This summer the YMCA has hosted a summer camp at Indian Creek Elementary in the Center School District.  Indian Creek joined our Schoolyard Gardens program last spring, and the YMCA was excited to care for the students’ garden over the summer.

The garden club has met each Friday morning to plant, mulch, weed and water the garden.  Unfortunately, bindweed, a weed that has both roots and stems that spread and wrap around plants making it hard for vegetable plants to grow well, is found in the garden.  Each week the students work to pull out the weeds from each of the six beds.  It is not an easy task, but they are up for the challenge!

The hot weather has also created another challenge for the students.  Luckily, garden club is held in the morning!  While the weather has been hot and the weeds plenty, students have been excited to water and harvest from the garden. Each student was assigned to a bed at the beginning of the program and they each have the responsibility of keeping their bed weeded and watered. This has allowed the students to have ownership and pride in “their plants.”

Each week students have harvested a different vegetable that they take home to share with their family.  The students have harvested potatoes, onions, carrots and finally, this past week, cherry tomatoes!  Most of the cherry tomatoes won’t make it home–students were so excited about them that they ate each one as they harvested them!  The club plans to have a garden party on their last garden club day, using recipes to prepare the cucumbers, zucchini and cherry tomatoes to create food to share with the rest of the summer camp students.