People new to vegetable gardening and folks looking for a refresher to hone those skills can learn from a master gardener next week.

Topics covered in the class will include starting a new garden, planning a garden for spring and fall planting, following a garden calendar, improving soil and composting. The class will involve both lectures and hands-on demonstrations. 

When you see a plant growing, flowering and fruiting in a garden, field, forest or pot you’re only seeing a part and not the whole. Much of the plant exists below the ground in the soil in the form of roots. It’s common to think that half of the plant is aboveground — stems, flowers and leaves — and half is below the ground in the roots, but this is not true across the board. 

People interested in learning how to start plants from seeds can do so through a class offered at the N.C. Cooperative Extension of Haywood County.

Participants will learn how to select seeds, increase germination rates, create the proper environment for growing and timing for starting seeds and moving plants into a garden.

Highlands Biological Station is hosting a free “celebration of place” event.

The one-day event will feature:

• Rare & unusual native plants for sale, including the beloved Oconee Bells. 

Master Gardeners are available to answer questions about lawns, vegetables, flowers, trees and or-namental plants; disease, insect, weed or wildlife problems; soils (including soil test results) and fertilizers; freeze and frost damage; and cultural and chemical solutions to pest problems. 

The Sylva Garden Club will be hosting its annual picnic 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 6, in Bicentennial Park at 122 Keener St. In the case of rain, the picnic will be moved to the Fellowship Hall at First Presbyterian Church of Sylva.

People interested in gardening will have the chance to join a network of like-minded folks across the state dedicated to learning and sharing research-based information, enhancing their communities through horticulture and connecting people with benefits of gardening. 

Join a network of passionate community members across the state dedicated to learning and sharing research-based information, enhancing their communities through volunteer service, and connecting people with the benefits of gardening through education and outreach by becoming an NC State Extension Master Gardener volunteer. 

Bonnie Refinski-Knight, an N.C. State Extension Master Gardner volunteer, will host a presentation on composting. The class will include an example of a compost bin. 

Come out to the Macon County Master Gardener Association’s plant sale.