Cambridge FFA Sale Coming May 7
When you walk into the greenhouse at Cambridge High School, you are met by beautiful and healthy plants. There are many hanging baskets planted with a variety of flowering plants, including petunias, geraniums, and verbena with greenery mixed in. If you are not looking for a basket, there’s a nice selection of other flowers available including moss rose, pansies, speckled petunias, verbena, coleus and additional fun plants and grasses.
If you are more of a vegetable gardener, a nice assortment of vegetable plants is available to choose from. Cherry tomato plants can be hard for gardeners to find some years, but there are many growing in the greenhouse, just waiting for the upcoming sale. In addition to the tomato plants, there are cucumbers, zucchini squash, broccoli, and even Brussels sprouts, to mention a few. If you enjoy cooking with herbs, there are many familiar ones to pick from.
The Greenhouse class is made up of freshmen through seniors. The students go into the greenhouse every day to care for the plants. The plants were started earlier this year in the greenhouse. The plants are grown from seeds and plugs. Plugs are small plants that have been started earlier by a supplier.
The students said that their favorite thing to make are the hanging baskets. When asked how they created the hanging baskets, the students explained that they put the soil and the fertilizer in the basket and wet it down and mix it up and then add the plugs, which could be as many as seven plugs to a basket. When making the baskets, each student creates their own individual baskets by choosing the flowers and greenery that they want to fill in the baskets. The students stated that there are over 60 hanging baskets currently growing in the greenhouse.
When asked if anyone preferred growing the vegetable plants over the flowers, the answer was, “No.” They explained that the vegetable plants take a lot of time between seeding and transplanting them. The vegetable plants are started from seeds, then they are transplanted into six packs, and some are also planted into single containers.
Emma Barton, a high school senior, said that she really enjoys being in the greenhouse. Amanda, a teacher’s aide, and Emma walked me through the greenhouse and told me how the students care for the plants. Emma also explained how they get the plants ready for the sale. To get the flowers to bloom their best for the sale, requires a lot of work including deadheading. The deadheading is done until about two weeks prior to the sale. At the right time they stop deadheading and let the flowers bloom.
The current greenhouse was built in 2018, and the first sale from this greenhouse was in 2019. A previous smaller greenhouse did not survive the snowmageddon winter from a few years ago.
Agriculture teacher Amy Nichols, said the learning goal for the class each year is for the students to see the whole plant process, from the seeding to the production. The floral class is the first semester. In that class the students work with fresh cut flowers and learn to identify the plants. Working in the greenhouse during the second semester allows the students to see the plants come full circle.
The main goal of the plant sale is to make enough money, so the greenhouse will be self-sustaining. If there ends up being more money than it takes to sustain the greenhouse, the extra goes into an FFA general account for classroom supplies and other needs.
The 2025 Cambridge FFA Greenhouse Sale will be held on Wednesday, May 7, 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m., in the sale barn at the Washington County Fairgrounds. There are many plants and it takes three stock trailers to haul all of the plants to the fairgrounds for the sale. You can purchase your plants with cash, check or card. If you miss the sale, and if they still have some plants to sell, you can call or email the school to see what is available for purchase.
