Kids vs. groundhogs; kids win

Two hundred city children experienced the ups and downs of gardening this summer. They worked in 10 gardens scattered across Lynchburg, learning to plant, mulch and harvest.

Fencing kept deer out of the garden at Jubilee Family Center, but not groundhogs. They burrowed under the fence and devoured everything except a few tomato plants protected by wire enclosures. The determined young gardeners carried on, replanting with turnip seeds where beans and zinnias were mowed down by groundhogs.

An expanded garden at the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Lynchburg produced major quantities of fresh vegetables. The children harvested 375 pounds of Yukon Gold potatoes and 300 pounds of Diva cucumbers. This week, they are harvesting heirloom tomatoes from lush vines that tower over their heads.

Armloads of Fanfare cucumbers were harvested from the garden at College Hill Neighborhood Center. Two short rows of Blue Lake bush beans tucked in between the chili peppers and hibiscus will be ready to harvest next week. Liquid fertilizer poured over the plants by the young gardeners made everything grow well.

The gardeners at Daniels Hill Neighborhood Center picked 96 Fanfare cucumbers in a single day. That is in addition to numerous zucchini squashes, which grew to baseball-bat proportions. Their Mexican sunflowers were irresistible to butterflies.

Space available for gardening shrank this summer due to parking lot construction at Diamond Hill Neighborhood Center. Fortunately, we had just enough room to put in some cockscomb flowers and 20 Fanfare cucumber plants. Children at the center started picking cucumbers last week.

A clump of elephant ear anchors one end of the garden at Fairview Heights Neighborhood Center. The other end is covered with Fanfare cucumber vines. The children recently began eating sliced cucumbers sprinkled with vinegar.

Groundhogs ate every squash, pepper and cucumber planted by the children at Jefferson Park Neighborhood Center. To foil the rodents, they replanted the whole garden with turnip greens. Turnips have never been bothered by the Jefferson Park groundhogs, so the young gardeners are optimistic.

Sowing seeds and transplanting are two of the skills honed by children in the garden at Yoder Neighborhood Center. Their rows of vegetables stretched 100 feet in length, growing in a mixture of gravel and dirt in what was once a parking lot. They are now harvesting yellow squashes, cucumbers and green beans in bushel baskets.

Teenagers were busy digging, hoeing and planting at the Lynchburg Regional Juvenile Detention Center for an hour each week. Their recent harvests included corn, cucumber, squash, garlic, bean, pepper and eggplant. Although a rat nibbled on their Brandywine tomatoes, there was never a problem with deer or groundhogs behind the center’s 12-foot chain link fence.

Weed control was accomplished in most of these gardens by spreading a layer of fresh wood chips over the soil. They were provided courtesy of Lynchburg’s building and grounds department and Knight Garrard of Trees-N-More.