Gardener Apprenticeship: Teaching Teens in the Garden

For three Sundays in the month of April, a group of teens aged 14 to 18 years learned the basics of gardening. This program, called the Gardener’s Apprentice Basic Certificate Program, is designed to prepare high school students to be employed in gardens on the Saanich Peninsula as part-time or summer help.

Victoria Master Gardeners have worked with Youth Employment Services in Sidney, to create a program that has been offered each spring for the past nine years. The intention is to provide a positive first work experience for the students by providing them with a broad base of gardening knowledge, and the courage to ask questions. Each year two to three Master Gardeners take on the role of instruction, with lots of hands-on practical learning available through partnership with The Horticulture Centre of the Pacific (HCP) at Glendale Gardens and woodland. This year’s cold and wet spring was made bearable by gathering the group inside HCP’s large polyhouse for part of each afternoon.

These three groups demonstrate the effectiveness of working together in Community Outreach:

• Beacon Community Services, Youth Employment, provides the overall organization, and link with the students in local high schools and their parents;
• The Victoria Master Gardener Association provides the expertise in the planning, coordination and instruction, including all handouts; and
• The Horticulture Center of the Pacific provides the location and the tasks for the learning experiences.

A required nine hours of instruction include introduction to composting, soils and their enrichment including mulches and fertilizers, dividing perennials, planting out containers and annuals, identifying weeds and proper removal, working effectively and safely with small and large tools, cutting in the garden, basic lawn care and conservation watering practices. Roles of employer and employee are also discussed. The students' final project includes potting up a container of annuals, learning a little colour and design sense, and taking it home for Mother’s Day.

Whether the teens put their learning to practice in obtaining a job, or merely helping out in the garden at home, they have each obtained a well-grounded knowledge of gardening basics that should stay with them for the future. They have also gathered confidence in themselves.

We look forward to the next group of students coming together in this partnership where "giving back" and "knowledge sharing" has meant so much in the community we live in.

Sue Wright, Program Leader

Master Gardener, Victoria Chapter