Greenhouse

Spring Events

• The Greenhouse workshop series will focus on seed starting, seed saving, season extension and growing culturally meaningful crops in Vermont.
• All events will be free for all participants, thanks to funding from the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (SARE).
• Select workshops will be facilitated with language interpretation for non-English speaking attendees.
• Event listings below also include Drop-In Demos (stop by for hands-on learning with our Greenhouse Team) and Community Events (celebrating seasons and sharing abundance).
• Scroll down below the Spring Calendar to read detailed descriptions of each event.

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Workshop: Seeding & Transplanting Calendars – Thursday, March 26, 5:30-7:00pm

This workshop will support gardeners in determining calendar dates for starting seeds in an indoor grow light setup or in a heated greenhouse. Fine tuning a seeding calendar requires an understanding of information on a seed packet and the ability to do some math to calculate a seeding date and transplanting out date. Gardeners need to keep track of last frost dates, consider crops that are cold hardy versus frost sensitive, and make many adjustments along the way. Participants will leave with a calendar to guide their seeding and transplanting, but most importantly, they will gain the knowledge and confidence to calculate dates on their own depending on crop varieties, garden location, and production goals.

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Workshop: Seed Starting Tips & Techniques – Thursday, April 2, 5:30-7:00pm

Join us as we dive into the joyful world of starting seeds indoors! The first step is to gather essential materials such as a  soil mix for seed germination and cell trays or pots. Participants will learn how to select appropriately sized trays/pot, why we never recommend using egg cartons for seed starting and why we love air-pruning trays. We will share tips for successful germination and seedling growth, best practices for watering and fertilizing, and guidelines for hardening off. This workshop will be applicable for gardeners starting seeds indoors under grow lights or in a heated greenhouse.

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Drop-in Demo: Soil Blocking – Wednesday, April 22, 4-6pm

In an effort to reduce our use of black plastic trays and pots in the greenhouse, we use soil blocking for a portion of the starts we grow from seed. Join us to watch the process in action and practice using soil blockers for seed starting.

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Community Event: Spring Plant Share – Saturday, May 23, 9-11am

One of our grant projects for the 2026 growing season focuses on growing culturally meaningful crops to support access to traditional foods for immigrant communities in Winooski and Burlington. At this Spring Plant Share we will share a variety of crops from the African, Asian, and Latin American diaspora that are hard to find in Chittenden County (unless you are seed starting them yourself!).

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Drop-in Demo: Growing Ginger in Vermont – Thursday, May 28, 4-6pm

We begin sprouting ginger rhizomes in late March, we keep trays on heat mats through April, and finally by late May its time to transplant ginger. We’ve successfully grown ginger at the garden-scale in Vermont and we are excited to share our experience with you.

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The Background Story: How the Greenhouse at Landry Park Came to Be

This project materializes a new partnership between Vermont Garden Network and City of Winooski. We extend much gratitude to the grant support from Vermont Foodbank and to the contractors at Vine Ripe for making this dream a reality.

Here is a little background on the greenhouse structure: Julie from Red Wagon Plants, in partnership with New Farms for New Americans, were the first to erect the greenhouse structure at the O’Brien Center in Winooski almost a decade ago. A few years later, NFNA passed along the greenhouse management to the City of Winooski, and for several years it functioned as a community greenhouse where residents rented table space for starting their seeds. Consecutive years of vandalism to the greenhouse structure and property theft forced the City of Winooski to close down the greenhouse.

In spring of 2024 stars aligned and the City of Winooski reached out to VGN after hearing that we were searching for a location to build a greenhouse. We met with VineRipe and defined what it would take, logistically and financially, to relocate and reskin the greenhouse. A heroic group of volunteers and staff cleaned up the site at the O’Brien Center in preparation for the big move.

In early June, a tarp was laid down to mark the footprint of the new greenhouse at the Landry Park Community Gardens, adjacent to the Myers Memorial Pool. We could not have imagined a more ideal location! By mid August, the greenhouse had been reassembled and skinned with new plastic. The City of Winooski is working hard to connect electricity to power the vents and to install propane for the heater.

Greenhouse Grand Opening

The greenhouse grand opening will be in March 2025. We’ll be seed starting 6,000+ plants, including many culturally meaningful crops, for our garden programming in central Vermont. We’ll also be demonstrating season extension (overwintering greens, perhaps growing ginger and turmeric, seed saving from biennials, so many options!), offering a series of community workshops and highlighting climate resiliency practices for garden-scale growers.

We opened our doors and welcomed over 150 community members to the Greenhouse Grand Opening at Landry Park on March 22, 2025! The day was a beautiful celebration of community, with local organizations, City of Winooski employees, public officials, and neighbors all coming together to mark this exciting new chapter. From the moment the doors opened, From the moment the doors opened, attendees had the opportunity to choose from thousands of donated seed packets, each one destined for a local gardener ready to grow their own crops. Within just a few hours, attendees helped seed 9 trays of onions, shallots, and scallions—about 800 plants—which will go on to feed our community for months to come. From toddlers to experienced gardeners, everyone played a part in sowing these crops for the benefit of all.

Throughout the day, there was laughter, learning, and plenty of cheddar and chive biscuits to go around. We’re deeply grateful to our sponsors and partners— Gardener’s Supply Company, The Skinny Pancake, City of Winooski Recreation & Parks, and Vermont Foodbank—for their support in making this event possible. The grand opening is just the beginning of an exciting journey, and we look forward to growing together with our community in the months and years ahead.

   

Event Photography: Annalisa Madonia

Growing thousands of plants for our garden community will only be possible with support from our community. Various contractors, electricians, volunteers, consultants, and many farmer friends have advised this project. We invite YOU to help us GROW by contributing to our Annual Fund.

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