Gardeners of the Future

This week I enjoyed one of the best experiences I have had since I have began working with Grow Appalachia. Tuesday afternoon Jason Brock, a Grow Appalachia member and volunteer, and I attended the weekly youth group meeting of Central Presbyterian Church in Hyden, KY and worked with them on designing and planting their community garden.

This group consisted of ten youth ages five to eleven and three adults.  The future gardeners were all so excited to get their garden going and very interested in learning as much as they could about growing a garden and all the rewards that come with it, especially the children. This was a very attentive group of youth who were all eager to learn.

We taught the children how to plant their gardens and about the different varieties of vegetables that can be grown in our region and the benefits of growing their own food and becoming self sustained gardeners. We also discussed the income potential and the health benefits of eating fresh organic vegetables.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We planted a variety of plants including sweet corn, several varieties of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash, green beans, lima beans, watermelon, cantaloupe, ect. The children were already off to a great start with the radish, peas and lettuce they had already planted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can’t wait to see how well their garden grows and work with them throughout this summer.