Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer
Back in November, the Pocahontas County Grow This! team won second place and $7,500 in the first WVU Extension Service Grow This! Throwdown. The statewide competition pitted county against county in a series of challenges during the growing season.
Now with the $7,500 in hand, the team leaders only have one question to answer – “What do we do with the money?”
Those team leaders – Tammy Hively, Mia Evans, Hallie Herold and Mary Sue Burns – worked together to create a plan and they decided to use the funds to make container planters for the libraries and members of the team.
“The seeds we’re getting from Grow This! this year are geared toward container gardening,” Hively explained. “We don’t have everything fine-tuned yet, but we’re going to build planters that will hold a container the size of about 18 by 18 inches.”
The seed packets provided by WVU Extension Service this year are chives, pickling cucumbers and mesclun lettuce.
“They’re making people aware that there are other options if you don’t have a plot of land or a greenhouse or high tunnel,” Hively said. “If you just have a little patio then container gardening still works.”
This spring, the team will have two work sessions at the Green Bank Library to assemble the planters. The first set will be herb gardens that will be placed at the county libraries that wish to participate.
The herbs grown at the libraries will be available to anyone who wants to snip a few to take home.
The second set of container planters will be made available to members of the Pocahontas County Grow This! team, which has members from all over the county.
“We’re not sure how many are going to be at each library with herbs,” Hively said. “Then the throwdown team can also have one to take home as a reward, if you will, for being part of the throwdown team. That’s how we’re spending the money. We’re giving it back to the community.”
The team will buy supplies locally for the planters, including lumber and seeds or plants to put in the herb gardens.
Once those two projects are complete, if there is any money left, it will go toward the community gardens in the county.
“We plan to do improvements to the existing community gardens in the neighborhoods,” Hively said. “Maybe fence. Maybe landscape fabric. Whatever they need.”
The Grow This! Throwdown competition for 2025 was kicked off in January with the seed giveaway and the Pocahontas County team is getting excited about the upcoming challenges.
Those interested in joining the team may do so by joining the Facebook page “Pocahontas County WV, Grow This! Throwdown Team. Information about the challenges and gardening tips are shared daily on the site.
The team leaders have their sights set on first place this year and with new members joining every day, they are sure it will be quite the throwdown.
