This summer a total of 17 Special Education students from Jimmy Carter Middle School and Valley High School participated in hands-on gardening activities on the Jimmy Carter MS campus.

Students were engaged in a variety of hands-on learning experiences and were able to see the positive impact they made on the Jimmy Carter campus. The summer gardening efforts at Jimmy Carter Middle School had an immediate and visible impact the school by 1) starting the school’s vegetable garden (filling raised garden beds with soil, planting, setting up the irrigation system) and 2) planting flowers and beautifying the spaces in front of the portable classrooms.

Below is a list of student gardening activities which took place from June 22 through July 22, 2010.

• Cleared sand, weeds and debris from 4 garden spaces in front of 4 BIP portable classrooms
• Gathered and arranged decorative stones to create edges for flower beds
• Moved and worked in soil amendment to 4 flower beds and 4 vegetable beds
• Planted 24 drought-tolerant perennials, 20 sunflower starts, and 6 tomato plants
• Created decorative stepping stones for garden paths
• Moved and spread mulch around plants
• Watered plants

The Safe Schools Healthy Students Initiative supported the project by funding all supplies and paying social workers stipend for leading the project.