Gardening for the Ridge
Sprouting parsley plants from garden club.
December 15, 2022
All new this year, the Garden Club will help out Shadow Ridge by providing valuable fruits and vegetables once they get their show on the road. Starting a garden in Las Vegas, especially at a high school, will heavily impact the necessities needed from outside sources.
Club adviser, Katie Lynn, has taken it upon herself to create the club after careful deliberation. After getting to work with gardening over the summer as an enrichment program, it became the new spark the school needed.
“The start has been tough. It started with the garden enrichment program over the summer, and then I wrote some grants to get the machines needed.” Lynn continues, “In January, we will receive garden beds donated for our outdoor garden. The machines are crucial because growing food without soil will be the way the gardening world is moving.”
Though the process can be time-consuming and challenging to construct all at once, the club has persevered. As a result, the garden will bloom more prominent and better with garden beds arriving in January.
The club meets on Mondays each week, but the dates and times could change as the club starts to establish itself more and more heavily. Compared to other clubs, the Garden Club is not where students have to show up each time to be a part of the group. Coming and going as each schedule allows is a part of the process; showing up once is better than not.
“I wanted a physical garden for the whole community and school. I also wanted to bring in the hydroponics because there is a lot of food shortage in the U.S., and a lot of the food is being grown hydroponically already.” Lynn explains, “The hydroponics machines are a faster way of growing food and a chance for the kids to learn how to use them and another thing to put on their resume.
Adding something for each of its participants, the Garden Club teaches more skills than how to keep the plants growing. The club establishes the need for more patience, quick thinking, and determination to keep going and trying even when the outcome is a little wonky the first time around.
Senior Audria Morales has dived into the gardening club in her final year as another notch on her resume and a chance to gain more knowledge on things outside of academics.
“I wanted to get involved in an upcoming club for my senior year and picked the gardening club since it was different. I have also recently been growing more interested in keeping my garden in the future.” Morales continues, “I enjoy taking care of the plant, such as watering, replanting, and more, but my favorite is when I get to use the produce from the garden in cooking.”
With influence from her aunt’s garden, Morales plans to learn “how to properly keep a garden and experience growing my fruits and vegetables.”
“Our physical garden, a mini orchard, is supposed to have citrus fruits, pomegranates, lemons, limes, apples, figs, and possibly berries. Definitely vegetables of many kinds,” Lynn adds.
The club opens up all new opportunities outside of planting and growing, which includes abilities and interests that could spark at any moment while working. So next time there is a need for a new hobby or extracurricular, try out the gardening club in portable 12.
