Growing market

MOSES LAKE — If you haven’t put out your garden yet, it’s not too late. The Washington State University Grant-Adams Master Gardeners will hold their annual plant sale May 3 at McCosh Park. 

“We’ll have lots of different kinds of vegetables,” said Master Gardener Diane Escure. “I think we’ve got maybe 12 different kinds of heirloom tomatoes. We have herbs, we have flowering plants, geraniums, sweet potato vines.” 

The plants are all organic, Escure said, coming from the Master Gardeners’ greenhouse in Quincy, as well as from some members’ private greenhouses.  

“Our prices are very reasonable,” Escure said. “We are trying to encourage people to have good plants at a reasonable price.: 

Along with the plants, the Master Gardeners will raffle off a Washington State University Cougar clock handmade especially for the sale and a five-tier vertical planter.  

“So someone who didn’t have enough room to grow (very much) or (doesn’t want to) tear up their grass can have an opportunity to grow some things for the summer, and reuse it every year,” Escure said.  

This year’s sale will put special emphasis on something that’s rapidly increasing in popularity, drought-resistant gardening. The soil in the Basin is good for plants that don’t need a lot of water, Escure explained, because after all, that’s the sort of plants that have grown here naturally for millennia.  

Besides the sale, the Master Gardeners will be on hand with their plant clinic, to answer any questions people might have about gardening. 

“So, if someone had questions like ‘Will this grow?’ or ‘What do I need to do?’ or ‘How deep do I plant it? Where can I put it?’ We'll have people there who will answer their questions.” 

The plants people buy at the sale will need a little care before they’re put outside, Escure said. Unlike plants in the garden department of a store that have been outside for a while, these plants have been kept exclusively in a greenhouse. That means they’ll need some acclimation before they’re ready to plant outdoors. 

“When someone buys a plant that's come from our greenhouse, we all always advise them, do not put this in the ground immediately,” Escure said. “It has to be hardened up a little bit. Maybe take it outside for an hour or two (at a time). But if you take this beautiful thing that just came from a humid, warm environment and dump it in your yard, it's not going to make it.” 

The sale, which coincides with the first Moses Lake Farmers Market of the year, is the Master Gardeners’ biggest fundraiser of the year, Escure said. The money that’s raised goes to fund things like the Eco-Gardening Symposium held earlier this month in conjunction with the Columbia Basin Conservation District. 

The WSU Master Gardener program has been around since the 1970s, according to WSU’s website. It started as a way to relieve the burden on county extension agents who were fielding so many calls from people starting or maintaining gardens that they had no time to do their actual jobs. A program of rigorous training for volunteers resulted in about 200 Master Gardeners in the first year, and today there are more than 4,000 certified Master Gardeners in Washington state. The program has since spread to other states as well, according to the website, and more than 85,000 people nationwide can claim the title of Master Gardener.  

The point of the Master Gardener program is to educate people as well as encourage enthusiasm for gardening, Escure said. 

“(The plant sale) is a real opportunity for us to meet the public and to be talking about plants and answering their questions,” she said. “Because if they're interested in growing something, a fruit or a vegetable or whatever it is, we're happy to help them. If we don't know the answer, we will get back to them … We want them to be successful. We want them to enjoy gardening and if they have questions, we can help them, but we also (want) them to be happy with what they plant.” 

    Besides selling plants, the Master Gardeners will have volunteers on hand May 3 to answer any questions gardeners or prospective gardeners might have.
  

    The Master Gardeners’ plant sale will feature vegetables, flowers and some drought-resistant plants that are difficult to come by in this area.
  

    The Master Gardeners’ plant sale will feature vegetables, flowers and some drought-resistant plants that are difficult to come by in this area.
  

    Everything the Master Gardeners offer at their plant sale is organic and grown in carefully selected soil.