Math, science, art
and other skills grow as students
tend garden at Delray school.
Adrian Burke (left) and Zane Lingmerth stretch string to delineate 1-foot garden spaces
at Plumosa School of the Arts in Delray Beach. The kids learn that all they need
is one square foot to grow a garden plant.
Photos by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star
Student Tiana Turner chats with volunteer Tom Sand, who provided
the impetus for developing the school’s garden.
‘When I see the kids out here, they are always smiling
and full of enthusiasm. They really take ownership of the area.’
— Tom Sand
By Deborah S. Hartz-Seeley
Although many teachers turn to textbooks and computers to teach children math, science and other subjects, those at Plumosa School of the Arts in Delray Beach are turning to the great outdoors.
“Our vegetable garden is an outdoor classroom where the kids can really get their hands dirty,” says Sally Smollar, the librarian and garden coordinator at the K-5 school serving 650 students, many from low-income families.
Here behind the school, a fifth-grade class gets its hands-on math by dividing raised beds with string into 1-foot squares and then inserting a seed or seedling into each square. Other students graph the growth of a tomato plant. And the kids in art classes paint wooden spoons to stick in the ground and identify the crops.
“When I see the kids out here, they are always smiling and full of enthusiasm. They really take ownership of the area,” says Tom Sand, a volunteer at the school.
In fact, it was Sand who was instrumental in getting this garden growing.
Originally, there was only a haphazardly tended plot with a few cocoplums, a lot of dirt and a bit of artificial turf surrounded by black chain-link fence.
“It was pretty sad,” says Smollar.
Sand was volunteering to read to the students, during which time he became so impressed with the school that he asked Smollar how else he could help.
Sally Smollar directs students in the garden at Plumosa School of the Arts in Delray Beach.
Photos by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star
That’s when she showed him what there was of a garden and told him of her hopes for its becoming a place where the students could learn about everything from healthy eating to the multiplication tables.
Her dream struck Sand, who was looking for a way to honor his late wife, Mary, who had been an avid gardener and worked with children’s books.
So he presented the idea to his coastal Delray Beach friend and neighbor Katherine Hagedorn Littlefield, who is vice chairwoman of the Scotts Miracle-Gro Co.’s board of directors. Funding the project fit right in with the company’s commitment to help create 1,000 new community and school gardens by 2018, when it celebrates its 150th anniversary.
Work at Plumosa began in August, when a crew arrived to build boxes for raised beds, plant banana and papaya trees and reroute the irrigation system to water the beds.
Smollar remembers the day in September when a semi-trailer truck arrived from Orlando filled with organic soil and eucalyptus mulch to fill the beds. The garden officially opened later that month.
As you approach the area, you’ll notice artwork of bright blue sky and plenty of sunflowers inhabited by gracious red ladybugs and plump yellow and black bumblebees. The students painted these on planks of discarded wood Smollar had salvaged.
Approach the chain-link gate to the garden and you’ll see a sign made from artwork the students created on computer tablets in Smollar’s digital media class.
When we visit, one of the raised beds is filled with tomato plants heavy with yellow blooms held up by red, blue and yellow wire cages. Another is home to red-stemmed Swiss chard, fluffy leaf lettuce and dark green spinach.
In yet another area, Brussels sprouts look like they are struggling in the late season heat. Smollar realizes she’ll have to restart them.
Many of the plants are raised from seeds in foam egg boxes and replanted into the beds when they are only a few inches tall.
The kindergarten class planted pineapple crowns this year. Since they can take up to two years to produce fruit, Smollar hopes these children will get a chance to taste it.
For the students and teachers at Plumosa, this is an ideal way to get the children outdoors to teach them lessons they will use throughout their lives, including the pleasure of growing things.
The garden is dedicated to the memory of Mary Sand, who was an avid gardener.
Her husband, Tom, volunteers at the school.
And that makes the plaque that dedicates this garden to Mary L. Sand even more meaningful. It reads that the garden is:
“For every student to learn the wonders and joys of gardening.”
If You Go
Plumosa School of the Arts, 2501 Seacrest Blvd., Delray Beach; 330-3900.
The classroom garden is open to the public by private tour only. Those interested may contact Sally Smollar at sally.smollar@palmbeachschools.org.
Gardening tip
of the month
“Do research online and talk to others to be sure that what you choose to grow is appropriate for our climate and that it will grow in our heat. Find out what grows successfully in our USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 10B and then stick with it.”
— Sally Smollar, librarian/garden coordinator for Plumosa School of the Arts, Delray Beach
Deborah S. Hartz-Seeley is a master gardener who can be reached at debhartz@att.net.
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