Blog Post

Nurturing Students’ Love of Gardening

Sally Kirby Hartman, ’20 • Dec 16, 2022

What a joy it was to see Blair Middle School students enthused about gardening.

Led by Kate Melhuish, Chris Schweitzer and I volunteered with her at a Norfolk Master Gardener microgreens make-and-take table at Blair’s Family Fun Science Night on November 30.


Blair science teachers debuted Science Night in January 2020 only to have it go on hiatus for nearly three years due to pandemic restrictions. They resurrected the event in late 2022 to enthusiastic support from students in sixth through eighth grades and their parents. They came to school at night to put scientific principles to the test at booths making everything from colorful, gooey slime to microgreen gardens.


Science teacher Allison Hazzard discovered our microgreens activity during the pandemic, at an open-air NMG event at Five Points. She contacted Kate and was delighted to learn that Norfolk Master Gardeners would join area organizations such as the Elizabeth River Project and Nauticus in demonstrating the fun side of science.

Kate’s lush trays of week-old arugula, turnip and radish microgreens impressed the 40 people who swarmed our table during the hour-long event. Visitors created individual mini-gardens in recycled yogurt cups poked with holes for drainage. They added soilless seed-starting potting mix, sprinkled cinnamon on top to help keep fungus at bay, and added a generous helping of mustard seeds before misting them with water and taping on a lid.


Several students were surprised to learn that the mustard they associate with hot dogs comes from a plant.

We sent participants home with directions for checking their mustard seeds and keeping them moist. I can only imagine how happy one sixth-grade boy was when sprouts appeared a few days later. His mother told us how much he wanted a garden. But, the family’s frequent military moves had prevented him from planting a garden and watching it grow.


Blair’s Science Night was my first foray into planting nutrient-dense microgreens. Tending to my little yogurt-cup garden and seeing mustard greens thrive made me smile. They looked so pretty sitting in my kitchen window that I hated to eat them. But, I did toss them into salads and use them to perk up stir-fry dishes. Now I see yogurt cups, egg cartons and berry boxes as the perfect containers for growing a variety of greens at home to brighten up the winter.

One week after Blair’s science night, one teacher shared a photo of her healthy microgreen garden on our NMG Facebook page. I hope all the Blair students who visited our table had the same success and continue gardening.

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