Our children’s edible garden project, entitled “Growing Food for and by Growing Bodies,” at the Boys and Girl’s club in Ayden is well underway. The project started in February with the children setting up a worm bin and starting seeds or cuttings. With the help of a high school student, Colton Roberts from South Central High School, seven raised beds were built and filled with topsoil and peat moss as part of Phase 1 plan. See the previous posting here for additional detail.
After the grand opening of the new facility in Ayden, the planting of the beds began in earnest. The children were each given a 4 foot by 2 foot section and asked to select and plant their choices from the available vegetables and flowers. The principles of square foot gardening were used to maximize the use of space yielded very diverse garden plots. The students enjoyed making their selections and planted and watered with great enthusiasm. In addition to the children’s vegetable beds, we also planted a demonstration “smelly garden’ which contained a number of fragrant or pungent herbs. By popular demand, a watermelon bed was included and despite some reservations on the part of the students, okra was also planted.
Another bed was planted to demonstrate the Native American tradition of planting corn, squash and beans together, a type of complementary inter-cropping known as “The Three Sisters“. A final bed was also planted in sunflowers as a part of a citizen science program called the “Great Sunflower Project“, which seeks to gather information on bee populations and distribution. This bed is officially known on the project’s website as Ayden Bees Rule. We are looking forward to an interesting summer of weeding, watering, fertilizing, harvesting and EATING!
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