Those passing by Elmira District Secondary School might take a step back in awe to admire the new front garden, planted by the school’s students. This month, the Grade 11 green industries students took on the challenge of revitalizing the plot, pulling out overgrown weeds, replacing them with new plants and mulch.
“There were a lot of overgrown weeds and thorns and all kinds of things growing in there, so it took us quite a while to finally rip everything out so we could start fresh,” said Melanie Austin, the course teacher.
Every semester, the green industries class tackles a big improvement project, putting what they learn in the classroom into practice to help beautify the school. The revitalization of the garden saw three community partners come together: the Woolwich Gardeners donated plants and funds, Creative Landscaping donated the mulch, and Mitchell Property Maintenance delivered the mulch for free. Students used donated funds to buy plants from John’s Nursery.
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“We ended up planting dwarf hydrangea bushes, some blue fescue grass, and some smaller day lilies,” said Austin.
As part of the project, students researched the best plants to replant the area with based on sunlight availability, soil and the garden’s parameters.
“They had to take into consideration the height of the mature plants, salt tolerance, and it’s full sun there. They had to do some research on plants and figure out what would actually survive there, and what would also need minimal maintenance, as there’s nobody around in the summer to take care of them, so we had to consider that too,” explained Austin.
She added that the state of the garden had been on the back of everyone’s mind since last semester. While the school’s front yard had been landscaped years ago, changes in staff and students meant the garden had not been maintained.
“When my class walked around to see what sort of things around the school needed to be revitalized, they picked that as their number-one thing, as everybody who goes by the school always sees that. They wanted to take that on as a big project for the semester,” said Austin.
The students have finished planting and are still deciding how to complete the landscaping.
“I have a really hard-working class. They all buy into whatever job is in front of them, and they are all willing to get dirty and work hard,” said Austin.
“They were able to come up with an awesome landscape plan.”
Beyond landscaping the school’s front garden, Austin’s green industries class has other projects underway.
“We have grown a bunch of pollinator plants for our property, as well as Riverside Public School,” said Austin.
“And then we also grew a bunch of trees for the Trees for Woolwich program. We grew a bunch of those from seed, as well.”
She added that her green industries class plants the pollinator plants and trees from seeds in the school’s greenhouse throughout the year. Sometimes the students also have plant sales, selling the plants they grow.
Overall, Austin stressed that her green industries class is teaching students lifelong lessons in sustainability that they can use in their own lives, and skills they can use beyond the classroom, wherever life takes them.
“They can plant their own food in the future, so they realize the importance of being able to provide for themselves, whether we’re talking vegetables and food gardens, but it is also important for them to realize what’s happening in the community, like the Trees for Woolwich program and where those trees are going.”
