Photo courtesy of Hue Ho, Asa Mercer Middle School

June 2005 Kids Garden News

Welcome to summer - an exciting and busy time for gardeners! Although warm season annuals take your breath away with their beautiful blooms and dazzling colors, the true stars of the summer garden show are the fruit and vegetable plants. Gardeners young and old are mesmerized by their ability to grow such tasty treats and eager to brag about them to friends and family. In this month's garden lesson, we spotlight our fruit and vegetable celebrities and offer some suggestions and activities to help you include nutrition education in your garden- or plant-based curriculum.

In addition to the nutrition-based garden lesson, there is an article about the 2005 Healthy Sprouts Awards including even more activity ideas straight from the award recipients. Also, read our guest editorial by Ildi Carlisle-Cummins on the California-based Plant a Seed for Good Health program. Finally, be sure to check out the Plant of the Month, Resources, and News Items!

Please e-mail our editor with your questions or suggestions. We'd love to hear from you!

Contents

  • Background Information
  • Lesson 1: Taste the Flavor Rainbow
  • Lesson 2: The Traveling Journal

2005 Healthy Sprouts Awards

Spotlight Article: Plant a Seed for Good Health - By Ildi Carlisle-Cummings

Plant of the Month: Tomato

Resources

News Items

 

2005 National Children & Youth Garden Symposium: Making Connections
Discover the importance of connecting kids to plants! At this national conference you can gather tools and discover effective ways to teach in the garden classroom.

2005 AABGA Annual Conference: Rooted in Your Community Explore the power of gardens to transform people and communities at the annual American Association of Botanical Gardens and Aboreta Conference.

Rooted in Community National Conference This conference is a networking and learning opportunity for youth to discover ways to build healthy communities through urban and rural agriculture, and related fields including environmental justice, community gardening, and food security work.

Community Food Security Coalition's Annual Meeting Learn about Youth Delegation opportunities for this conference in Atlanta, Georgia on October 5-9, 2005.

Prepare for Fall: Journey North Engages Students in Tracking Seasons, Animal Migrations Check out this free, interactive, online “citizen science”project with curriculum and activity ideas for K-12 classrooms.

Organic School Garden Awards The Rodale Institute offers cash awards to three school or youth gardens that use organic methods.

NGA Regional Reports Take advantage of horticultural ideas and news tailored for your area.