Club Spotlight: Garden Club
By Anusha Sambangi
CO-EDITOR IN CHIEF
AHS’ Garden Club works around the year in the courtyard and grows products sometimes used in the AHS cafeteria.
The Garden Club, which started in 2021, maintains the courtyard by pulling weeds, keeping the soil healthy, and planting crops. In addition to flowers and herbs, the club plants a variety of vegetables and fruits, most of which are donated to the AHS cafeteria or local food banks. This year, the club is also using a growing kit for Lion’s Mane Mushrooms, and planning to bring back the tea garden.
Hannah Lehmann, cofounder of the Garden Club and AHS senior, explained that they hoped to “revamp the garden” at AHS after fostering one in middle school. “Garden Club students are involved in all aspects of planning, maintaining, and harvesting the garden,” said Melanie Cutler, science teacher and Garden Club advisor. According to Cutler, students also work on creating seed orders and budgets, fertilizing, and pest management.
Alexis Valenti, science teacher, and Garden Club advisor, mentioned that the current focus of the club includes getting the soil tested. Lehmann added that they are also “working on getting seedlings started for transplant later in the year.” During the winter and fall months, students typically “..make a list of seeds to order and plot out the garden beds” according to AHS junior Emily Tsai.
AHS’ garden is organic, meaning that all aspects of the garden, including fertilizers, are natural. “We try to take good care of our soil with natural fertilizers and compost,” said Valenti, “We [also] don’t use pesticides, so we use alternatives like pepper spray.”
In the past, students have created food and drink from garden harvests. “[Garden Club] students would drink tea at their morning meetings from plants they grew in the garden,” explained Cutler.
“We [also] have a tradition where we make pies and bring them in,” mentioned Tsai, “It started out being pies made with things we grew in the garden like pumpkins and berries and even radishes, but now it’s expanded beyond that.” Cutler and Valenti also share a love for the pie-making tradition. “Some were–how shall I say it– memorably odd but others were fantastic!” explained Valenti.
The Garden Club meets every Wednesday after school in room 219, and are always open to new members joining.
