How to Start a Vegetable Garden

How to Start a Vegetable Garden
By Katie Stagliano, age 11

Starting a vegetable garden can be great fun and full of surprise such as the 40 pound cabbage that I grew that changed my life! I am 11 years old and I have several vegetable gardens that I started after I grew my forty pound cabbage. What makes my vegetable gardens a little bit different is that I donate everything I harvest from my gardens to soup kitchens to help feed people in need.
If you want to start a vegetable garden for your family to enjoy or if you too want to plant a garden to feed families who need help putting food on their table, getting started is easier than you think. First, decide what type of garden you would like. You can choose from a few plants in pots, a raise bed garden or a garden planted directly in the ground. Selecting which one can depend on how much space you have. If you live in an apartment or have a small yard, plants in a pot maybe your best choice. If you have a large yard, a raised bed garden or in the ground garden is a great choice, you can even reuse an old sandbox and turn it into a raised bed garden. Keep in mind plants need sunlight to grow, so plan your garden in a sunny spot.
Your next step after selecting where you will have your garden is making sure you have good soil. When planting in pots, purchasing potting soil in bags is a good choice. For a raised bed garden made in an old sandbox (make sure it doesn’t have a bottom) you can also fill it in with bags of potting mix. If you want to plant your garden in the ground remove all of the grass and rocks before you start. Tilling or breaking up the soil will help when you are putting the plants in the ground.
What is the next step? Planning what you would like to grow! There are so many choices. You can pick your favorite vegetable to grow or try something new like okra. I prefer to plant with seedlings, a young plant.   You can buy seedlings at Wal-Mart, Home Depot or Lowes and if you are in the 3rd grade you can get a free cabbage seedling through the Bonnie Plants 3rd Grade Cabbage Program by asking your teacher to sign up at http://www.bonnieplants.com/CabbageProgram/tabid/81/Default.aspx.   Bonnie plants use peat pot that make planting fun and easy with less waste. The tag that comes with the plants is very helpful. It teaches you how to plant and when to harvest. Dig a hole for your plant be sure to make it larger than the plant. Gently place your plant in the hole, fill in dirt around it and be sure to water it often enough, but don’t flood it. Also, if your plants don’t look quite right, try fertilizing them. Fertilizer is a great way to help your plants thrive.
It’s important to plant your garden at the right time, and the key is knowing when your area will see its last spring frost. You may lose your warm weather crops if you put them in the ground too soon. You can check the Old Farmer’s Almanac freeze chart by clicking here- http://www.almanac.com/content/frost-chart-united-states#chart.
The next part is amazing! Water, fertilize, keep the weeds away and watch your plant grow. Before you know it you will have vegetables to pick. You will be amazed at how delicious the vegetables you grow are. It’s that simple! And fun!
To learn more about what I do, go to www.katieskrops.com.

Another Garden

Who  knew I’d find a spot for ANOTHER garden so quickly? During our last visit to Tri County Family Ministries my dad said, “I see you guys don’t have any land for a garden.” Ms. Sue (she runs Tri County) whipped around in her chair, “Do you see those three boxes over there?” she pointed to three 20 by 4 green boxes, “We can use those.” Hopefully all will go well and I’ll have another garden at Tri County Family Ministries the soup kitchen where I donated my huge 40 pound cabbage. That will be great for them because they can go and harvest any fresh vegetables when they need them. My mom and I scoped the area out and we think we’ll plant herbs, tomatoes, and green peppers.  Let’s just hope! And while I’m talking about Tri County I’d like to honor/thank Leo. He was a volunteer there and was hit by a car and died this week. I am very sorry for his friends and family. And thanks Leo. It’s people like you that really impact the fight against hunger just by helping at the soup kitchen.

