Portsmouth High School’s Eco Club and Grow it Green elective science course decided to take on a new project to beautify the school. They worked on the garden which had been overlooked for years, and now the garden had a big turnaround.
They started last spring and would come once a week in the summer. They also had the Grow It Green class help. “We use the Grow It Green course to learn about agriculture in a world with 8 million people for example the sustainable thing is to feed everyone, how to use space efficiently, how to do it without harming the environment, and how to make it sustainable,” said Mrs. Wheeler, a PHS science teacher and teacher for the Grow it Green class.
To help fix the garden the students pulled out old material that was disintegrating and putting out chemicals into the soil. They got rid of weeds, replaced the soil and tested it, used organic fertilizer, redid fencing and stones for the garden, and cleaned out the trash. They are also working on the greenhouse and are planning to add glow lights. They are also talking about using the food from the garden for the cafeteria or donating it to a local food pantry.
Gabe Weinreb, a PHS senior and co-president of Eco Club, said they are fundraising for the garden. Weinreb specifically runs the greenhouse, a bike-to-school project, and the garden. He joined when he was a sophomore, and he was always passionate about the outdoors. He follows Protect Our Winters, an environmental activist Instagram page, and decided he wanted to do something like that locally.
Evy Douglass, a PHS senior and co-president of the Eco Club, said this was a long process since there are many rules and lots of discussions with administrators, but it is worth it.
Volunteers are also still working on the garden and have lots of ideas for the future. For example, they are hoping to plant fruit trees and berry bushes. Grow It Green, Eco Club, and other volunteers are working hard to give PHS a nice sustainable garden.
For more information on the PHS Garden, please attend an Eco Club meeting, or visit their Instagram page.
