Middle school Garden Club yields bountiful harvest

The William Paca Middle School Garden Club has been working hard to cultivate their crops for summer and fall harvesting. The group, led by Brian Midwinter and Justine Dill, eighth-grade living environment teachers and Garden Club advisors, recently harvested a bountiful crop of various fruits and vegetables for club, school, and community use.

The Garden Club worked hard over the spring and summer months readying eight raised beds into functional gardening space, and have been growing crops in six beds, up from two that were previously used. This year’s club members were able to successfully grow and harvest a variety of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, garlic, onions, banana peppers, jalapeños, poblano peppers, potatoes, watermelon, loofah gourds, tomatillos, among other fruits, vegetables and herbs.

This summer, Garden Club members and their families visited the garden together to harvest the fruits and vegetables, and made sizable weekly donations of fresh produce to the Mastics & Shirley Community Emergency Food Pantry, which serves residents of the William Floyd community. They also were able to set aside and store crops for the school’s “What’s Cooking” class.

“We are very proud of all of our club members and are excited for the future expansion of the garden with a soon-to-be-built greenhouse to continue growing throughout the colder months,” said Midwinter.