Master Gardeners Club Mentors Students and Staff with School Garden

The Inland Empire Master's Garden Club (IEMGC), a California Garden Club, Inc. affiliate, has recently adopted the Emmerton Elementary School, K-3, to mentor them with their school garden. On Friday Sept. 25, three members of the club, Linda Thacker, Frankie Sexton, and Sue Dawson, met with the students and their teachers at Emmerton Elementary to talk about what they can plant in a winter garden. Frankie gave a demonstration on making seed tapes, which makes for easier planting of spacing out the seeds; some seeds are smaller than specks of black pepper. Sue and Frankie demonstrated making seedling pots out of paper towels and toilet paper tubes. When the seedlings are big enough to plant, the pot and plant go directly into the soil and the paper will disintegrate as the plant grows. Linda talked about how to water raised beds using gallon milk or juice containers. This is an easy way to keep the ground moist while the seeds germinate. The school has five raised garden beds, which the students will be planting as part of their curriculum. Part of their garden will be devoted to food crops and part to drought tolerant and native plants. Ron Lang, a long time volunteer at Emmerton Elementary, is a member of the IEMGC and was instrumental in the adoption of the school garden program. The club will be acting as mentors, and will be available to assist staff and students with answering gardening questions. They will meet with staff and students on a regular basis. The club meets on the third Wednesday evening of each month at the Lawrence Hutton Community Center in Colton, and is open to the public. For any questions regarding the IEMGC, call Linda at 909-887-2268.