by Kristen Smeal, Garden Science teacher at Saint Philip Neri and ABG Board member
Last March, just a week before the Shelter-in-place orders, students at St. Philip Neri were busy planting radishes, snap peas, kale, broccoli, and lettuce in the school garden. Some plants were started in cups and pots, and some directly in one of 8 raised beds. The site, formerly a gas station, serves as an outdoor Garden Science classroom for grades Preschool-5th.
When the governor ordered a Shelter-in-place, classes at the garden were shuttered for an uncertain amount of time. When two weeks became a longer and longer amount of time, I started to create online content for the students to access: weekly garden videos and lessons, even a Garden Science blog. I still visited and tended the garden during that time, but it felt so empty in the absence of student voices and laughter. I found surprise vegetables planted in mulch, in areas where seeds were divided up amongst students. I even found a secret garden of cosmos and love-in-a-mist planted by a group of fifth graders, with a plant tag bearing each of their names.
When students came back on campus this year, in limited capacity, that emptiness was once again replaced with vibrant life. Even though it looks different now, with spacing markers on the beds, new signs, and separate everything, the garden has been restored with hope.
