program. The new program is sponsored by Friends.

The program combines lectures from expert instructors, outdoor lab sessions at the Gardens, and volunteer work. Each module runs for four sessions. Participants must attend each lecture and lab session and complete eight hours of volunteer work at the Gardens to receive their certificate.

The first module is “The Fundamentals of Green Gardening,” with sessions scheduled for May 2 and 23, and June 13 and 20. The planned topics are eco-friendly choices, integrated pest management, innovative design, and sustaining landscapes: pollinators and natives.

The instructors are sustainable design expert Sabrena Schweyer; Denise Ellsworth, who directs the honey bee and native pollinator education program at Ohio State University’s Department of Entomology on the Wooster campus; Lee Beers, agriculture and natural resources extension educator for the OSU Extension in Trumbull County; Doug Oster, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s home and garden editor and a former Vindicator photographer; MetroParks Gardens Director Andrew Pratt; MetroParks Education Manager Mandy Smith; Gorden Vujevic, a master gardener, seasonal employee and volunteer at Fellows; Marcy Dubec, also a master gardener, seasonal worker and volunteer at the Gardens; and Rob Chismar, the Gardens’ assistant supervisor.

The fee for each course is $45 for Mahoning County residents and $55 for noncounty residents. Scholarships are available through Friends.

Registration is required two weeks before the start of a course. For information, call the FRG at 330-740-7116.