Plant a Row for the Hungry is launching its third annual virtual vegetable gardening series Tuesday, starting with a topic at the root of all gardening. The session will not literally be about the roots, but rather about starting plants from seeds.

The five-part Zoom series, which runs through the end of March, will cover a variety of topics in-depth. All sessions are intended to educate attendees on being successful in their gardening journey, wherever that may be for them.

Plant A Row is a local organization that plants, grows, harvests and delivers produce to local families and community members in need. The organization was founded to address issues of hunger through gardening. Since its foundation, the group has donated over 57,000 pounds of locally grown and fresh produce. The organization currently has a gallery in the Port Washington Public Library showing its full story.

Board Member Bea Helft created the series, which she said she’s been researching for her entire life. As a former professor at Baruch College, she said she’s always thinking and wondering how she can educate people, something she said she has “in her blood.”

She said that the series is “designed to educate the public and bring their knowledge level up” as to how they can grow food for themselves and their community.

Helft tailored the series for anyone in a gardening journey, from the person who can’t keep a house plant alive to an advanced gardener with a natural green thumb.

“Everybody’s a beginner, including me,” Helft said. “There is always something new to learn. That’s part of the fun.”

While Helft said the information from these workshops is valuable, it is still a lot of work. Instead of being overwhelmed with the plethora of knowledge that is offered, she said it’s best to take it at a comfortable pace.

For those who may be intimidated in starting their pursuit of gardening, Helft said the sessions are a great way to begin. The sessions provide individuals with the chance to ask questions and learn as well as gain a support system through Plant a Row that they can rely on in the future.

“We’re trying to encourage people, regardless of their aptitude, to grow food at home,” Helft said. “There are a lot of reasons for this. Not only because getting your hands in the soil is a very therapeutic activity, but food has got very expensive in the supermarkets. There are a lot of really wonderful reasons to grow all kinds of things in the garden, but if you grow food, you’re nourishing your family as well.”

Helft said that when she put the last two series together, there were a lot of similar questions people would ask and topics that weren’t covered at all. In response, she tailored this year’s series to address them.

The first information session Tuesday will teach attendees how to start seeds in both indoor and outdoor settings, to be accessible to people at varying levels of knowledge and abilities. 

Helft said there are so many types of seeds of vegetables that are not sold in grocery stores, so another upside to growing your own food is the variety that becomes available to you.

The second session will cover how to grow food in containers, something workable for people who do not have ample space for a garden or even a yard in which to plant in the ground. The third session will teach attendees how to maximize the produce they can grow through methods such as companion planting and succession planting.

The fourth session will include special guest Jessica Damiano, the Associated Press’s gardening columnist, to speak about wise usage of water.

The Town of North Hempstead gets its water from an aquifer, a limited supply, so Helft said it is important that it’s used in a “judicious way” to prevent waste.

Helft said planting native plants is an easy way to be sustainable with water usage since they are intended to grow in Long Island’s natural climate. Annual plants, like vegetables, are typically not native but water optimization can be implemented through methods like drip irrigation systems.

An upside, Helft said, is that water optimization techniques will lower your water bill as well.

The last session will be an information workshop to troubleshoot any issues that could, and are bound to, happen while gardening. This will include instructions on home remedies that are natural and beneficial in combatting certain issues.

Helft said that the goals of this series are to remind and educate people of the work done by Plant a Row, seek out volunteers, contributors and donators for the organization and inform community members of the need to provide fresh food to food insecure community members.

“The more food homeowners grow, and very often they grow more than they can actually eat, the more food that we can deliver to our families in need,” Helft said.

She said the Port Washington community prides itself on its supportiveness of each other in many ways. Plant a Row is one way in which individuals can get involved to care for the needs of the community.

“Whatever we can do to be a community is really important,” Helft said. “What are the values that one lives by? I think being part of a community is one of those values and that’s what we strive to do.”

Potential attendees can register for the Zoom sessions on the Port Washington Public Library’s events page. Participants do not have to be Port Washington residents in order to attend.

All Zoom sessions will be recorded, excluding the fourth workshop of the series on March 21. Anyone can watch the recordings afterward for a limited amount of time.

Helft said she is hopeful that the series will garner more support for Plant a Row.

“Once you come and be part of this, it’s hard not to want to do it more,” Helft said. “I’m hoping people catch the same bug I caught.”