Urban Gardening

Urban Gardening — page 1
1 Getting Into Gardening During the spring and summer of 2014 a garden bloomed in the courtyard of Mount Pleasant Elementary School MPE in Livingston New Jersey Parent volunteers and MPE Counselor Jennifer Kelner conceived the garden idea and the school embraced the thought of teaching students about healthful eating and gardening The goal was to show students where food comes from prompt kids to try new foods and give them a hands-on gardening experience Together students parents teachers and the principal obtained a grant from a local farmers market as well as a donation of lumber Several volunteer families built six raised beds in an unused courtyard and a landscaping company volunteered to clean the space move soil and prepare the garden beds Students quickly became involved They chose to plant foods that grow well in New Jersey including tomatoes eggplant basil corn chives peas and yellow squash Students brought recycled containers to use as starting pots They planted seeds watched them grow into seedlings and School gardens are on the rise across the United States 4