They started as seeds, which students grew in their classrooms in little plastic cups. Last week, the seeds had sprouted and it was time to put the lettuce, eggplant, peppers, tomatoes and other produce into the box garden behind the Seventh-day Adventist School.
About 20 fourth form students worked in teams, with some using pitchforks to aerate the soil while others followed them, digging appropriately spaced holes for the young plants. Another group of students put the plants in the spaces made, gently covering them with soil that smelled faintly of manure.
All the while, students were guided by their teacher, Alicia Peters, and Farmers on the Move’s Khoy Smith, on everything from why the soil needs to be soft and broken up — baby plants can’t easily break through tough soil — to how to set up a quick drip irrigation system — just fill a small plastic bottle with water and push it into the soil, upside down, near the plant’s roots.
The garden is part of the students’ agriculture science course, Ms. Peters said. In the classroom, the students learn the science of photosynthesis and other principles of plant biology.
The garden will also be entered in the territory’s school garden competition for the 2014 Farmers’ Week, she said.
See the Jan. 23, 2014 edition for full coverage.
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