Duncan Middle School seventh-graders work in a flower bed in the school garden.
Seventh-grade science classes took advantage of the warmer temperatures Friday to work in the Duncan Middle School garden.
Allison Bailey rakes dead grass from the garden walking areas.
The garden, which is a project of the Duncan Middle School newspaper class, was previously taken care of by Jeanna Russell, a sixth-grade science teacher, who worked with classes in the garden for years. When Russell retired at the end of the school year, the Demon Direct took on the garden as a service project for the school year.
However, many of the garden work days were canceled because rain and/or cold temperatures. Prior to the news students taking on the project, the garden had become overgrown and neglected. The rainy weather didn’t help the situation.
Although the seventh-grade students worked on the garden Friday, other classes have made plans to use the garden following testing. The newspaper class will be working in the garden on Fridays to continue the progress that has been made.
Friday’s work day gave the seventh-grade students an opportunity to clear out some weeds and remove dead grass from the walking areas. But the garden upkeep is far from over.
The Demon Direct staff is still planning to work with the Boy Scouts of America Troop 4434 to improve the garden. Additionally, the newspaper class applied for the Youth Garden Grant from the Rural Health Information Hub. However, the group did not receive the grant, which was announced in January.
