A ‘seedy’ start

To kick off the growing season in Spokane, East Valley School District’s community garden held a seed exchange at East Valley High School on March 19. Second Harvest Food Bank of the Inland Northwest donated a host of seed packets—from carrots to okra to nasturtiums—which gardeners could select for free. “I could just be a glutton here,” said one gardener, eyeing the pile of seed packets. Organizer Lynette Romney handed out sweet corn seeds to people who planned to plant plots in the community garden. This year, each gardener will grow the same type of corn to prevent cross pollination, and everyone’s corn will be grown in the same spot. “I’m learning so many new things,” Romney said. For instance, last year, the garden’s broccoli and cauliflower didn’t fare well because it was planted too soon, she says. This year, those crops will be planted later. Romney recommended waiting until after May 1 to plant. The exchange’s attendants offered a myriad of tips to one another. Echinacea, for instance, has to go through a freeze cycle to develop hardiness. Peas take up a lot of room, and there is such a thing as “burpless” cucumbers. And, don’t grow anything that takes longer than 58 days to produce because of Spokane’s short growing season. Spokane Valley resident Glenna Olsen sat at a table giving tips to David Taylor, a new gardener who plans to plant in the community garden for the first time. When planting carrots, Olsen said, sprinkle radishes between because they come up first, which will indicate where the carrots are. Also, get your seed potatoes in Spokane early. “I waited too long last year and was scrounging around town for them,” she said. Taylor, a Spokane Valley resident and retiree, said, “I’ve always wanted to plant a garden, and it’s a way I can do that without messing up my own back yard.” He plans to work the garden with his grandchildren. Added Olsen, who’s had a garden for about 40 years, “It might be fun to plant a few flowers around the edge—nasturtiums keep the bugs away.” Helping the hungry Last year, East Valley’s new community garden grew 4,000 pounds of food. This year, organizers hope to increase that amount, as well as involvement. The community garden is part of the district’s Farm to School program, which was launched in June 2009. The program is a component of East Valley’s health initiative, which works to promote healthy eating habits and consumption of locally-grown products. More food was produced in 2010 than the district was able to use. The district used 2,000 pounds of the crop, while the rest was donated to the Second Harvest. The bulk of the harvest consisted of potatoes and tomatoes. This year, “I hope to be able to double our donations to Second Harvest and have more district participation from students, teachers and community members,” says Romney, a parent volunteer and chair of the Farm to School committee. John Savage, assistant principal and career-technical education director at East Valley High School, calls the garden “a huge success.” He says, “It created a community partnership with many businesses. Many volunteers helped all throughout the summer. Kids from all levels were involved.” This season, the district hopes to increase its connections to the community through the garden and have more involvement from patrons, Savage says. “We would like to increase the application to our classrooms. Currently our hort-science classes grow the starts in our green house. We have other programs that will also be growing starts and using them as hands on projects for teaching.” In addition, Savage has applied for a grant to start an orchard as part of the community garden. The high school’s horticulture and botany students will be planting broccoli and cauliflower this year, says Romney. In addition, a greenhouse recently was delivered to Harmony High, the district’s alternative high school. Those students will use it to grow plants for East Valley’s community garden as well as the garden at the Spokane County Library’s Otis Orchards branch. “Our students are studying environmental science and are studying the food consumption needs around the world in addition to working on community service through our Teen Outreach Program,” says Barbara Cruse, principal of the Washington Academy of Arts & Technology, of which Harmony High is a part. “The Farm to School project is supporting not only my Harmony High students but is also a support for my middle school students who are in a program called A New Journey. Many of our students live in apartments and don’t have opportunities to grow gardens or to really get ‘dirt under their fingernails.’” She adds, “Our students are learning about the benefits of fresh vegetables, are studying about plants that are the best to grow in this region, are learning about community service, and are learning about growing and harvesting food.” Also this year, two more acres will be prepared for growing, and the community garden has designated “family plots” with 900 square feet of gardening space, large enough to accommodate two family gardens. “I think the family plots in the field will be a better use of that space and provide a more traditional setting for families to garden in,” Romney says. “Currently, I have 10 families wanting plots in the field.” While the community-garden plots are free to gardeners, Romney says the group is asking for donations toward the cost of diesel fuel to help the members of the tractor club who have voluntarily been plowing the fields.