Getting their green thumbs

Some area gardening enthusiasts have planted more than just vegetable seeds in their summer gardens. They're cultivating the love of gardening among children.

In Jackson, Verla Carr, Dan Triller, and other master gardeners oversee a group of children ages five to 10 who tend three "square foot" gardens at Litz Park.

In Cape Girardeau, Dortha Strack, who is not a master gardener but is a "trial-and-error" gardener of local renown, supervises a group of 4-H members connected to Grace United Methodist Church. They're raising vegetables in a plot across Caruthers Avenue so elderly people in the church who can no longer tend a garden can still walk among the rows and pick fresh vegetables to take home.

Just a few steps away from the tennis court at Litz Park are three small four-by-four-foot plots. One is a pizza garden where the group grows onions, basil, parsley and tomatoes. Next to that is a small butterfly garden where a butterfly bush, dill, verbena, and other plants that attract butterflies grow. There's also a teepee garden, where morning glories, trumpet vines and gourd vines are training up PVC pipe shaped to resemble a teepee.

"We wanted to start small, and there's not a better way to do that than by square-foot gardening," said Triller.

Since April about 10 or 11 children from among the 14 who signed up come out one evening a week and check their gardens to make sure rabbits haven't dined on their plants. After weeding, watering and looking for bugs, they work on a related project. One week they made concrete stepping stones. Another week the group assembled bug traps donated by Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse.

Ten-year-old Ethan Mirly of Jackson picked some basil from the pizza garden while Triller suggested the boy run his finger over the leaf to get the aroma from the herb.

"The stems are not good to eat; pick off the leaves," Triller advised. "It gives a good flavor. Your mom is going to have to teach you to make pizza."

While he likes pizza, Ethan didn't seem convinced that basil was going to make it taste good. Still, he said he enjoys gardening.

"I like the digging," he said.

The children learn to tell weeds from sprouting plants and which bugs are good or bad. On a recent visit, they found a lightning bug -- a good bug because it won't harm their plants. The week before, they discovered slugs among the plants.

"I asked who wants to get rid of them and they all raised their hands," Triller said. "We had to take numbers."

The first week, Triller said, the children did not know one plant from another, but soon learned to name them all.

Carr said the children seem to be budding into real gardeners, and noted their enthusiasm when they pulled green onions to take home.

"The love of gardening goes along with sharing," she said, "Sharing what they produce, or a start or an herb."

"I love gardening," Triller said. "I hope I can pass this on so it makes a lifelong hobby for them."

Gardening brings a community together, Triller said. The master gardeners are considering expanding the project next summer into a community garden.

At small community garden across from the Grace United Methodist church, Dortha Strack watched recently while three boys in her Young American 4-H group carried water in jugs to the plants.

They know not to get the leaves wet, but B.J. Heuer, 9, his brother Clint, and Blake Telle, both 11, had more fun getting each other wet.

On a recent visit, the three boys built barriers around the pole beans to keep away hungry rabbits. They also built a barrier around a small area next to the garden. They had filled in a hole, and as a prank planted onions in it. The onions were sprouting and the boys didn't want them to be mowed down with the next lawn mowing.

All three work in their family gardens at home, and through 4-H learned how to judge vegetables and prepare them for fairs. Telle said he likes to work in the garden at home.

"I plant seeds, run the tiller and run the soaker hose," he said.

He said he also likes to eat vegetables, especially okra and tomatoes, and enjoys cooking as well. He plans to be a farmer when he grows up.

The 4-H group is raising onions, tomatoes, squash, peppers, shallots, eggplant, pole and lima beans, celery, cucumbers, okra, and beets so the elderly in the church can enjoy fresh vegetables without having to do the work. Strack's son, Jo Wayne Strack, came up with the idea and tilled the plot.

"I got roped into it," his mother said.

Strack appeared to be working as hard as the boys were, but she enjoys it. She has worked for Sunny Hill nursery for more than 30 years, and participates in a radio gardening show with Paul Schnare every Saturday morning. She has gardened all her life and worked with 4-H ever since her own children were members. Now her grandchildren are learning from her.

"They do quite a bit," she said. "It's been a good experience for the kids."

lredeffer@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 160