Advertisement

Grant helps Spring Hill Head Start students learn about gardening

 
Amiya Keaton, 4, examines a very young grapefruit on a small tree that’s part of Spring Hill Head Start’s collection of gardens, which are full of growing fruits and vegetables.
Amiya Keaton, 4, examines a very young grapefruit on a small tree that’s part of Spring Hill Head Start’s collection of gardens, which are full of growing fruits and vegetables.
Published April 15, 2015

SPRING HILL — The child gingerly touched the tiny green grapefruit that had recently been a flower. For the past couple of months, the girl and her Spring Hill Head Start classmates have seen lots of emerging fruits and vegetables, thanks to a grant written and won by child development specialist Susan Vega.

The grant, called "Gardening for Grades," came through the University of Florida's Florida Agriculture in the Classroom program, sponsored by multiple partners including the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Monsanto Imagine, Fresh from Florida, the Coordinated School Health Partnership, and Food and Nutrition Management.

The $500 was used to buy seed-starter pans, gardening tools, seeds and seedlings, landscape timbers, stakes, nutrients, sheet protectors, hoses and hose nozzles, and pots and containers.

Vega began the semester-long growing lesson with a pre-test. Children were asked to label the leaves, roots, flowers and stem on a drawing of a plant. They were asked what three things a plant needs to grow, to give an example of a root vegetable, to name three fruits and to name what plants release that people breathe.

"I had to develop a pre-test and post-test that would be appropriate for 4-year-olds," Vega said.

To secure the grant, she also had to declare the other documentation she would provide, including journals, comments from parents about the impacts of the program at home, and photographs of progress.

"Each classroom has kept a journal," she said.

Vega said the planting of seeds began in January — among them corn, eggplant, squash, peppers and tomatoes.

In mid February, she said, "we started planting outside.

Seeds that went directly into the ground were green beans, carrots, lettuce and peas.

"We put the seedlings in at the end of February, beginning of March," she said.

Salyna Roth, the daughter of a school employee, donated the grapefruit tree. The children are also growing berries.

"We have blueberry bushes that are loaded with blueberries," Vega said.

They are also growing strawberries. Vegetable and fruit beds dot the campus.

"We had to plan out the plots," Vega said. "The parents put down all the landscape timbers."

Along with the children and staff, the parents also dug out the sand and put in the soil.

"The teachers take the kids outside every day," Vega said. "They measure plant growth, weed and water."

The children draw pictures of the garden's progress.

Leah Valdes is 4 years old. She said her favorite vegetable is carrots and her favorite part of the project was the planting.

Five-year-old Leiana Desousa said, "I like the strawberries, because they taste good."

As the various crops mature, parents will be invited to tastings.

"As the plants produce, we'll harvest," Vega said.