2025 Growing Groceries Classes
Registration for the 2025 Growing Groceries classes opens soon. Don’t miss out!
This year, we are offering a Cool Season and a Warm Season series, each consisting of six (6) classes. Classes are ideal for the beginner to intermediate gardener and are open to all.
Give a gift of a Growing Groceries Series.
The 2025 Cool Season Series (6 classes) runs from January 22 to April 2. The Warm Season Series runs from April 16 to June 25. All classes are on Wednesdays from 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM online via Zoom. Please note the specific class dates when registering. Registrants will receive Zoom instructions to access the online class at 5:00 PM the day of the class. The 2025 Growing Groceries classes will be recorded and available to registered participants following the class.
Cost: Participants may pay for individual classes or purchase a series subscription. Purchases may be made online by credit card or by PayPal only. The class fees help the Master Gardener Foundation support the activities of the Master Gardener Program in King County.
Individual class fee. The fee for a single class is $8.00.
Series subscription fee. Purchase a Growing Groceries series at a discount! The subscription fee for each series of six (6) classes is $40, that’s six classes for the price of five if purchased separately.
Financial Need Fee Waivers. Financial Need Fee Waivers are available for individual classes. To request a waiver, complete and submit the request form prior to registering. Please note that Financial Need Fee Waivers may not be used for a series subscription.
Registration: Advance registration is required for these classes. For questions contact: GrowingGroceries.king@mgfkc.org
Growing Groceries Classes
The information contained in Growing Groceries presentations is based on Washington State University Extension home gardening publications and other science and research-based materials. Resource lists are provided at the end of the presentations. To enliven the learning experience, speakers may use examples from their own garden experience and draw from their personal gardening successes and failures.
Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that we are gathered on the sacred lands of the Coast Salish Peoples who have lived along the shores of the Central Salish Sea since time immemorial. We honor all First Peoples indigenous to the place we now call King County – their ancestors and descendants who have cared for these sacred lands and waters for thousands of years. We give thanks to the Duwamish, Muckleshoot, Snoqualmie, Stillaguamish, and Tulalip Tribes for sharing their ancestral lands and watersheds with us, and we embrace our reponsibility to help protect and restore them for future generations.
Growing Groceries SERIES SUBSCRIPTION.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Gardeners have the option to purchase a Series Subscription of Growing Groceries classes for $40, that’s six classes for the price of five if purchased individually. Please note that you must register separately for the Cool Season Series and/or Warm Season Series once they are open for registration.
Jan. 22, 2025
Closed
Vegetable Gardening in the PNW with Extension Master Gardener Jim Olson.
There are six keys to successfully growing vegetables in our area of the Pacific Northwest, preparing your planting location, timing of seed starting, key items for caring of plants and how to recognize and treat problems on plants during their path to your plate at the peak of flavor. The focus is how to use the six steps to prevent problems, and where that doesn’t work, how to treat them. Handout for this presentation: PNW Principles.
Feb. 5, 2025
Closed
Early Starts, Early Harvests with Extension Master Gardener Anne Neilson.
It’s still mid-winter but don’t be deterred! There are edibles that you can direct sow or plant as purchased seedlings now; others that you might consider raising in seed trays for transplanting in about 6 weeks. Extension Master Gardener Anne Neilson will lead you through a variety of her favorite veggies to start early in the year. These crops produce a wonderful selection of foods to harvest and enjoy by the end of June which opens up space to plant those warm season veggies. Or…maybe you manage a school garden or are planning an extended summer vacation? Early Starts, Early Harvests provides strategies to get the growing going early and allows you take the summer off! Handout for this presentation: Early Starts, Early Harvest.
Feb. 19, 2025
Closed
Essential Culinary Combinations with Extension Master Gardeners Gia Parsons and Wendy Jordan.
Many cultures use a specific combination of veggies and herbs to form the flavor basis for soups, stews and sautés. In this class, EMG and Shorewood Demo Garden Culinary Arts instructor Wendy Jordan teams up with EMG and Marymoor Community Garden coordinator Gia Parsons to introduce us to the aromatics of world-wide cuisine. Many of the ingredients can be grown right here in the PNW! Our presenters will tell us how. Handout for this presentation: Essential Culinary Combinations.
Mar. 5, 2025
Closed
All About Brassicas with Extension Master Gardener Sue Kraemer and Extension Program Manager, SNAP-Ed, Hillary Miller.
The Brassicas are a huge family of tasty and nutrition-packed veggies that includes horseradish, radishes, broccoli, cabbage, collards, cauliflower, kale, arugula and more! Brassicas are prominent in world-wide cuisine. These cool weather vegetables are among the first planted each year, and some can be grown throughout the year to add seasonal variety to your dinner menu. In this class, Extension Master Gardener Sue Kraemer and SNAP-Ed Program Manager Hillary Miller will discuss health benefits, variety selection, cultural requirements, major diseases and pests, and how to entice youth to “eat your veggies”. Handout for this presentation: All About Brassicas.
