Growing an interest in plants

Trinity seventh-graders get tips for starting school garden

Seventh grade students from Trinity Lutheran School walk past a variety of plants on their visit to Lincoln University's Dickinson Research Center on Monday to learn about gardening.
Seventh grade students from Trinity Lutheran School walk past a variety of plants on their visit to Lincoln University's Dickinson Research Center on Monday to learn about gardening.

While most of the students recoiled and squealed in disgust, seventh-grade student Luke Johnson was among the few who leaped out of his seat to hold a roach.

It was his favorite part of the visit to the Lincoln University Extension’s Dickinson Research Center. Trinity Lutheran School received a $250 grant to start its own garden, and the field trip was meant to educate and inspire them about caring for plants, teacher Mary Huhmann said.

During the visit, students got to check out the bee hives, compost area and the green house, where they learned about beneficial insects, plant disease and native plants. They sampled homemade cookies with edible, native flowers baked in and learned natives can be more than a decoration.

The roaches are an example of beneficial insects that can help a garden prosper. The roach crawled around on Johnson’s hand before he passed it along to another student.

Johnson said his family has a little flower bed where they plant lettuce and tomatoes. He even started his own personal compost, but the smell was rank and so he decided to stop.

Participating in the school garden is something he’s thinking about doing.

“It sounds fun,” he said. “Obviously eating plants is fun and so is planting them. I like getting my hands dirty. I’m an outside person.”

While balancing on an old truck tire, Hwei-Yiing Johnson, an associate professor for the extension, talked to the students about the extension’s compost.

“It’s probably not the best looking place, but imagine dumping food waste from the university here,” she said. “Can you tell they dumped food here? Can you smell the food waste?”

It didn’t smell at all and the compost pile looked more like leftover wood chips than the university’s cafeteria waste. Johnson opened a container of worms and scooped them up with her fingers. Worms are the secret, she said. They eat the waste and turn it into the best fertilizer for plants.

Huhmann said it was a component of the lesson she figured they could do in their community garden.

The students also got a lesson in plant disease from Martha O’Connor, a plant pathology technician for the extension. She passed around some leaves affected by diseases along with a healthy leaf.

She asked the students if they or their parents ever plant something and it just dies. Several raised their hands.

“I want you to walk away knowing that plants don’t just commit suicide,” O’Connor said. “Plants want to live; something killed it.”

Plants can contract diseases from people or other infected plants. Before entering the garden, she said it’s important the students wash their hands and wear clean shoes, or designate shoes specifically for the garden.

Huhmann said they’re starting to gather the items they need for the garden and will start out with tomatoes, peppers and pumpkins, which are generally easier to care for. The garden will double as an outside classroom to learn about plants and soil science.

The idea to have a school garden sprung from a self-assessment of what could be improved at the school.

She said the garden will have more activity this summer during the school’s summer camp.