Disney Friends for Change Grant

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Local Contact: Kristen McMullen

Director of Communications & Alumni Relations

Pinewood Preparatory School

1114 Orangeburg Road

Summerville, SC 29483

Office: (843) 376-0142 ext 2002

KMcMullen@PinewoodPrep.com

 

Youth Service America Contact

Brandon Gryde

202-296-2992 x 128

bgryde@ysa.org

 

KATIE STAGLIANO AWARDED DISNEY’S FRIENDS FOR CHANGE GRANT TO ADDRESS ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

Grant supports environmental initiatives that culminate on Global Youth Service Day 

SUMMERVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA – Katie Stagliano, a Pinewood Prep 5th grade student, was one of 75 successful applicants around the world to receive a $500 Disney’s Friends for Change grant supporting youth-led environmental initiatives for Global Youth Service Day (GYSD), the largest service event in the world, April 23-25. Disney’s Friends for Change: Project Green (www.disney.com/projectgreen) is a program that encourages young people to take steps together with their friends to help the planet. The grants, administered by Youth Service America (YSA), offer youth the resources they need to bring environmental initiatives to life for their local communities.      

Each Disney’s Friends for Change grant recipient participating in GYSD will join the thousands of projects and millions of youth who work to make their communities a better place. The funded service projects will address a broad range of environmental issues including clean water, creating community gardens, and raising awareness about renewable energy. 

 In Katie’s project, Growing for the Greater Good, Katie along with her Pinewood Prep classmates will plant 14 rows of vegetable seedlings in a large scale vegetable garden located on the school grounds.  Everything that is harvested from this vegetable garden will be donated to local soup kitchens to help feed families in need in our community. This garden was started and is run by the young Pinewood student. The garden will be planted on Friday, April 23, 2010.  Local elected officials will be invited to Pinewood Prep to help support Katie and her classmates on Global Youth Service Day.

 “Over 12 million people in the United States alone go to bed hungry. Many of them are right here in South Carolina. I am very excited that Disney and Youth Service America selected me to receive this grant that will help me provide fresh vegetables to people in need in my community. The generous donation of vegetable seedlings for the garden from Bonnie Plants will help make a huge impact in my fight against hunger too. It is the best feeling to be able to help families who are struggling have a healthy meal,” said 11 year-old Katie Stagliano.

“Youth around the world care a great deal about the environment,” said Steve Culbertson, YSA president and CEO. “Disney’s Friends for Change grants are providing thousands of young people an opportunity to address those environmental issues that are the most pressing in their communities. And participating in Global Youth Service helps raise awareness of how children and youth are working towards creating a healthier planet.” 

For more information about the Disney Friends for Change Grants, visit Disney.com/projectgreen. To learn more about Global Youth Service Day, visit www.GYSD.org. 

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Disney’s Friends for Change: Project Green is a multiplatform initiative that helps kids help the planet. Through the program, kids can learn practical ways to help the environment, get their friends involved, track their collective impact and have the opportunity to help Disney decide how $1 million in donations to various environmental causes will be made over the course of a year. Kids can join online at www.Disney.com/projectgreen, where they’ll commit to taking simple everyday actions, such as turning off the lights and switching to reusable water bottles, and find out more about why these actions matter. To date, kids have taken 1.5 million pledges that stand to prevent more than 70,000 tons of carbon emissions per year, save nearly 122 million gallons of water per month and prevent close to 200,000 pounds of trash from entering landfills every month. 
 

Youth Service America (YSA) improves communities by increasing the number and the diversity of young people, ages 5-25, serving in substantive roles. Founded in 1986, YSA supports a global culture of engaged youth committed to a lifetime of service, learning, leadership, and achievement. The impact of YSA’s work through service and service-learning is measured in student achievement, workplace readiness, and healthy communities. For more information, visit www.YSA.org. 

Global Youth Service Day is an annual campaign that celebrates and mobilizes the millions of children and youth who improve their communities each day of the year through service and service-learning. For more information, visit www.GYSD.org.  

CONTACT: Lily Bedrossian

            818-553-7292

      The Walt Disney Company

Lily.Bedrossian@disney.com 

      Brandon Gryde         Youth Service America

            202-296-2992 x 128

            bgryde@ysa.org 

Mr. Bob Rocks!

