This year at Lothrop we were able to use new and innovative plant technology to called a Tower Garden which takes rockwool and put them in the correct environment to thrive. The Tower Garden is designed to Grow Young Minds. This is a real-life teaching tools to show the children the importance of eating healthy and how to grow their own food. It makes it a better experience for the youth because they get to grow their own vegetables and fruits and learn about agriculture. The Tower Garden cost less then cost of someone traveling the produce from all around the world.
The Tower Garden gets the children thinking and talking about how things grows, what they need to survive, and how they can control it with hands-on experiences. The Tower Garden helps with the children’s self-esteem, responsibility, and healthy habits to grow right along with the garden. No mess, no fuss, no soil, no digging, and no weeding.
Our first grade students started the Tower Garden by learning about the life of a seed. The students planted six seeds in each mini blocks (rockwool) to get the seeds to start growing. After the plants were about three inches tall, the students put the rockwool inside the tower garden’s net pots to hold the plants in place. The water runs through the tower watering every plant. They labeled the Tower Garden with Romaine lettuce, peppers, tomatoes, cilantro, and spinach. There are four of each vegetables for a total of 20 plants in the garden. After they labeled the tower they we discussed the important of the water and lighting to help the vegetables grow. They know the minerals, oxygen, water, and light are all needed for the vegetables to grow. Once the vegetables are grown out completed the students will make salads and we can also give away vegetables to the families. Then we will start the process over again. The best thing about the tower is you do not have a green thumb it is that easy to take care and most of fun and healthy.