Arnold Youth Garden includes gardens at Arnold Elementary School (AES) and Severn River Middle School (SRMS) was founded in 2014 with an Unity Gardens Grant, and continues to be supported by both schools’ parent-teacher associations. Arnold Youth Garden is an Anne Arundel County Master Gardener approved project that provides education to the school community on conservation landscaping, native gardening, and mindfulness in nature.
This project re-launched after an 18 month COVID hiatus due to school closures. We were happy to break ground in spring 2022 on two new gardens at AES in the rear courtyard. An existing landscape was re-planted as a native garden, and another area was enlarged to include new native plants. The gardens offer seasonal color, texture, and a variety of spring early blooming and fall late blooming pollinator plants for the benefit of students, who are not present during summer. The garden also provides a chance for students and parents to volunteer by maintaining the gardens.
A focus of this project is teaching mindfulness in nature while gardening. This fall, Master Gardeners spent time with about 500 students from AES teaching about the insects and animals that rely on habitat created by the garden. Additionally, Master Gardeners, students, parents, and staff created a patio pottery garden and maintained the mediation and memorial gardens at SRMS. We were so impressed by the students' enthusiasm and existing knowledge that we've started planning a new garden at AES that will even more fully involve students, parents, and staff, pending COVID regulations.
If you are interested in volunteering for Arnold Youth Garden, please contact the Project Chairs, Joni Miller (AES) or Jessica Zinder (SRMS).
Jessica Zinder - jessreich2@yahoo.com
Joni Miller - jonisralla@gmail.com