Hard work of gardening

Gardening is hard work - especially after a rain like Sidney had this week. It's muddy and messy, and sometimes best laid plans can be thwarted by weather or pests, but the benefits of gardening for kids are many. Through gardening, they learn responsibility, cause-and-effect, and a greater understanding and appreciation for nature and its workings.

Hands for Growing is a local program in Sidney committed to helping teach students benefits of what hard work can produce, not only in the soil but in their lives. The Doves program, pairing with Saint Patrick's Catholic Church, founded the program in 2004.

The garden in which group participants have been getting their hands dirty has had a few locations through the years. Its current home is in Legion Park on the east side of the horseshoe pits in an area donated to the program by the city's parks department along with planters, tilling and large rocks the children painted different colors.

"The guys from the parks department have just been super," Pat Mertz, Pastoral minister at Saint Patricks, said.

Vickie Williams, from Doves, and Joan Falcon of Saint Patricks, were also on-hand Tuesday teaching the children gardening and relationship skills. The program teaches healthy gardening as a metaphor for healthy relationships, Williams said.

This summer is Morgan Jagger's second gardening and learning with the Hands for Growing program. Jagger said she enjoys meeting new people and being able to learn how to plant different types of plants and flowers.

On any Wednesday morning, passers-by can find the group gardening until 10 a.m. Afterwards, the kids get together for snacks and games or discussions on a lesson they can draw from the work they put in that day.

"Today we learned about good foundations," Mertz said. "Healthy soil makes the garden grow, what makes good foundations in relationships."

Every year, it's something slightly different. Last year, the group painted its tree purple, the color for the Doves program, and created a lasagna garden, where the kids layer newspaper and soil to create compost in the garden bed. This year, they took an old pallet and planted herbs in-between the slots, keeping the same herbs in the same rows and reducing weeding.

"We find a lot of great ideas on Pinterest," Mertz said.

Williams' husband Blake helped to grow a lot of the this year's plants, ensuring they were ready for the kids to plant after the frost. Bomgaars retail store has also been a huge help, Mertz said.

"We are very thankful for all of their help," he said.

Currently, the group could use donations of cinderblocks, to be utilized in their next raised garden bed, and gently used landscaping items.

"We are looking for more kids to participate in the program, students going into grades six, seven and eight," Mertz said. "There is a $10 registration fee to help with supplies, but that can be waived if need be."

For more information or to register for the program, contact Joan Falcon at (308) 254-2828 or Vickie Williams at (308) 436-3657.