What a summer! I am a science teacher for the Melba School District, and one class I teach is Horticulture. I wanted more experience in that area, so I accepted the assignment to work in the garden at BUGS. What an amazing place this is! I recommend you take a moment and Google Boise Urban Garden School and see what they have to offer. Throughout the summer they offer 2 different day camps. For younger children they have a Garden Camp to learn about planting, harvesting, composting, pollinating, and sustainability. They also have a big red barn on sight which has an industrial kitchen in it for older student to come to the Culinary Camp. These kids learn how to harvest from the garden and cook what they harvested. We all get to enjoy a delicious lunch full of delicious vegetables grown on site.

As part of the gardening crew, I helped direct sow seeds, transplant sprouted seeds, weed, fertilize, water, and harvest the fruits and vegetables that grow there. There are different sections in the garden and each row of each section is assigned a number. The head gardener has a computer program that will tell us what to plant, where to plant, and when to plant it. Since each week has new campers, we planted successions of vegetables, so they were ready throughout the summer for the different camps. I learned about okra, ground cherries, eggplants, varieties of cucumbers, kale, lettuce, and a variety of herbs. Like a true Idaho girl, I even got to plant potatoes!

I will definitely take what I have learned back to my classroom. I hope to eventually have raised garden beds at Melba where students can plant and harvest vegetables for a salad each semester. Until I can get those beds, I will have to make do with small planter boxes in my classroom to teach about soil health, fertilizer, composting, planting, and harvesting. This will be a great opportunity to for my students to have hands-on experiences in gardening. Thank you BUGS for allowing me to be a part of your crew this summer!