{"id":97,"date":"2019-03-28T16:56:59","date_gmt":"2019-03-28T16:56:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nctc.mycareerfocus.org\/spring-2019-volume-4-issue-1\/nurturing-nature-horticulture-celebrates-the-delicate-side-of-life\/"},"modified":"2019-04-08T23:45:54","modified_gmt":"2019-04-08T23:45:54","slug":"nurturing-nature-horticulture-celebrates-the-delicate-side-of-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nctc.mycareerfocus.org\/spring-2019-volume-4-issue-1\/nurturing-nature-horticulture-celebrates-the-delicate-side-of-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Nurturing Nature: Horticulture Celebrates the Delicate Side of Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the science and art of growing garden plants for the economic, aesthetic, and nutritional well-being of society, horticulture has its roots in the simple joy of having a green thumb, but it goes much deeper.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

At NCTC, the sustainable horticulture program<\/a> approaches the life-celebrating field with an emphasis on permaculture, a philosophy of working with nature rather than against it. Horticulture<\/a> instructor Ashley Hartman says the college\u2019s program was a pioneer in teaching about sustainable horticulture in Texas, and remains one of the few of its type today. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Infusing permaculture theories and practices into both its natural gardening and farming techniques and regenerative agricultural applications, the curriculum digs into the technical aspects of organic gardening and the latest earth-friendly techniques of plant propagation, soil preparation and pest management.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Some 45 students enrolled at the Gainesville<\/span>\u00a0campus are working on various certificates and degrees<\/a>, participating in activities at the horticulture \u201cfarmette,\u201d a half-acre spread where life blooms amid two outdoor classrooms, a greenhouse, vegetable<\/span>\u00a0gardens, experimental food plots and multiple ornamental gardens. Other features like a mini-vineyard and an orchard called a fruit guild offer additional opportunities for hands-in-the-dirt experiences exploring sustainable horticulture methods and focusing on the nuances of composting, mulching and biodiversity.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ornamental gardens on the farmette showcase a wide variety of plants that students use for plant identification and culture. They focus on everything from edibles in the landscape to Texas native plants, plus hardy, introduced species adaptable to North Texas\u2019 climate. In the mini-vineyard, five grape varieties are cultivated \u2014 all specifically chosen for <\/span>being disease resistant and suitable to the climate and native soils of the region.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>They range from table grapes to wine grapes and juicing grapes, and several were bred by world-renowned viticulturist, T.V. Munson, who resided in neighboring Grayson County. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Two of the many popular permaculture concepts students get down and dirty with at the farmette involve the fruit guild and something called \u201ch\u00fcgelkultur plantings<\/a>.\u201d The former, Hartman says, involves surrounding fruit trees by a combination of plants that live in symbiosis with the fruits and are chosen for their companionability. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe beauty of a fruit guild is that it\u2019s <\/span>self-sustaining and is all about biodiversity,\u201d<\/span>\u00a0she explains. \u201cUnlike a typical fruit orchard with roots blanketed in grassy monoculture, our orchard has a network of dynamic plants and microorganisms that serve to fortify and protect the fruit trees, resulting in a mini-ecosystem not dependent on typical orchard chemicals.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Similarly, NCTC\u2019s h\u00fcgelkultur planting displays the benefits of burying wood in a garden. \u201cThe wood forms a special <\/span>relationship with the surrounding plants <\/span>by growing valuable microorganisms, <\/span>
\ncreating aeration, and releasing water when the soils become too dry,\u201d Hartman says.<\/span><\/p>\n

New developments are a constant here, and the NCTC Horticulture Club<\/a> is in the process of installing a rain garden, a food forest, a strategic windbreak, and additional rain water collection \u2014 all permaculture-centered techniques.<\/span><\/p>\n

Besides small class limits and hands-on education techniques, Hartman says the unique program offers students <\/span>\u201can invaluable opportunity to learn from instructors who currently work in the industry full-time.\u201d The roster includes professionals from fields like landscape architecture, arboriculture and floristry as well as greenhouse management, public garden management and sustainable agriculture.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Get Your Green On<\/span><\/h2>\n

Degree plans in the Horticulture program are intentionally\u00a0stair-stepped, and horticulture instructor Ashley Hartman outlines the \u201ctypical progression\u201d as starting with a\u00a0Landscape Design Occupational Skills Award<\/a>, followed by a Sustainable Horticulture Certificate<\/a> and a Horticulture Management Certificate<\/a>. Each of these is designed for students to complete as a 12-month program, although students may work at their own pace and multiple degree plans can be earned simultaneously. Lastly, is the program\u2019s two-year associate degree plan, the Associate of Applied Science in Horticulture Management<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the science and art of growing garden plants for the economic, aesthetic, and nutritional well-being of society, horticulture has its roots in the simple joy of having a green thumb, but it goes much deeper.\u00a0 At NCTC, the sustainable horticulture program approaches the life-celebrating field with an emphasis on permaculture, a philosophy of working… read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":100,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,1],"tags":[],"article_type":[],"class_list":["post-97","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agriculture-and-horticulture","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nctc.mycareerfocus.org\/spring-2019-volume-4-issue-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nctc.mycareerfocus.org\/spring-2019-volume-4-issue-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nctc.mycareerfocus.org\/spring-2019-volume-4-issue-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nctc.mycareerfocus.org\/spring-2019-volume-4-issue-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nctc.mycareerfocus.org\/spring-2019-volume-4-issue-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/nctc.mycareerfocus.org\/spring-2019-volume-4-issue-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":139,"href":"http:\/\/nctc.mycareerfocus.org\/spring-2019-volume-4-issue-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97\/revisions\/139"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nctc.mycareerfocus.org\/spring-2019-volume-4-issue-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nctc.mycareerfocus.org\/spring-2019-volume-4-issue-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nctc.mycareerfocus.org\/spring-2019-volume-4-issue-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nctc.mycareerfocus.org\/spring-2019-volume-4-issue-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97"},{"taxonomy":"article_type","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nctc.mycareerfocus.org\/spring-2019-volume-4-issue-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_type?post=97"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}