J-Space after-school gardening program in full bloom

J-Space children among the greenhouse plants. The greenhouses were purchased with a Quality Improvement Grant from the state of Rhode Island. /Ariel Brothman

Spring has finally sprung, and the contents of the greenhouses behind the Dwares JCC in Providence are showing a lot of green! Last fall, Shannon Kochanek, the director of the Eides Family J-Space’s after-school program, broke new ground with a project that included the construction of two greenhouses and an educational gardening experience for the kids involved in the program. The young gardeners’ seedlings have come to fruition, and here’s what they recently had to say about their time spent learning about gardening.

ADEYNA

Eight-year-old Adeyna wasn’t quite sure of the name of what she planted, but she knew it tasted good and that when she next gets an opportunity to plant vegetables, she will plant carrots.

“[I grew] lemon green pea things. They have peas inside. It smells so good!” says Adeyna. When asked about her experience in the greenhouses, she hugged herself, smiled, and said, “It’s warm so they” – the plants – “can grow!”

Adeyna and I never quite figured out if the lemon green pea things went by any other name.

BEN

It’s too bad that cats don’t like caprese salad, because 9-year-old Ben grew basil, tomatoes and catnip. However, Ben’s cat has enjoyed the catnip, and Ben’s mother even bought a Star Wars-themed catnip holder to put it in. Aside from making his cat happy, though, Ben enjoyed the greenhouse experience. He had one memory in particular that stuck out:

“One time I went down to the greenhouse, and it was raining. And it was super fun. You could see rain dropping all over the place.”

It seems that there was beauty outside the greenhouse, too.

ROSE

Nine-year-old Rose selected her vegetables, which she grew with her 5-year-old sister Norah, very carefully. After a lengthy and very logical process of elimination, corn, basil, and flowers made it to the final round. The basil will serve a special purpose.

“My mom makes the best pesto in the world!” said Rose. “Every single birthday night, we have pesto with noodles.”

Rose also planted another vegetable, but has requested it not be publicized as cucumbers are a much-loved vegetable in her house, and she fears for the safety of her harvest. “As soon as there’s [one] in the house,” she explained, “in five minutes it’s gone.”

JULIA

Eight-year-old Julia described the greenhouses as “really, really full.” Julia started off with lima beans, but she has just planted some flowers in anticipation of Mother’s Day. Mid-discussion, we had to attend to our greenhouse photo shoot, so we’ll have to wait for another day to find out more about Julia’s gardening experiences.

ZIA

Zia doesn’t remember what she grew. However, she seems to have remembered everything else! Eight-year-old Zia is happy that she has had the chance to learn about growing vegetables, greenhouse management and how you can use vegetables for different and new recipes.

“At J-Space, we get to make things with the stuff we’ve grown,” she explained. “We grow beets and make beet cupcakes and beet cookies. I thought they were gonna be gross, but they were so good!”

Zia also discovered one of the benefits to gardening that it takes some of us decades to figure out.

“To me, gardening is very relaxing!” said Zia, right before throwing herself back into a pile of pillows on the couch.

HENRY

This wasn’t 9-year-old Henry’s first experience with gardening. His mother, who he says is a gardener, has a big community garden plot. As he practiced shooting a small inflatable basketball into a nearby bin, he explained that he had already picked up a few things from his mother. Since Henry and Zia shared their experiences at the same time, most of Henry’s responses were explanations that this material wasn’t all that new to him, punctuated by giggles as they spoke about their experiences in the greenhouse.

ARIEL BROTHMAN is a freelance writer who lives in Wrentham, Massachusetts.