Kids
at the day camp at the South City YMCA are getting a first-hand
feel for what it takes to grow fresh fruits and vegetables.
Eleven-year-old Santez Houston and 11-year-old Jamila Ricketts
recently were in a team of day-campers who planted tomato
plants in a special garden bed on the YMCA's spacious grounds.
Santez
Houston |
A total of over 100 young kids were enrolled in the day
camp which opens each morning with chores at their four
gardening beds. One bed is for tomatoes, another for carrots,
another for sunflowers and a fourth for basil and green
peppers.
The above-ground gardening beds are part of a growing gardening
effort in the metro area which includes both adults and
kids.
Jamila
Ricketts |
Near the kids' gardening beds is a larger area which is
tended by adults in the south city neighborhood surrounding
the Y. Some of the produce from these adult gardening beds
is sold at a developing farmers' market at nearby Tower
Grove Park.
With local gardening growing, more local farmers' markets
are being established.
Ms. Susan Asmus is the program director for kids both
during the school year and during the summer.
Day
camp kids planting tomatoes |
She said the Y's gardening program is being supported by
the Monsanto Co. and Gateway Greening, a non-profit organization
that helps promote community gardening throughout the metro
area. There are over 150 community gardens in metro St.
Louis.
(If you or your school would like to know more about
Gateway Greening, you can visit www.gatewaygreening.org.
For information, call (314) 577-9484 or e-mail gateway.greening@mobot.org.)
Santez Houston will be a 6th grader this fall at the nearby
St. Louis Charter School. He said he's helped plant rose
bushes around his home but the family doesn't have a vegetable
garden.
He said his favorite vegetable is carrots. And, he got
to plant carrot seeds in one of the Y's garden beds this
summer.
Jamila Ricketts will be a 6th grader at McKinley Middle
School this fall. She also has helped to plant flowers in
pots around her home. But, she doesn't have any vegetable
garden either.
Jamila said carrots are also one of her favorite vegetables.
She also said she likes broccoli. She likes it steamed and
then covered with melted cheese.
At South City Y, the kids get a chance to see a wide variety
of garden vegetables and fruits. For instance, the grounds
include strawberry beds as well as other plots of perennial
fruits and vegetables. The area also has fruit trees.
Paige
Werner |
One of the day-campers who attended this summer is 11-year-old
Paige Werner of Sliddell, La. She's been coming to St. Louis
to visit her father and has been attending the Y day camp
as one of her regular activities.
Paige is going to be a 6th grader back in Louisiana this
fall.
She said she helped to plant tomatoes in the garden beds
last summer. But, so far this year, her gardening has been
limited to daily watering of the planted beds.
Paige said she's actually got flower gardens at both her
father's home in St. Louis and her mother's home in Louisiana.
But, as with the other kids, those home gardens are mostly
flowers.
She said, "I tried to get my mother to let me plant vegetables.
But, she said she thought the bugs would eat them up."
Paige said she likes the way gardens look and, "if there
are vegetables, how good they taste when you eat them."
Her favorite is cucumbers, which are served sliced and
with ranch dressing.
Micih
Hines-Shanks |
Ten-year-old Micih Hines-Shanks said his only gardening
experience except at day camp was when he planted watermelons
at his grandmother's place two years ago. He said he got
to eat some of those and "they were quite tasty."
He said watermelons are his favorite fruit and he also
likes mangoes.
Ms. Asmus said the Y has a horticulturist on staff that
helps with the gardening. He also helps the neighbors with
their community gardening problems.
She said the Y is still seeking additional community gardeners.
If you or your family were interested, you could call the
South City Y at (314) 644-3701.
The YMCA also has a wide variety of gardening tools and
other equipment.
One new activity this year is the start of a compost pile
near the gardens.
"We're collecting all our table scraps and other organic
material. We'll use that material for gardening as soon
as it decomposes," she said.
One of the school gardening programs Gateway Greening sponsors
includes ways to produce compost from such things as red
worms and old newspapers. (The worms digest the newspapers
and the resulting material makes good soil conditioners.)
This is the third year for the day-camp gardening beds
at the Y.
The beds are framed with timber and then a fertile mixture
of dirt and nutrients is put inside the frame. This type
of garden can be put in many different urban sites, included
some that don't have good soil.
Several community gardens in St. Louis city are on former
housing sites. The site looks clear, but many have rubble
just below the surface and very little soil.
By giving the plants about eight inches of trucked-in dirt
with ample fertilizer and water, the yields from the garden
can be very high.
