The Senior Garden

The Interview with Leland (12th Grade)

What is your role here at the garden?

I'm a Composter. I pretty much move the compost to the garden to make sure the soil is kept rich.

What do you think will happen to the garden when John leaves? Over the summer?

I don't know. Some of the plants might die due to neglect but some of the seniors are thinking about coming back over the summer to keep it up and running.

What is the garden here for (it's purpose)?

To show us how to be sustainable and how we can become sustainable just by creating a garden like the one we have here.

What do you grow?

We grow onions, snapdragons, carrots, squash, strawberries, pumpkins, zucchini, and I think there might be a little bit of peas somewhere in there. We also have lavender and mint though too, so we have some herbs.

What do you do in class relating to this garden?

We study ecological cycles and stuff like the food chain. You know, like the hawk eats fish, fish eats worm kind of thing.

The Response to This Visit

Was the garden what you expected?

The garden was a little less than I expected. I thought it was going to be a little neater in little patches or boxes but I kind of liked that it was kind of chaotic.

What struck you as interesting?

There was a whole bunch of interesting things about this garden! I loved how it had not only veggies, not only some fruit, not only herbs, but also flowers! This made the garden diverse and I loved that they had a compost pile where they could put weeds. By the way I learned that it can sometimes get to be 120 F in the middle of the piles! That's crazy!

What was your favorite part of the garden?

I loved the little banana tree in the corner and the huge rose bush that they couldn't get rid of. I just liked how quirky it made it because it gave the group obstacles by making them plant around those plants. The banana plant couldn't be dug up because it was historical and it was a nice addition and the rose bush was there because it wouldn't die!

What changes would you do to the garden?

I would make it a little neater, maybe put some of the plants in raised boxes where they can grow off the ground. It would make it look nicer and would be easier to work with. I also would have moved the compost pile a little ways away from the plants to help the aesthetics of the whole garden as well.