The Work of a Children's Garden Club
I am ever being taught new lessons in my garden:
patience and industry by my friends the birds,
humility by the great trees that will long outlive me,
and vigilance by the little flowers that need my
constant care.
--_Rosaline Neish._
DID you ever see the boy or girl that did not want to get up a club? I
never did; and the reason is that people, young and old, like to both
work and play together. Now a garden club is really worth while, and
although I might simply TELL you how to proceed after getting your
friends to meet and agree on the purpose, you probably will get a much
clearer idea if I relate what a certain group of little folks actually
did accomplish.
Fifteen boys and girls living in old Greenwich Village,--today one of
the poor, crowded sections of New York City, where even the streets are
darkened by a tall, unsightly elevated railroad,--were invited to form
a club that would be taken once a week out on Long Island to garden. A
vacant lot, one hundred by one hundred and ten feet, in Flushing, about
twelve miles away, had been offered for their use, and some of the older
people saw that the ground was first properly ploughed up, for, of
course, the children couldn't be expected to do that kind of hard work.
But they could, and they eagerly did see that the soil was then properly
prepared by breaking up the clods, removing all the sticks and stones,
and getting the earth raked beautifully smooth. Several Flushing ladies
agreed to help, making out lists of the flowers and vegetables most
easily grown there, getting the seeds free by asking for them from their
Congressman at Washington, and then showing the children how to plant.
First a five-foot border was measured off clear around the lot, for a
flower bed, and each child had its own section. After finding out what
each one wanted to grow, one bed was planted to show how the work should
be done,--the depth to put in the seeds, the distance the rows should be
apart, the way to cover, besides the placing of the tallest flowers at
the back or outer edge, and the lowest or edging plants along the foot
path.
This 18-in. path ran clear around the lot, leaving a large plot in the
center. This plot was then marked off by string or wire to divide it
into the vegetable gardens, with little walks between. The vegetable
beds measured about 6 by 9 ft., but as 6 ft. proved wide for small arms
to reach over and cultivate, this year the beds are to be made 5 by 10
ft. At first, too, each child grew its own few stalks of corn on its own
bed, but it was difficult to manage, so now all the corn will be grown
in one patch, where it can be more easily hoed.
The radishes and lettuce, of course, grew most quickly, and within five
or six weeks were ready for the table. On that memorable first day, from
the fifteen beds, over one thousand radishes alone were picked, and that
original planting continued to produce for nearly a month. Successive
plantings brought on plenty for the rest of the season. The lettuce,
too, grew abundantly, while the cucumbers were especially fine. String
beans were ready very early, and three plantings during the season
produced sometimes two to three quarts a week for each child. Tomatoes
grew in such profusion that once during the hot weather when they
ripened faster than usual, a neighboring hospital was given two bushels!
And flowers! The children actually could not carry them away. They took
home all they wanted, and made up the rest into thousands of little
bunches which the city Plant, Flower and Fruit Guild gladly called for
and distributed to the New York City hospitals, jails and missions.
Freshly cut, they would last a week, until the children's next visit to
their gardens. With hollyhocks, dahlias, cannas and cosmos at the back
of the border, and in front stocks, poppies, sweet alyssum, Japanese
pinks, nicotiana, and the loveliest blue cornflowers imaginable, they
offered a choice variety.
How the children loved the work! One poor little lame boy took some of
his morning glory seed back to the slums and planted--where? In a box on
the window ledge of a dark court that never saw a ray of sunshine. (The
woman in the tenement below objected to having it on the fire escape in
front and he had no other place.) And there it actually bloomed, dwarfed
like its little owner, fragile beyond words, with a delicate flower no
bigger than a dime, but answering the call of love.
The gardens thrived in spite of the only once-a-week care. A pipe line,
with a faucet, ran to the center of the lot, and plenty of watering cans
were provided for the weekly use, but during any extra hot weather a
friendly neighbor would turn on her hose in between times to save the
crops. And a children's outgrown playhouse, donated for the purpose,
served as a convenient place to keep the garden tools.
The garden work created general interest in all nature study, and the
children would go on trips to gather all kinds of grasses, wild flowers,
and swamp treasures. These were dried, then classified, and later
presented to the Public Library for the use of teachers and students of
botany. And the little lame boy mentioned made a really beautiful
collection of butterflies.
If the club you organize wants a community garden, almost any owner of a
vacant lot will give you its use,--especially if you offer in return to
give him some fresh flowers and vegetables. If you prefer, however, you
can have your gardens on your own grounds. Then a committee of your
elders could be invited to give you suggestions as to the flowers and
vegetables best adapted to your location and soil, and also to act as
judges at your show. For, of course, when everything is at its best you
will want to have an exhibition. Perhaps some father or mother will
offer a prize,--a book on gardening, a vase or a plant for winter
blooming.
[Illustration: AN OUTGROWN PLAYHOUSE HELD THE TOOLS USED BY THE CHILDREN
IN THESE GARDENS]
Remember that both the Department of Agriculture at Washington, and your
State College of Agriculture are anxious to help this kind of work. The
former gives you all the seeds you need, free of charge. Write to some
well-known seed houses for catalogues, and you will get particulars
about all the different varieties. Go to your Public Libraries, and you
will find the most fascinating books, many written especially for
children, telling you just what to do. "When Mother Lets Us Garden," by
Frances Duncan, is one of the best and simplest, while "Little Gardens
for Boys and Girls," by Higgins, "Mary's Garden and How It Grew," by
Duncan, "Children's Library of Work and Play Gardening," by Shaw, and
"The School Garden Book," by Weed-Emerson, are all intensely
interesting.
If you find yourself so successful in your work that you have more
flowers and vegetables than you can use, remember that there are always
plenty of poor people in your own town who would gladly accept your
gifts, and any church organization would tell you how to reach them. If,
however, you are trying to earn some money for yourself, you can always
find regular customers glad to buy things fresh from the garden.
For a meeting place during the summer, why not plan a flower club-house?
Perhaps some of the dear old grandmothers will give you a few
hollyhock roots, which you can plant in a circle big enough to hold
your little club. Leave an opening in the ring just big enough to enter
through, and before the season is very far along, the hollyhocks will be
tall enough to screen you from the passerby. The hollyhocks sow
themselves, and come up every year, and hybridized by the bees, show
different colors every season. Better still, go to the woods for a lot
of brush, stick it in the ground to form a square room, and cover with a
brush roof. Over this you can train wild honeysuckle, which you can find
in lengths of ten and twelve feet. Or you can buy a package or two of
the Varigated Japanese Hop, which will grow ten feet in a month or six
weeks,--and sowing itself, come up and cover your house every year.
A garden club proves a source of pleasure through the winter, too. You
can go on with the care and cultivation of house plants, and the growing
of all kinds of bulbs. You can meet regularly at the different homes,
and have the members prepare and read little papers such as "How to Grow
Roman Hyacinths in Water," "The Best Flowers for a Window-Box," "Raising
Plants from Cuttings," "Starting Seeds Indoors," "How to Make a Table
Water-Garden," etc.
In case you wish to know exactly how to organize and conduct a club,
just like big folks do,--get from your Public Library a book called
"Boys' Clubs," by C. S. Bernheimer and J. M. Cohen. This has also a
chapter on girls' clubs, and it tells you all about club management, so
that you can have a lot of fun at your meetings, besides learning a
great many important things in a way that you will never forget.