On October 25th 2017, Eugene’s local GrassRoots Garden holds a free gardening course which encourages people of all ages to grow their own produce by explaining the advantages of doing so. This six-week interactive course teaches the steps it takes to harvest your own vegetables while explaining the nutritional, community building, and budgetary benefits as well. Merry Bradley is the director of the garden and teaches the interactive gardening portion of the class.On October 25th 2017, Merry Bradley stands in the kitchen after finishing up teaching in the garden for the day. She tells the class about how she began gardening when she was just a little kid, explaining how she used to plant green beans in her back yard.On October 25th 2017, Merry Bradley eats the “bad weeds” from the garden. She explains how not all weeds are actually bad. Some weeds are even edible and can be healthy for your garden.On October 25th 2017, Merry Bradley gets her hands in the dirt before she washes up for the meal that GrassRoots Garden staff prepared for the class with the vegetables harvested from their garden. She stands against a special gardening tool used to loosen up dirt. She tells the class about the importance of a loose ground when planting carrots. That reminded her of carrot harvest day and the largest carrot she ever grew which was 3 pounds and 12 ounces.On October 25th 2017, Merry Bradley explains to her gardening class everything they need to know about squash bugs. She warns them of the dangers that squash bugs have on other vegetables and plants. Squash bugs can be identified by their long antennas, and their brownish-grey, hard shells.
