Donald Stewart Center School No. 51

Elizabeth

Growing Strong: Our Garden’s Progress Since Planting Day!

We’re so excited to share an update from our “Dig In, Plant a Seed” garden! Our preschoolers have been doing an amazing job tending to our plants, and you can really see the incredible progress since planting day.

Our little gardeners love spending time outside. We’ve been reading stories right there among the sprouts, which always leads to some great questions about how things grow. Watering the plants has become a favorite activity, and they’re incredibly proud of how much our garden is improving each week. It’s truly wonderful to watch their faces light up as they discover new leaves and taller stems!

Washington Elementary School

Roselle

I Love Plants

What a difference a couple of weeks makes! We’ve got a lot more green going on. I’m seeing evidence of peas, corn, tomatoes, bokchoy, and maybe okra. At the same time, there are a lot of un-named plants (probably weeds) that are happening at the same time. I imagine that soon it will be easier to ascertain which are weeds and which are plants that we want. As you can imagine, the starter strawberry and soy plants we received at the grant ceremony are doing great. Interestingly, the seeds I started and planted as seedlings are doing about as good as the seeds I put in the ground 2-3 weeks later. Hard to say why; the seeds are different, and of different ages. Either way, if we can keep that stuff alive all summer, we’ll have some produce.

On another note, there is a student here that we’ve all put a lot of effort into. He has really come out of his shell this year, and when he heard about the garden, he gave me 3 seeds from his apple. We went out to the garden after school and planted them, and today, he greeted me at the door when I got to school, and took me out to show me there is a little sapling there! He was sooooo excited! I’m going to try and find a place on the property to plant it. We’ll see. That scholar was so happy to see a plant coming out of the ground, it was a really special moment.

Hanson Park Conservancy

Cranford

2025 Initial Plantings

HPC received plants from the Microfarm in Elizabeth. It’s the start of our growing season.

Battle Hill Elementary School

Union

Garden Prep

The students took advantage of the beautiful weather and started weeding and preparing the garden for planting. They moved the tables and put the umbrellas out so outdoor learning could begin.

Elmora Community Garden

Elizabeth

Planting Day

This is the first meeting and give away of the seedlings. We also had late sign ups for people who were interested.

Joseph Battin School #4

Elizabeth

Students at Battin Main get to planting!

On a sunny May afternoon, some of the 7th graders at Joseph Battin School #4 – Main, had a different type of learning experience. They got out of the classroom walls and into the school garden. It was time to plant the different types of seedlings that were picked up from Groundwork Elizabeth. From tomatoes and cucumbers to lettuce and basil, these students rolled up their sleeves and got to work.

This hands-on experience was more than just a gardening project. They learned about environmental stewardship, sustainability, and the science of plant life. This initiative was part of the 2025 Plant A Seed Program: Union County Kids Dig In! School Garden Grant Program. These students are excited to see what comes of their hard work.

Robert Gordon Elementary

Roselle Park

New Year, New Garden Beds!

Our kindergarten students helped to clean out our garden beds and plant our new plants that were generously donated to our school!

Washington Elementary School

Roselle

A Modest April

Hello, I’m brand new to gardening, but I saw an opportunity at my school. I cleaned it up last fall, and put some seeds in the window this spring, and now we have corn, cantaloupe, and pea seedlings making a go of it. We recently threw down some bok choy, lettuce, okra, and tomato seeds, so we’ll see what happens. We’re trying to get a greenhouse set up for next spring, so that should extend our growing season a lot. First thing right now is to set up a soaker hose so that the garden survives the summer. It’ll be fun to plant seeds in June to eat in the fall. These pics were taken at the end of April, by the end of May we should see some good growth. Super psyched at W.E.S.!

Elmora School No. 12

Elizabeth

Pear Tree

To celebrate Earth Day our 8th graders have planted a “Pear 🍐 Tree” and alongside the 3rd graders have helped moved 12 yards of free woodchips to enhance our garden.

Sherman Elementary School

Roselle Park

Getting Ready for Our Summer Garden

We are growing banana peppers, sweetie tomatoes, purple Cherokee tomatoes, eggplant, lemon basil, and Italian basil in our hydroponics units that will be moved outside to our garden next month. Flowers in our milk jugs are getting big. Snow peas and spinach are growing, and our chives are in bloom!