The Colorado Master Gardener Program: Planting Gardens, Growing People

CMG Outreach in Logan County
Children's Garden at the Sterling Public Library

As a Colorado Master Gardner outreach activity, Tammy Maggard recently had the pleasure of starting a children’s garden at the Sterling Public Library.  She writes the following summary of activities.

Because of the library expansion construction, we had a children’s container garden.  I think this worked out well, and the kids got to take their garden home at the end of the program. 

I decided to have the program available to ages three through eleven.  The program would run six weeks so the children could take their garden home before it got too terribly hot.  I discussed a different gardening topic each week.  My original plan was to plant only seeds and hope the children had patience to wait for something to happen.  I limited the class to thirty spaces.  All thirty spaces filled up quickly and there was a waiting list.  I am glad there was such an interest in gardening!

I was fortunate that the Sterling Public Library was so willing and helpful; we were given the northwest corner of the lawn.  It was a perfect place, not too sunny or shady, plus plenty of room to work. 

I started by finding buckets.  I was lucky to have thirty-five plastic five-gallon paint buckets donated.  I got them cleaned and then the children painted them in bright colors of red, green, blue, and yellow.  Then I drilled holes in the bottoms for drainage.  In the end, I was able to match all thirty-five buckets to thirty-five young gardeners.

The first week we talked about the importance of plants.  The kids really seemed to know how much we depend on plants especially in our agricultural area.  Then came the fun part, they painted their own decorations and names on their buckets.  Each garden had its own personality and theme.  We were working inside where the carpet will be taken out with the library expansion, so they did not even have to be careful.    

Then I got a wonderful surprise!  JC Penney partners with 4-H to provide funds for outreach programs such as after school, summer youth programs and school enrichment programs.  Monies given during their JC Penney Roundup Event would pay for live plants used during the summer Extension program.  We planted on the second week.  The children put a piece of screen on the bottom of their buckets then added the soil, compost and a little manure.  The kids got to pick their own plants out of a selection of petunias, snapdragons, impatiens, verbena, ageratum, lobelia, and violets.  In addition, they planted several different kinds of sunflower, marigold, aster, and zinnia seed.  They learned how to plant them properly.  Then they all lined up with their cups for water. 

Over the next few weeks, I talked about deadheading their flowers and why it needs to be done.  Some were very aggressive dead headers, but they learned to be more careful.  They learned how to thin their seedlings.  I discussed how to water properly and why it is important not to waste water.  They learned about composting and how good it is to add it to the soil.  We talked about what can and cannot be composted.  They learned the difference between an annual and a perennial plant.  Each week the children deadheaded and watered their buckets.

This entire time I was noticing that they were adding decorations like sticks and leaves to their buckets.  Making them their own.  I knew we were going to talk about insects in the garden, so I thought it would be nice if they could make a bug decoration for their gardens.  First, they learned about earthworms, grasshoppers, aphids, ladybugs, moths, butterflies, bees, wasps and other garden bugs and how they each have a job in the garden and why they are important.  Then they got to make their bugs.  We took plastic tops that I had collected from milk jugs, spice bottles, juice bottles and wherever else I could find them.  We wired on wings cut out from milk jugs and foam eyes, and then twisted the wire to make a stick that could be put in the ground.  I think it was the cutest part of the program.  Thirty kids with little bugs on wires flying out to their gardens!

The last day of the program Megan Jedlicka, 4-H agent, came to talk to the kids about 4-H.  The gardens looked so pretty.  They had really started to take off.  I reminded them how to care for their gardens when they got home and how they could reseed them for next year from the flowers they planted this year. 

It was a fun program to do.  It was neat to watch the children take pride in their gardens.  By the last couple of weeks, the children were running to tend their flowers.  I overheard talk of other gardening projects they would like to do at home and how they will take care of their own yards.  The thanks I got at the end of the program were great!  I hope I inspired a love that will last them a lifetime like it has me.  In addition, maybe they will pass that love on to other children some day.

Contact Us

CSU Extension, Logan County Office
508 South 10th Avenue, Suite 1
Sterling, CO 80751-3408
Phone: (970) 522-3200
Fax: (970) 522-7856
Email: coopext_logan@mail.colostate.edu

CMG Staff

• Brian Kailey, Extension Coordinator - 4-H/Horticulture