Grade school gardeners get ground ready for growing season

How does their garden grow? It's elementary, dear reader.

Last Thursday, fifth and sixth graders gathered at the Evergreen Elementary School garden to prepare the soil for planting, growing and ultimately harvesting.

Tracey Martin's fifth grade class has been learning the science behind growing, along with some math and other lessons. Finally, they were able to put some of that education into practice as they cleaned the garden, which runs along Bennett Street in front of the school.

The class was joined by Julie Williams' sixth grade class, which tended to the grounds last school year.

"The middle schoolers volunteered to come over," Martin said. "It's kind of cool. They know what to do."

Students were getting rid of any weeds and laying down manure, getting the soil ready for all the elementary school kids to plant seeds this week.

"The fifth graders will help the rest of the school plant all the root vegetables," she said. "Potatoes, beets, carrots, radishes. We have zucchini plants and stuff, but that's not till later. It has to get warmer."

Vegetables that grow better in the greenhouse will be planted about the same time as the zucchini, she added.

While sixth graders Jenna Meissner, Lynnea Harrison and Charlie Nelson cleaned up a bed and recalled growing potatoes last year, fifth graders Quinn Davies and Tommy Wickman were just happy to be outside.

"I'd rather be up in the woods and stuff," Wickman said. "The only thing I like about it (gardening) is it draws in the birds so you can watch them and draw them and stuff."

Davies said he'd rather be in the woods as well, building things. Being in the garden, he added, was better than being at his school desk.

"We don't have to do school," he said. "This is way better than school. We don't have to do math or anything like that."

Martin said she will seek volunteers like the Girl Scouts to help tend to the garden during the summer months. Then, in fall, all the elementary students will come together for harvesting the bounty.

"You pick two carrots and two radishes, then they go wash them off," she said. "Then the teachers make soup with the kids."