“The Giving Garden” Partnership Turns One Packet of Seeds Into Community Food

Turner Landscapes volunteers and Morgan Elementary students constructed a vegetable garden at Morgan Elementary School as a part of the PLANET (Professional Landcare Network) Day of Service on May 6. Staff and students spent the day working together to renovate a courtyard in the center of the school with raised vegetable beds, trellises for peas and berries, and a rain barrel for water conservation. Students plan to donate produce from the garden to community help organizations who give to those in need.

Kirsten Jones, 2nd grader at Morgan Elementary School, was the girl who brought in the seed packet that started it all.

The idea for the project began with Morgan second grader Kirsten Jones and a leftover packet of seeds.

“Mom brought three packets of seeds home from work,” said Jones. “We had two pots, so there was one packet of seeds left.  I thought we could bring one packet for school to make food for people who don’t have food. I just thought it would be a good idea to let other people in the school help so we could help people in the community.”

Assistant Principal Greg Ross said that when Turner Landscapes asked for grant proposals for a project, Kirsten’s idea immediately came to mind.

“Kirsten brought a packet of seeds to me in February and asked ‘Mr. Ross, can we make a garden to feed poor people?’”Ross said.  “I talked to (staff member) Amanda Ford about the idea because I knew she had experience gardening. I asked her if we could make this happen, and she said we could.  After that things got busy and the idea kind of fell by the wayside. When I saw the grant being offered by Turner Landscapes, I told them Kirsten’s story. I told them if we could get the grant we had a good idea and good support.”

Morgan Turner showing a student how to smooth the blackberry bed.

Turner Landscapes owner Morgan Turner said her company liked the “The Giving Garden” proposal because it offered the students an opportunity to be involved in helping the community.

“You don’t often find a project where kids can truly give back to the community. I have high hopes for the project,” said Turner. “This came from a student, too, so we liked that. We’ve certainly never had 30 kids at once trying to help us. Today was fun.”

Head Start preschool, Kindergarten and First Grade classrooms at Morgan started seeds in mini greenhouses for the garden. Morgan’s K.I.N.G. Club members painted tires that were used for raised garden beds. Ross said that STAR students (students who are recognized each quarter for hard work in the classroom and positive behavior) will be allowed to work in the garden and will be the ones to do maintenance.

Ross said the school hopes to donate produce from the garden to Paducah Cooperative Ministries and Martha’s Vineyard.   

The PLANET Day of Service is an annual event that allows lawn and landscape professionals to organize volunteer projects in their communities to beautify local greenspaces.

In the past two years of the event, PLANET members completed more than 480 projects in 43 states and in Canada, with nearly 5,000 volunteers donating more than $1,000,000 in time, material, and services.

Individuals and organizations that provided goods and services for “The Giving Garden” included Ann Meredith McNeill, Michael Orenduff, Crop Production Services, Edwards Nursery, Erb Equipment, Etcetera Coffeehouse, Ferguson Enterprises, Green’s Silo House Farms, Grover Tire Company, Hank Brothers True Value Hardware, Home Depot, Hope Photography, Horizon Media Group, Lone Oak Trophy and Signs, Lowe’s, Massac Nursery, Midwest Block and Brick, Morris Fencing, Paducah Printing Corp., Phelps Farm and Home Service, Rayco Services, Sherwin-Williams Paint,  and Smithland Tires.