MUSCATINE, Iowa — Shane Mairet won’t have to look for a job this summer.

The 22-year-old Wapello man graduated from Iowa State University on May 9 with a degree in horticulture and entrepreneurship. The next week he opened Mairet’s Garden Center at the former Hoopes Melon Shed at 4701 Grandview Ave.

“This was my goal,” said Mairet, who graduated from Wapello High School in 2005 and was a 4-H member for several years.

“I had started my own breeding program and sold a few cows and about six goats to pay part of my tuition,” Mairet said Wednesday as he prepared for the grand opening of his business. It will be held from 9 a.m.-7 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, May 30-31.

Mairet’s Garden Center is housed in the familiar red barn near the Fruitland city entrance. A big concrete melon slice has been a trademark of the farmground there.

Mairet said the busy highway is a great location that he hopes will bring many customers to buy his products. He has planted Indian corn and sweet corn on his 5.5 acres and hopes to plant strawberries soon and pumpkins for the fall.

Mairet’s barn is filling up with flowers and he expects to get a shipment of perennials, trees and shrubs soon. He will also operate a greenhouse on the property, but it hasn’t been established yet.

He hasn’t taken on the project alone. Everyone from his great-grandparents to his 3-month-old nephew have spent time at the garden center while preparations for the opening were made.

“My whole family is amazing. I couldn’t do it without them,” he said.

Grand opening

What: Mairet’s Garden Center

Where: 4701 Grandview Ave.

Hours: 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Saturday and  10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday

Phone: 563-263-2338