Bakersfield School makes major improvements to greenhouse, one-day plant sale slated Saturday

The Bakersfield FFA and horticulture class has been working hard this past winter making major upgrades to their greenhouse and now has it stuffed wall-to-wall with vegetables and flowers they hope to sell at a one-day plant sale this Saturday.

“We’ve been busy,” said Bakersfield FFA advisor Jordan Grigg. “We have installed an automatic watering system, and we’ve repaired the greenhouse cooling system.”

Grigg said that before they updated the greenhouse with the automatic system the plants had to be manually watered every day.

“For me, that meant I have to drive over on the weekends,” said Grigg, who lives near Dora.

Bakersfield sophomore Tristan Deatherage was the brains behind the computerized watering system. It can handle up to 12 rows of watering. The system currently is only set up for about 25 percent of the greenhouse’s capacity. The water flow rate and timing can all be set electronically.

“There was an old drip system in place, but it had been mostly dismantled,” said Grigg. He said since the school is on the city’s water system, there is a lot of calcium in the water. He guessed the maintenance required to deal with the constant calcium build-up on the system was likely what led to its use being discontinued.

Now, Grigg said the school would like to expand the system and add extra lines on one side of the greenhouse.

“We’re hoping that money we raise from the plant sale will go to help fund these improvements,” Grigg said.

Lots of plants

The school will host one of its largest plant sales ever this coming Saturday from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. at the school and will carry the largest hanging baskets they’ve ever had - along with oodles of veggies.

Here are some of the offerings:

Tomato breeds: Mariglobe, Rutgers Standard, Beef Steak, Better Boy and Early Girl.

Peppers: mild jalapeños, California Wonder and banana peppers.

Cucumbers: National Picking, Straight Eight and burpless.

Vegetable pots: Black Beauty zucchini and yellow squash.

Flowers: petunia, celosia, snapdragons, potted carnations, impatiens, begonias and several more.

The prices will vary, but 4-packs will be $3, 6-packs $4, small pots $3, medium pots $5 and hanging baskets starting at $16. They will have some big and beautiful hanging morning glorys and wandering Jews for $25 each.

The sale will feature flowers in annuals and perennials.

“We feel like we have a lot to offer folks. We have some really big tomato plants and a greenhouse full of some nice stuff,” Grigg said.

For more information, call the school at 417-284-7333.