Mar. 19, 2025
Closed
What’s a Garden Without Tomatoes? with Extension Master Gardener Sharon Peach and 21 Acres Educator Ansley Roberts.
Most everyone that grows edibles dreams of those mouth-watering tomatoes. Whether grape-sized, cherry types, slicers, sauce or beefy types, tomatoes are prized in the garden. What does it take to be successful at growing great tomatoes? Join Master Gardener Sharon Peach as she shares her expertise about cultivar selection, planting, growing, and enjoying this popular food crop. Cap off the evening with Ansley Roberts, Farm Manager for 21 Acres, who will introduce us to “dry farming”. Not sure what that is? Come find out! Handout for this presentation: Growing Tomatoes and Dry Farming.
Apr. 2, 2025
Closed
Beacon Food Forest: Seattle’s Communal, Edible Landscape with Beacon Food Forest Educator, Elise Evans.
In 2009, four friends looked at a bare sunny hillside in Jefferson Park and dreamed that the diverse and dynamic community of Beacon Hill could have a source of delicious, organic, free food. Fifteen years later, the Beacon Food Forest (BFF) has grown into a 4 acre community oasis where visitors speak many languages, children wander shaded paths hunting for berries, elders harvest herbs for medicinal teas and recent immigrants meet long-time residents while picking juicy tomatoes. In this class, Elise Evans, Seattle P-Patch Community Garden Coordinator at BFF, will introduce us to many edible plant varieties that are less familiar yet adapted to grow well in the PNW. She will discuss plant guilds and other strategies used to build a perennial forest ecosystem that is culturally relevant to people of many backgrounds; one that might also serve as a model for creating edible landscapes, both big and small, in the home garden setting. Handout for this presentation: Beacon Food Forest.
Warm Season Series
Growing Groceries SERIES SUBSCRIPTION.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Gardeners have the option to purchase a Series Subscription of Growing Groceries classes for $40, that’s six classes for the price of five if purchased individually. Please note that you must register separately for the Cool Season Series and/or Warm Season Series once they are open for registration.
Apr. 16, 2025
Closed
Grow the ‘Other’ Edible Nightshades: Peppers, Tomatillos, Eggplant with Extension Master Gardener, Jean Jones.
What does it take to grow sumptuous peppers, tomatillos, and eggplant? Are you hungry for tips to control those pesky flea beetles? Jean shares her expertise about cultivar selection, planting, growing, and enjoying these popular edible nightshades. Handout for this presentation: Grow the Other Edible Nightshades.
Apr. 30, 2025
Closed
Roots and Rare Fruits with Extension Master Gardener Brandon Bray and Margaret MacLeod.
A wide variety of root crops and less commonly grown fruits can thrive in Western Washington. Margaret and Brandon describe how to select, grow and harvest root veggies and some of the more rare fruits that grow in our region. Handouts for this presentation: Roots and Rare Fruits.
May 14, 2025
Grow Cukes, Squash and Melons – Big and Small with Extension Master Gardeners Sue Kraemer and Jim Olson.
Cucurbits love heat! When the soil warms up, it’s time to plant cucumbers, squash and melons. Come find out which varieties do best in Western Washington as well as tips for planting, growing, harvesting and pest management. Cucurbits can be large and sprawling although some varieties are bred for growing in pots. Presenters will share space saving tips using trellises and containers. Handout for this presentation: Grow Cukes, Squash, and Melons.
May 28, 2025
The Nutritional Powerhouse: Corn and Beans (legumes) with Extension Master Gardener Maria Gerace.
Corn and beans form the basis of many traditional cuisines around the world and provide a complete protein when consumed together. And (fun fact) neither crop requires insects for pollination! Join Maria for a smorgasbord of information and growing tips for these two dietary staples, corn and beans (legumes).
Jun. 11, 2025
Summer Starts for Fall and Early Spring Harvests with Extension Master Gardeners Andrea Borning and Karen Adams.
Lettuce and spinach harvests yield space in the garden to plant hardy winter greens. New to Growing Groceries this year is a lesson on cultivating edibles in the Asteraceae family – chicory, radicchio, escarole, and curly endive. Andrea and Karen will share what they’re planting in June and July for harvest in the fall and for overwintering until spring. These summer planted crops will extend your harvest for the rest of the year.
Jun. 25, 2025
Caring for Community at Master Gardener Demonstration Gardens
The Master Gardeners of King County maintain ten demonstration gardens where the public can see firsthand the types of plants that grow well in our area and learn recommended planting practices and overall garden care. Many of these gardens also grow groceries for local food banks to help alleviate food insecurity in our neighborhoods. In this class, Master Gardener volunteers from three demonstration gardens will share with us some of their time-tested strategies for growing food crops and how they support their community in interesting and novel ways.
WSU extension programs and employment are available to all without discrimination. Evidence of noncompliance may be reported through your local extension office. Reasonable accommodations will be made for persons with disabilities and special needs; contact the WSU Extension King County office at king.mg@wsu.edu at least two weeks prior to the event.