Earning some green thumbs at Deer Meadow School

Twenty-two grade 7 and 8 students from Ecole Deer Meadow School’s creative gardening academy were busy making preparations on Oct. 30 for the spring planting of flowers and vegetables.

The students placed cardboard against corners of the school building that were deemed unusable spots for playground activities. They then sprayed the cardboard with water, put mulch on top of the cardboard and blocked off the areas with railroad ties.

The students will also be replanting trees and attempting to deepen their roots. Currently, some of the trees’ roots are tripping children on the playground and maintenance staff are damaging them when they mow the grass, so the students will be attempting to make the root systems deeper, which will be safer for the students while also ensuring the trees’ survival. In the spring of 2014, the students will be planting fruit trees and building raised flower beds and vegetables.

The local chapter of Communities in Bloom, a non-profit organization that helps communities with beautification projects, assisted the students’ efforts.

The garden will also help take care of water problems at the school, said Lori Clarke, the teacher heading the academy. Water was pooling on the outside of the building near the band room in the southeast corner of the building. Earlier this spring, maintenance staff vacuumed out excess water, but Randy Wiberg, principal of DMS, said no damage was done to the building.

As a result of the water issue, students placed the cardboard and mulch in the corner of the building near the band room and will plant flowers there in the spring.

No planting took place this fall, even though Clarke said there were plans were to plant some bulbs.

"We needed to get the area prepped with mulch before we could do any planting," she said.

Conner Dixon, a Grade 8 student in the academy, said he and his fellow students did a lot of work on Oct. 30 in preparation for the spring.

"We’re trying to beautify the community, so we laid down some landscape ties and we laid some mulch. We’re getting ready for next spring when we’re going to lay down even more mulch, plant some flowers," he said. "I think we’re a good group. It’s a good class and it’s really fun. We’ve got everybody in here who are avid gardeners to people who just got in to try it out and it worked out really well," he said.

The academy started in September and students walked around the community getting ideas, Dixon said.

"It was great. We learned some plant identification, we got ideas for what we were going to do out here," he said.

Becka Zeer, a Grade 7 student in the class, said students wrote letters to potential sponsors, informing them of the school’s plan and getting various donations from businesses around town. She said she has enjoyed the class so far.

"It’s pretty fun working with Communities in Bloom and getting to lay the mulch down and actually do the work and plan it out," she said.

Gerda Vester, chair of the Olds chapter of Communities in Bloom, said during bike rides past the school, she thought it would be beneficial to brighten the area and get students involved in gardening. After approaching Wiberg about the idea, the academy was formed.

"I tried contacting a few different schools and (Wiberg) was the only one who called me back," Vester said, noting that a plan was made for the class after speaking with Clarke and Dawn Fleming, a teacher’s assistant who also helps out with the class.

The academy will end this month before starting again in January and it will then go until the end of the school year. Students may opt to take the entire year or decide to participate in other academies, leaving room for some students who couldn’t get in the class in September.

"I have yet to hear anybody who does not want to come back (in January 2014) but they will have that opportunity to (to take other classes)," Clarke said, adding that more students are welcome to join in the new year.

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