Community Gardens…Planting, Harvesting, Learning

Over the summer, the Master Gardener’s had a day where people in the community could pay five dollars to tour different gardens in the area that are maintained by Master Gardeners. One of the gardens that was on the tour was the demonstration garden at the fair grounds.

My time touring gardens around Emporia made me think of my time living in Marion, Kansas, When I lived in Marion, I worked regularly at the community garden. The produce that was harvested was then given to the food banks. Students from neighboring schools were invited to tour and work at the garden. Families would also sometimes bring their kids to work at the garden. It was such a positive experience for everyone involved.

Kids benefit from the experience of growing things. Some children might be drawn to planting flowers. While other children may enjoy the experience of planting food. I believe that planting something and seeing it grow is good for the brain, body, and the soul.

Activities

Go out and plant something. If your classroom or family is tight on funds, then go gets seeds from the Dollar Store or when you eat a fruit or vegetable keep the seeds. I have bought seeds from Baker Creek Seeds because they have a variety of unique plants that I have come to enjoy growing. All this to say that you do have options. You may plant something and find that it does not grow. Do not be discouraged. Take note of this and take that into consideration when planting in the future. It is a learning process.

If you are needing additional resources for gardening, check out the local library. My library had books and a kit that people can check out.

Have conversations about the things that the kids are growing or that they want to grow. Kids can draw out on graph paper what they would like to grow in their garden and where they would like each plant to go in their garden. An extension of this is that students can calculate the perimeter and area of each garden bed.

Resources

Below are some the books and DVDs that came in the gardening kit in my library.

Kids Garden Community- This website has information and resources about how to start and maintain a community garden.

A tip from someone who has been there.

One of the tools that was in the gardening kit that is available in my local library is a rapidtest suncalc. The tool helps gardeners find out if different parts of their gardens have full sun, partial sun, partial shade, or full shade. This was a cool tool that I did not even know existed until I saw it in the gardening kit in the library. My suggestion is for people to utilize their library and see what they have to offer even when it comes to gardening. I have even heard of some libraries having seed exchanges. I have included two pictures of the rapidtest suncalc. I’m sorry that the one picture is blurry. My camera would not focus on the suncalc, but I still thought the picture could be helpful.