Harvest Project Boy's and Girl's Club

The Harvest Project at the Boy's and Girl's Club is a program aimed at getting children involved in gardening. The goal of the project is to involve a group of 10 - 12 children. They will be divided into smaller groups of 3 -4, depending on the number of participants. We hope to have 1 adult volunteer to supervise each group. The kids in each group will choose what they want to plant, what they want to do with their produce, flowers, herbs, etc., and be responsible for weeding, watering, and harvesting. The local 4-H extension agent is also going to be involved. This is what the plot looks like today, January 26. I know by spring it will look much different.

Because the plot is very large, we are going to divide it into smaller areas that will be manageable for the kids. Depending on the number of kids, there will probably be 4 or 5 individual plots. Not sure of the size yet, but maybe 15x15. The remainder of the garden will be planted in corn, beans, okra and melons. Our target date is March 15 to plant spring vegetables such as peas, lettuce, beets, carrots, and cabbage.

This a large pile of mulch that needs to be spread on the garden. I think it's much too big for the kids to handle, so hopefully when the garden is plowed this can also be spread. My goal is to make this an organic garden. We will not be using pesticides, herbicides or any chemical fertilizer. I've been an organic gardener for many years and have had good success.

These are just some of my initial thoughts on the garden. Much more will follow as we begin with the kids. Our first day in the garden will be February 23.