In the garden with kids on 9/11: wonder, excitement and hope

This past Tuesday, amidst the sadness I continue to feel on Sept. 11 every year, remembering the events of that horrible day, I had the opportunity to share an hour outdoors in beautiful weather with a gaggle of 6- to 9-year-olds.

Students at the Peconic Community School, established this year and located on the East End Arts campus, were eager to learn about gardening and serve the community by helping out at River & Roots Community Garden.

The children and their teachers walked along the riverfront to join us. The kids were attentive and respectful while Laurie and I introduced ourselves, explained that each garden bed belonged to a different person and that the vertical garden is cool.

The children were very excited to taste EVERYTHING. We showed them the herb beds where they tried leaves of lemon balm, sage, oregano, anise hyssop, rosemary, thyme and sorrel. Their palates were more adventurous than those of many adults I know. They even bravely ate the peppery nasturtium flowers. Although I must admit that after seeing one boy’s face scrunch up at the taste I told them that it’s okay to spit some things out.

But their favorite new flavor was the ground cherries. We call them ‘garden crack’ because once you try one ground cherry you can’t stop eating them. People, young and old, are routinely seen in the garden peeling the paper lantern away from the ground cherry and popping it in their mouths.

After the visit to the ground cherry bed the kids visited their garden bed. Our garden is full and we did not expect to have a bed for PCS but a generous member of our community, Steve Romano, is allowing the kids to use his garden bed for fall planting.

The kids broke into teams. There was a frenzy of activity while they labeled rows, dug up compost, and hauled buckets. They planted lettuces, radish, beets, and carrots and watered their new bed.

When Laurie and I left the garden the teachers were helping the kids harvest raspberries. They were planning to take some back to the school with them but I think the kids ate more than they placed into their bags. And that’s an image I want to merge into my memories of 9/11. I hope that this past Tuesday helps future 9/11s become not only a day of remembrance of the lives lost but a reminder of why we picked ourselves up on 9/12.

Tomato blight update:
It’s around. Thankfully late in the season, probably because it was so dry this year. If you have blighted tomato plants save any fruit you can and dispose of that plant in a plastic garbage bag, do not compost. River & Roots Community Garden was part of a blight resistant tomato trial with Cornell Cooperative Extension this season and while the non-resistant varieties got blight the resistant ones have not.

In the garden:
• Direct Sow: radish, kohlrabi, lettuce, spinach, arugula, carrot, endive, turnip
• Start planning for fall bulbs. Decide on tulips, daffodils, hyacinth, crocus. Plant in October. Plant as soon as possible or store bulbs in cool dry place.
• Find garlic for planting in October.

Amy Davidson is a resident of downtown Riverhead and co-founder of River and Roots Community Garden. She has been a backyard gardener for 15 years. When she is not in the garden she is herding seven chickens, two dogs, two cats, two kids and one very patient husband.amy@riverheadlocal.com