May Showers Bring AHS Gardening Hours

• May 26, 2021

By Elisabeth Shin

STAFF WRITER

In the midst of a pandemic, the planting season has come as an opportunity for the AHS community to step away from the screen and into their gardens.   

According to Alan Kalf, biology teacher, the period between Mother’s Day and Memorial Day is the most opportune for planting vegetables for the summer. During this period, he said AHS students can benefit from caring for their plants and find a renewal in themselves through nature.   

“It is just amazing to see different things come out from the ground,” Kalf said. “Tomatoes, cucumbers, basil.”

Kalf is an avid gardener who experiments with various crops. Working with eggplants, arugula, and even artichokes, he shared tips for both advanced and beginner gardeners. Kalf recommends using compost with soil to increase chances of abundant crops and planting warm weather plants like tomatoes and cucumbers.  

Kalf also has recommendations for the unfortunate case in which your plants come face to face with furry pests. He recommends spending “some extra money to put a fence up to keep out rabbits and chipmunks and bigger animals. If the pests are bugs, a little bit of dish soap and water put in a spray bottle [should kill them].”  

Fellow science teacher Melanie Cutler, advisor to the AHS Environmental Club, had additional advice on easy vegetable plants to grow and ways to take care of them.  

“Peas tend to do well [in the garden], same thing with radishes because they grow and come out quickly,” Cutler told ANDOVERVIEW. “We plant those [in the AHS courtyard] so students can see the fruit of their labors.”

Cutler offered more advice to avoid frost and further chances of good growth. “A lot of people,” she said, “will start their seeds indoors at this time of year, let their plants grow inside, and let it grow outside when it’s warm out.”  

In the case where help is needed in the garden, both teachers recommended using external sources for advice in planting or taking care of them. 

“There is no shortage of information on the internet,” Cutler said. “They sell easy-to-grow seed kits, where they’ll send you the medium [fertile soil for plants] and the seeds to get started.”

Reaching out to the local gardening community is another way of finding support. 

“Whatever you’re having trouble with, everyone in your town is having trouble, too,” Kalf said. “Share and ask for advice and ask the people around you what problems you have.”

Gardening means a lot to the students who have participated in this activity. Manavini Panguluri, a sophomore in the Remote Academy, has been gardening for much of her life. Planting okra, tomatoes, jalapenos, and much more, she offered her own view on gardening: “People who are connected with nature should do [gardening], because I think nature can heal you.”  

Sophomore Miella OrShahar told ANDOVERVIEW that “gardening can give you a sense of accomplishment when you grow something by yourself and get to see and eat it if it’s a fruit or vegetable.”  

But there is no need to have the “green thumb” in order to have a great garden. “The sign of a good gardener is not a green thumb; it’s brown knees,” Kalf said. “It’s about how much time you spend on the garden, digging, and everything else. It’s not going to turn out perfect, and that’s okay. We’re all learning.”