Teachers, parents and students have put tons of work into the Sacramento Country Day garden in the last few months. There are various people involved in the garden elective but one of the more dedicated people is sixth and seventh grade science teacher Aleitha Burns. Not only is she a science teacher, she is also one of the teachers of the garden elective.
 
     “We have planted carrots, broccoli and lettuce. We also planted spinach and Pre-K planted sweet peas,” Ms. Burns explained. She also said that the garden plans to get tomatoes in the summer, and maybe even put roses in sometime soon.

     Ms. Burns discussed funding for the garden. “At the moment we have no fundraisers, but we do find different outlets to get donations from, such as the parents at SCDS, who supplied us with enough money to put in a new irrigation system,” she said.

     Another garden elective teacher is Kathy-Russell Fernandez, who got the idea to have a farmers market on April 14. “Over the break quite a few plants ripened, so I got the idea to come out and harvest the ripe crops and give them away to people,” Ms. R. F. explained.
 
     Many students choose to spend more time in the garden by signing up for the garden elective, which takes place every other day. Sixth grade student Jack Lambeth said that his favorite thing about being in the garden elective is getting to eat all the different vegetables. “I love working in the compost, too,” said Jack. He also said that the garden has improved in comparison to last year. “I enjoy being in the garden this year more than I did last year because of the new pathway and all of the new plants we have planted.”
 
     Doug Wallis is another teacher hugely involved in helping with the garden. “We have been putting in different beds of plants for different advisories to enjoy,” explained Mr. Wallis. He said that Pre-K brought in and planted a bunch of unknown flower bulbs in beds which he called “mystery beds”. He and some helpers planted the bulbs and the outcome of the flower type is still unknown.

     According to Mr. Wallis, former groundskeeper Charls Whelan came up with the idea of a school garden in 2006, and by the next year the SCDS garden was born.  Though Mr. Whelan came up with the idea of the garden, eighth grade student Sara Warady created the format of the garden. The contest for the format of the garden came about when eighth grade student and middle school president Alex Ahlstrom met with Mr. Wallis and discussed the future of the garden. They decided that the best way to make everybody happy was to hold a contest for the garden design.
 
     SCDS parent John Procida with Procida Landscape supplied the SCDS garden with physical labor and the equipment to tear out the original grass where the garden is now, and replace it with soil needed to plant. Procida Landscape also supplied the garden with an automated irrigation system when they were in need of one. “With the financial support of the school and a donation from the Parent’s Association the garden improvements began,” said Mr. Procida.