The pride garden that grew more than plants

Garden wisdom was gained quickly, with summer presenting an immediate problem. Plants need plenty of water during the same months students are away from school, so the club learned to make mini-ollas from empty wine bottles as well as craft terra-cotta stakes that slowly release water into the soil.

One student took responsibility for helping water the garden over summer break, keeping its tomato plants alive until school resumed. Before joining the club, he had been reserved and inclined to go with the flow, according to Hallie Iannoli, who leads the Garden and Food Club. After tending the garden, she noticed him asking more questions, advocating for himself, and speaking up — blossoming, you might say.

When his classmates returned and ate the tomatoes he had helped keep alive, his pride was hard to miss. “I heard him say many times, ‘I made that happen,’” Iannoli said.

The other plants had plenty to teach, too.

A worm bin introduced students to vermicomposting and the role worms can play in creating nutrient-rich soil. They learned to use hand rakes, trowels, and cages and to stake and prune plants as they grew.

Some lessons required a little detective work. Students spotted what looked like strawberries, researched them and discovered they were false strawberries. They could compare the impostors with a strawberry plant they had intentionally propagated. Other mysteries unfolded. Tomato plants unexpectedly popped up in the garden even though no one remembered planting them, turning the surprise crop into another hands-on lesson. The students learned that even a carefully tended garden can produce something nobody planned.

Fall brought a different kind of gardening lesson.

As the students researched how to winterize their beds, they discovered that preparing a garden for cold weather didn't mean tidying up every inch. They initially planned to put cardboard over parts of the garden, but native bees and other insects need exposed soil where they can burrow in for winter. So the students learned to leave patches of ground alone, making a prime winter home for important pollinators.

As their knowledge grew, Iannoli saw students taking more ownership of the club, too. Two members who stayed with Garden and Food Club throughout their middle-school years became leaders, helping decide how the group should operate and instilling messages of kindness among its members.

When conflict once prompted Iannoli and a school social worker to hold a club reset, the students spoke up about the environment they wanted. “They were not only clear on what they wanted, but they were not shy to explain it,” Iannoli said. A group that gathered to garden also cultivated negotiation and self-advocacy skills.