Manheim Central High School’s greenhouse will turn into a hotbed of activity May 3-4 and 10-11 for its student plant sale. The annual event attracts a large following of local
Early May is ground zero for do-it-yourself gardeners. Itâs when everyone looks for healthy, starter plants to fill their vegetable and herb gardens. Getting plants into the soil around Motherâs Day has always been a key date for local gardeners in the MidAtlantic region.
During the year 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic kept people quarantined at home to stop the spread of infections, many garden centers actually sold out of flowering plants, ground cover and, especially, vegetable plants. Families staying close to home with pandemic safety guidelines took to gardening to keep them occupied.
In Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, along with garden centers, greenhouses and farm stands, one popular place to purchase starter plants was at the Herb and Garden Faire at the Landis Valley Village and Farm Museum.
Last winter, students in Manheim Central High Schoolâs FFA plotted out how to grow about 4,000 plants for their stand at Landis Valley Herb & Garden Faire.
Not long later, the pandemic closed school, cut off access to the greenhouse and canceled the plant sale.
Ag science teacher Seth Kensinger rescued hundreds of pepper seedlings and student Anna Haldeman cared for them in structures her family built at her home. Kensinger planted some of the tomato seeds as the lock-down started. Later in the spring, he gave away the plants for donations in hopes of recouping their costs.
This winter, students in the schoolâs new greenhouse management and landscaping class knew the 2021 herb and garden faire was canceled. They still decided to grow a variety of tomatoes, herbs, vegetables and cantaloupe as a class project.