Cultivating Young Gardeners at Garden Club
By Faiza Chowdhury
Summer is finally in full swing, and Garden Club is back to bring us all outdoors and on our feet! On July 8th, the Partnership began this year’s Garden Club programming, where children at recreation centers learn about how to cultivate different kinds of plants.
The Partnership joined Sackett and Zuccolo Recreation Centers for the first day of Garden Club fun!
At Sackett, the children talked to Karen and Hennesey about their favorite types of plants, and some plants they have in their gardens back home. They were all excited to learn about more plants and get started on gardening by themselves!
After a fun hour of Garden Club at Sackett, we joined Nancy and Michelle at Zuccolo Recreation Center, where they had set up an adorable “Plant Petting Zoo.”
The children gathered around in a circle and talked about what kinds of fruits and vegetables they enjoyed eating, what plants they’ve seen in their own gardens, and what kinds of plants they’d like to see. This was followed by ten minutes of learning about different kinds of plants that Nancy and Michelle had brought with them. From there, the kids each picked a plant, from a wide selection of strawberry plants, dinosaur kale, and many more!
After this came the real hands-on fun experience. The children were given the opportunity to sow the plants they had chosen. Everyone received a shovel and got down to work, digging in Zuccolo’s backyard. After they successfully dug holes big enough for their beloved shrubs and placed them carefully into the ground, it was finally time for watering. With two large watering cans, the children set out to water every plant they had in their garden, and they learned to share them equally and fairly.
After a long hour of grueling but rewarding work, we sat down with the kids to reflect on the day. The children learned about how they could take care of the plants, watering them every other day and making sure not to forget about them. We were overjoyed to receive positive feedback, and the kids couldn’t wait for next week to roll around to have more Garden Club fun!