This summer, Ronnie Goodson, Tre Goins and Donja Moore are learning about gardening from an expert while they're in school.

(For how you can do gardening, see sidebar below.)

The young kids go to Gateway Elementary School in the City of St. Louis. Their school is connected with Gateway Middle and Gateway Michael schools. The three schools are around a huge outdoor courtyard that is full of living plants and animals.

The courtyard includes a pond, wetlands, a miniature prairie as well as a weather station and places for water experiments. It is an living outdoor laboratory that kids get to use every day.

It's so big the schools have hired a full-time gardener and horticulturist. Steve Caven is responsible for keeping everything growing. Also, he helps teach kids about growing things, including garden vegetables.

One day recently, Ronnie, Tre and Donja were in a group that started an experiment in growing beans.

Caven had filled four large containers with specially prepared dirt. The kids then planted bean seeds in a circle in two of the containers. After the bean plants come up, the kids will build a 10-foot trellis so the bean plants can form an arch between the containers.

At the same time, each kid filled a small container to plant his own bean seed. They took them back to class and watch them grow. They'll check how fast seeds in small containers grow indoors compared to those in the large containers outdoors.

Eight-year-old Donja said, "My bean is going to grow taller than the school building."

All three of the boys said their grandmothers had gardens at home.

Nine-year-old Ronnie said, "I cut the weeds and sometimes help in planting." Asked if he likes to eat things from the garden, he said, "I like broccoli the best."

Eight-year-old Tre said his grandmother has sunflowers in her garden. "I've worked in the garden two times," he said.

Donja said he helps his grandmother water her garden.

Teacher Judy Kreitner said she uses the courtyard gardens for different science and ecology lessons. One set of lessons involve the courtyard pond and wetlands and the things that live in it.

"We also check how the plants change in different seasons," she said.

Ronnie said he spotted a bull frog and gold fish. "And I saw a mama duck sitting on a nest with eggs," he said.

Donja said he spotted a duck trying to get into the school building. The school has two resident ducks in the courtyard.

But, sometimes, they get flying visitors from outside. For instance, the day the kids planted their beans, a snowy egret bird dropped in to check out the pond.

Caven said, "You think about us being in the middle of the city. But, St. Louis is on one of the major bird flyways in the country. And, we're only a half mile from the (Mississippi) river." A flyway is a route birds follow as they fly south in the fall and north in the spring.

Another courtyard feature is the footprints of native Missouri animals in the sidewalks. The prints were put in when the cement was still wet. They are put in alphabetical order, starting with armadillo. Bear is next.

Another part of the courtyard includes examples of prehistoric fossils that occurred in this area long before there were humans.

There is also an above-ground water system to show how water flows. And there's an old-fashioned hand water pump like in the pioneer days.

Another major courtyard feature is the weather station. That provides data directly to Channel 11's television weather desk. Also, that station's daily forecast is circulated in the close-circuit TV system in the school.

 

Gateway Greening can give gardening advice Kids who want to know more about gardening should check with Gateway Greening. The organization is affiliated with the Missouri Botanical Gardens. It is a clearing house for gardening opportunities in the metro St. Louis area. Gateway Greening provides advice and assistance for the City of St. Louis' many neighborhood community gardens. Also, its people will help establish community gardens in surrounding areas of the St. Louis metro area. They've even got a special website for kids. Just log on to www.schoolworms.com. Or for general information, check www.gatewaygreening.org.