4-H REPORT: Mapleton 4-H Club gets their hands dirty learning to grow plants

MAPLETON – Mapleton’s 4-H Club spent the spring learning about gardening.  

With 18 members and leaders Lynne Flewwelling, Cathy Dobben and Shayna Morphy, the group spent the  first meeting learning about seeds and how and when to plant them.  

We started different herb seeds, vegetable and flower seeds.  

Elections were held with the following results:

– Felicity Signer, president;

– Kate Wassink, vice president; 

– Austin Schieck, secretary; and

– Colin van der Muelen, press reporter.

At the second meeting, we worked on drawing a garden plan, taking into consideration what we wanted to plant, where and how planting should be done, and the surroundings to the garden.

We also made a rain gauge for measuring rainfall in our garden.

The third meeting consisted of learning about container gardening, and we used the container we brought to make a “salad bowl” container.  

Choosing from different lettuces, spinach, kale, radishes and onions, we planted our salad bowl and took it home to look after it and watch it grow.

The fourth meeting was a field trip to Applebottom Orchard in Palmerston, where we learned about growing fruit trees.  

With over 4,000 trees, we were amazed at all the work it takes in trimming, removing extra flowers and harvesting the apples.

At the fifth meeting, we planted a container herb garden, with our seedlings that had grown from the first meeting.  

We are to care for this container until the Drayton Fair, when we will enter it in the 4-H category.

At the last meeting, we learned about caring for a garden; watering, weeding and insects were some of the topics covered.  

We also planted hens and chicks, which we took home to grow.

— 4-H Club press reporter Colin van der Meulen