Starting a vegetable garden can be tricky -- all the more so if your garden is small or you're not sure if you've got good soil. Grow Pittsburgh, a non-profit promoter of urban farms, wants to help. Next month, the group will offer the first of three six-hour courses on vegetable growing. Geared to the beginner, the three two-hour sessions will cover all the basics, from composting, seed starting and soil preparation/amending to planting schedules and garden structures.

"We're also going to go over what organic gardening means," says Marshall Hart, who supervises the Braddock Farm site. Other teachers are Josh Burnett, who runs Grow Pittsburgh's Edible Schoolyard project, and operations manager Susanna Meyer.

Cost is $50; classes -- probably be limited to 30 students -- will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. on March 11, 18 and 25 (Thurs.); April 6, 13 and 20 (Tues.); and May 3, 10 and 17 (Mon.).

Registration: growpittsburgh.org, or 412-362-4769, or in person at 5429 Penn Ave., Garfield.

-- Gretchen McKay

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