Build Your Skills

Learn about free, beginner-level landscaping classes for Detroiters interested in working with lots.

Photo © Hamilton Anderson Associates

Are you brand new to gardening? Or maybe you’ve kept potted plants but that’s it? Everyone has to start somewhere! And sometimes meeting other people with experience and learning in a hands-on way is easier than reading articles or books about plant care.

Below are a few of the free or low-cost educational opportunities and classes for Detroiters interested in learning more about gardening and taking care of landscapes through every season.

Detroit Farm and Garden

Detroit Farm and Garden offers free workshops for gardeners-to-be. Detroit Farm and Garden’s Straw Bale Education Series coordinates free classes from 1-3 p.m. one Sunday each month from March through October. Participants in these workshops can learn various skills such as soil care, vegetable gardening, raised bed and container gardening, landscape design, fermentation, and composting. The diversity between these workshops mean that people of all interests, skills, and experience levels can benefit from the Straw Bale Education Series.

Learn More: detroitfarmandgarden.com

Keep Growing Detroit

Keep Growing Detroit has much in store for anyone with an interest in plants and soil. Their Urban Garden Education Series is a series of landscaping and gardening classes for people of all ages, experience, and abilities. The classes in the Education Series are $3 for members of Keep Growing Detroit’s Garden Resource Program and $5 for non-members. Through the Series, participants can gain the skills to eat fruits and vegetables that they grow, maintain, and harvest themselves! Classes in the Series range from blueberry picking to flower cutting to food entrepreneurship; there is a class in the Urban Garden Education Series for just about anyone.

Learn More: detroitagriculture.net

Master Gardeners Association of Wayne County

Master Gardeners Association of Wayne County offers memberships to anyone interested in gardening and/or supporting their projects. For an annual fee of $15, anyone can become an associate member and participate in all Master Gardener events and programs. In addition to Master Gardeners’ membership programs, the organization is involved in many community outreach projects, which are open to members and non-members alike. One example is Stewardship Saturdays, which Master Gardeners join other community members to learn hands-on about gardening while cleaning up the campus of the University of Michigan-Dearborn. Whether deciding to become a member or not, Master Gardeners has a lot to offer for those with an interest in gardening and landscaping.

Learn More: www.mgawc.org