The Children's Garden

2017 is the 25th consecutive year Master Gardener Volunteers have offered a summer gardening program for children through Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County. Growing interest in this program has led to a renovation of the garden, including a new pergola and paved walkway, hoop houses for growing early and late season vegetables, as well as identification and special care of many pollinator-friendly plants in the garden.

Popular projects for the 2017 Children’s Garden program include:

• Making newspaper pots, and then potting up seeds and transplants to bring home to grow
• Identifying weeds by making weed ID books to bring home for future use
• Learning about the various garden areas and the variety of butterflies, birds, and insects attracted to them
• Adding food scraps to our 3-bin compost system and learning why “Rot Rules” in the soil kingdom
• Planting square-foot gardens to grow food in raised beds
• Harvesting vegetables and fruit from the hoop house, raised beds, and teepee
• Playing in the bean teepee, sunflower house, and gazebo

Favorite activities from previous years include a visit from the Worm Lady, a tour of the Butterfly House at the Farm, a wagon ride tour of the Farm, and much more. On the last day of the program, we’ll enjoy a celebratory feast, prepared from bounty we harvest from the garden.

The 2017 program provides a hands-on gardening experience for children. Children ages 5 and up are best suited for the program, which is not parent participatory. They will be divided into two groups – ages 5 to 8 years and 9 to 12 years – with age appropriate activities for each group. All children will keep nature journals to record their time/experiences in the summer program at the Children’s Garden.

The eight-week gardening session will meet on Wednesday mornings July 5 through August 23 from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. No makeup dates will be offered for sessions cancelled due to rain. Please let us know in writing if your children have any serious allergies.

We hope this summer session will fit into your family schedule so your children can join us this year.

Click here for a Registration Form.

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If you have any questions or would like more information about the Children’s Garden:

Last updated June 27, 2017