Garden party

Danette Goulet

CORONA DEL MAR -- They want to see their garden grow.

Eastbluff Elementary School parents John and Michelle Klug have no

doubt that the crops children planted will grow, but they would like to

see the garden classroom concept grow to every school in the Newport-Mesa

Unified School District.

So while it may look like they have created only one garden, they have

actually created a garden support system and what they hope can be a

model.

“At the same time we’re looking at one site, we’re looking at how to

bring this to all sites,” John Klug said.

On an 80-by-25-foot plot of land at the end of the school field, the

gung-ho duo and a team of parents have created an outdoor learning

center.

It all began with one seed of thought, planted when a teacher gave

them a brochure from the state nutrition program on school gardens and

seedlings to tend over the summer.

The couple, whose three children attend Eastbluff, began visiting

school gardens up and down the coast and researching what worked and what

didn’t.

State officials wanted a garden to teach students about nutrition,

where food comes from and how it is grown. The Klugs had a vision of

tying the garden to all areas of curriculum -- social studies, science,

art, literature and math.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday evening officially opened the

garden that has been under construction for a month and in the works for

many months.

While it might not look like much yet, the meticulously planned

garden, with 700 feet of irrigation, will not only produce crops, but

will also induce learning.

Each grade level has an agricultural box in which they plant, tend and

harvest a seasonal crop.

In the first cycle, pumpkins were planted in the kindergarten bed and

Choyote squash in the first-grade area.

Meanwhile, third-grade students planted birdhouse gourds, which next

year’s third-graders will dry out to create Native American masks,

Michelle Klug said.

The fourth-graders will tend a three sisters garden, which is a Native

American tradition used by various tribes in which corn, beans and squash

are grown together as each has something another needs.

There is also a bed of Luffa gourds and one of colonial broomcorn,

which has no ears and was used to make brooms in colonial days.

The second-graders will grow popcorn, which was a gift from Native

Americans at the first Thanksgiving feast, Michelle Klug said.

The first-graders also planted beans surrounding tepee poles, she

added. The beans will grow up the tepee, and students will be able to

crawl inside.

And at one end of the garden is an outdoor classroom of picnic tables

with a tree in the middle for shade.

Surrounding all of this will be horticultural gardens along the

perimeter.

There will be a natural California habitat, a butterfly garden and a

sensory garden.

“In the fall, we’ll be harvesting and planting again in November --

that will be totally different,” Michelle Klug said. “Then we’ll do it

one more time in February, March.”

The project -- totaling about $15,000 -- was funded by two grants, one

from the state and one from the National Gardening Assn. and through

business, parent and community donations.

The Klugs said they knew they could probably raise all the money for

the garden only at Eastbluff, but they wanted a plan that could work at

any school.

So, they tapped all of the possible resources, John Klug said.

He went to small businesses and major corporations and talked up the

project.

“They didn’t care if the school was in Newport Beach, Costa Mesa or

Santa Ana,” he said. “They were on board with the idea.”

The couple has already received interest from several Newport Beach

principals and one PTA, Michelle Klug said, adding that it is the garden

committee’s goal to get the garden party started in Costa Mesa schools as

well.