Gardeners of all levels are invited to join Purdue University Extension, the University of Tennessee, Iowa State University, and North Carolina State University in the third year of the citizen science experiment called "Citi-Sci: Gardening for Science!" to participate.
The program runs from April to September.
Participating gardeners or citizen scientists, known as "citizen scientists," have the opportunity to grow four different types of plants – two strawberry plants and two marigold plants – some with edible flowers.
Celina Gomez, associate professor of controlled environment agriculture in Purdue's Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture and experiment coordinator, wants to gather information for her industry stakeholders, greenhouse growers. She says: "We want to better understand consumers' gardening preferences and challenges. For example, does it make sense to sell containers of strawberry or marigold plants in different colors rather than a single color?"
The data is collected through surveys. Plants are provided free of charge to citizen scientists to identify gardeners' preferences and challenges. Along with the plants and other materials needed for the experiment, participants will have access to monthly educational sessions led by researchers from each institution's Extension department. Session topics include pest control, healthy cooking and nutrition, and mental health.
Read more at fiorreports.com