Something amazing happen today!
A year ago I didn’t even know Mr. Bob until he showed up at a vegetable (food)  drive I was having to collected fresh veggies for the soup kitchens. That day he told me that  he wanted to help me.  He let me borrow his rocking John Deer Tractor with AC and sate-light radio.  He gave me a large plot of land on his farm to grow vegetables for the soup kitchens but today he out did himself!  I went out to his farm and I found out he’d built a greenhouse and a whole maze of planters with a beautiful fountain in the middle for me to use! They look amazing! I’m going to store my seed trays there. This year planting will be so much easier on his farm because we won’t have to bend down to plant! We can just use the handy planters! I was so happy when I saw all the wonderful things he’d done for me! The greenhouse is amazing (it even has ducks, real live ducks in it). Thanks Mr. Bob you rock and thank you to everyone who helps and supports me.

I couldn’t do this without you. 

The ‘Magic’ Seeds….

I recently went on a wonderful trip to Walt Disney World in Florida, where I got a private greenhouse tour in Epcot. The gardener at The Land gave me lots of “magic” seeds and I learned many different and unique ways to grow plants. The Disney greenhouses were absolutely amazing! I saw so many different plants I’d never seen before! I learned many methods they use to grow things in their greenhouses. They use gutters to plant the lettuce in, created a “Tomato Tree” that set the world record for the most tomatoes in one year (32,000), and grow their brussels sprouts hanging with their roots in the air (no dirt!). I tried a cucumber that they grew in their greenhouse and it was really tasty! My little brother who won’t eat anything green couldn’t get enough. It was a blast, but I had another surprise.

 

There were a lot of interns working there and every time I met one, they presented me with a pack of “Disney magic” seeds. I got everything from Peperoncino to Fairytale Eggplant.

We just started the seeds in seed trays and hopefully the vegetables I grow will be as amazing as the ones they grow at Disney! Even if I’m only half as successful as them I know I will feed thousands of people with the seeds they provided to me. Thank You Disney!!!

P.S. If you ever go to Disney/Epcot be sure to sign up for the “Behind the Seeds Tour”.  It is so amazing.  Tell them Cabbage Katie says ‘Hi’.

Never Giving Up!!!

Gardening may be fun and easy, but it can also be hard at times. My garden in my neighborhood is exactly that, a challenge. If getting eating by mountains of fire ants (some piles are twice as big as the cabbages), having rabbits and deer use the garden as a restaurant, having vandals destroy it, and trying to raise money to fix the problems doesn’t sound hard, then I don’t know what does. Well, that is what we have to deal with to keep the garden going. I would hate to let it go, so I’m not giving up!  We are going to fight the mountains of fire ants. Hopefully something will work (any suggestions please send them our way)! I’m keeping my fingers crossed! We’re also trying to find someone to donate a better fence, one the deer and rabbits can’t cross!  Any offers to donate a fence would be sooooo appreciated! There is nothing we can do about the vandals but hope they don’t come back & hope they realize how many people this garden can help feed! I really hope I can keep this garden. I am not giving up!

One Step at a Time


Like many people may say, Christmas is a special time. For The Palmetto House this year, I am sure it was a great one! In early December, I received a letter saying The Palmetto House (the soup kitchen/homeless shelter I donate to) was struggling to keep their doors open. I was recently selected as a Build-A-Bear Workshop 2009 Huggable Hero. As well as a wonderful trip in which I was able to meet the 11 other honorees and participate in fun activities, I was given a generous donation towards my college education and my dream. After giving it some thought, I decided that I would donate $750 of the funds from Build a Bear to The Palmetto House to help them stay afloat. It just wouldn’t be the same without them to donate my vegetables to. I know what I donated was only a small portion of what they need, but I know it will help. They are still struggling and could use all the help they can get. These people have become my friends and I couldn’t bear to have them close the doors because of lack of money. They help so many people.  I will keep them in my prayers that they find the money they need to stay open.