Treat your green thumb to a garden class

Cold and wet. Mild and sunny. A Chattanooga winter can be all of the above. Heck, a Chattanooga winter’s day can be all of the above.

So gardeners know to content themselves with other pursuits until spring brings more consistently pleasant temps.

And even if you can’t spend as much time as you’d like in the yard, you might have more gardening options than you think. They may not have as many green things growing, but local garden centers aren’t really dormant over the winter. Many offer classes in January, February and March that can help you hone your skills or find a hobby.

Two can get you started this weekend: a Miniature Garden Make & Take Workshop (two class times) at The Barn Nursery and a Kokedama Class at Signal Mountain Nursery.

Store manager Troy Carlson says The Barn Nursery’s gardening classes, which are offered year- round, always draw a crowd.

“They’re hugely popular, particularly this time of year,” he says. “For those people who love gardening, they get a bit of cabin fever. They wish they could be out playing in the dirt. This gives them a chance to play with plants on a small scale.”

The Barn also offers a Terrarium Make & Take Workshop this month. Both classes repeat in February.

No experience is necessary; just a willingness to learn.

“You don’t have to know the first thing about how to build a terrarium or construct a [miniature] fairy garden,” says Carlson. “Our instructors … will walk you through from beginning to end, step by step.”

Signal Mountain Nursery’s Kokedama Class will introduce participants to a form of bonsai grown in a moss ball. (“Kokedama” literally means “moss ball” in Japanese.) Small plants are rooted in the ball, and the form is bound in string to support the shape.

Signal Mountain Nursery also plans workshops on fairy gardens and terrariums over the next few weeks, along with sessions on how and why to attract birds to your yard and how to plant succul ents in a wreath made of cork.

Bees on a Bicycle, Crabtree Farms and Holcomb Garden Centers also have classes to keep your green thumb out of hibernation.