Teaching youth how to garden provides them with life-long skills and the appreciation of growing food.  Gardening also encourages them to eat the vegetables they grow. The Daviess County Cooperative Extension Service Office partnered with Girls, Inc. during the 2021 summer session.  The horticulture agent provided gardening hands on growing instructions and explored the parts of a seed. Twelve participants planted four raised beds with tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, and cucumbers at their facility.  Half of the participants were growing vegetables for the first time.                

As a result of the program, all of the participants learned about the parts of a seed and what role they play in developing into a plant.  They also learned about caring for a garden including removing weeds, properly watering the plants without touching the leaves to reduce the possibility of disease, insect pests,  and harvesting.  One student said that she learned the tomato plants have suckers and these should be removed for best tomato production.  The participants watered, weeded, and harvested the produce from their raised beds through the summer.