Master Gardeners teach art of growing

After a lapse of six years, Liberty High School’s greenhouse has been restored. Not only that, but students have been using it to grow produce, Solano County Master Gardener Monique Moench said.

Moench and Master Gardeners Gene Ekenstam, Barbara Johnston, Sharon Rico, Sheila Clyatt and Rana Nassar have been guiding a group of students in an after-school project, getting the greenhouse ready for operation, then putting it to use during the school year’s final semester.

Students who participated in the project are Noah Livingston, Xavier Lockett, Chris Magney, Lucas Rexford, Kayleigh Nicol and Bryan Schnell.

They recently celebrated their success in a party at the school, 350 East K St. — a party thrown for the students by the Solano County Master Gardeners, Ekenstam said.

“The end of the school year is a time for parties,” he said. Most are “graduation, ‘thank goodness it is over’ and advance to the next grade, school, college-” themed, he said.

But at this party, the master gardeners celebrated the students’ accomplishments in, and on, the greenhouse.

They had fun, too, giving prizes for odd costuming and for such qualities as “most regular participant” and “most likely to be a pain in the neck,” Ekenstam said.

The gardeners’ and students’ humor is evident in the garden’s raised beds. Among the plants are what Ekenstam called “the mandatory pink flamingos.”

But they have been serious, too, as they undertook the restoration of the greenhouse, Ekenstam said.

The greenhouse had stood fallow when one instructor who liked gardening left for another position, Moench said.

“The challenges have been getting the greenhouse functional,” she said.

“In its six years’ dormancy, it was vandalized and pretty much used as a garbage dump. We had to clean and repair many, many things. We also had to remove a huge palm tree.”

That turned out to be a bonus, she said: the tree was sold to the Bay Bridge Project that is landscaping the new Oakland-to-San Francisco span. That sale helped pay for some of the garden’s repairs.

The Rotary Club also contributed to the project, Moench said.

“The party celebrated the great strides made the past semester in returning the greenhouse, a gift from the Benicia Rotary Club some years ago, to a functioning status,” Ekenstam said.

In addition, the party recognized how well the students developed horticultural skills.

“During this past semester, they have planted vegetables from seeds, built growing boxes for tomatoes, propagated and potted succulents, created ceramic plant stands, learned to make kokodamas — hanging plants growing in a ball of soil and peat moss — and (learned to) cast concrete garden stepping stones,” he said.

Students also learned life skills from the Master Gardeners, he said.

They learned something about working together as partners on the multiple tasks they undertook this year in the garden, and in addition, the greenhouse work gave the Liberty students an opportunity to accumulate elective hours, Moench said.

“Liberty doesn’t provide them like the (Benicia) high school does. This was class time for them.”

And what they have learned in the campus greenhouse is being applied elsewhere, Moench said.

“One student talks about what’s happening with his garden at home,” she said.

“Two parents have shared how much their kids are enjoying the time spent with us.

“That’s a big deal, because it means they are taking their experience home, sharing. And the parents are supportive.”

One student has started a garden at home, too, she said.

Now that it’s functioning, the greenhouse will keep being used, Moench said.

“We plan to really begin some structured planting and educating in the fall.”

Meanwhile, other Benicia residents can learn some of the same things the Liberty students have learned, Ekenstam said.

The Master Gardeners’ mission is to provide horticultural information to the public, and residents may see them at Benicia Certified Farmers’ Markets, the Solano County Fair and at various libraries and other venues in the county that are suitable for providing gardening information and advice, he said.