Big Country Master Gardeners share gardening knowledge through monthly classes

BIG COUNTRY, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – Looking to improve your gardening skills? Even though it may be cold outside, there’s always something new to learn. The Big Country Master Gardeners offer monthly classes with expert tips on plant care and gardening techniques to keep your green thumb thriving year-round.

While many of us might think winter isn’t ideal for gardening, one group is working to educate the public on how to keep their hobby “alive” during the colder months.

The Big Country branch of the Texas Master Gardeners holds monthly educational seminars at the Abilene Library, sharing gardening tips and techniques. Big Country Master Gardener John Geib discussed how the program adapts during the winter months, focusing on the “Armchair Gardening” method—a classic practice of studying, planning, and working on garden projects.

“It’s a fun time of the year. We get to do our gardening, but we get to do it inside, where it’s nice and warm and out of the wind today. So it’s just kind of planning your vegetable garden and seeing what we can do. All the different things we need to think about when we’re doing the gardening,” Geib explained.

So, what is the main goal of Master Gardeners? Geib explained that their primary purpose is to assist the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Office in educating the public through these seminars and other outreach efforts.

“Our job officially is to help the extension agent disseminate information that A&M puts out to cover just about anything, anything from family and community health type issues to. With Master Gardener specifically, we really deal with anything that has to do with landscaping and plants,” Geib added.

These seminars are held once a month at two locations: the Downtown Library and the South Branch Library at the Mall of Abilene. They are free to the public and open to people of all ages.