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| Photo Courtesy of Bonnie's Plants |
Earlier this month, Bonnie’s Plants announced its annual
Bonnie Plants Cabbage Program for third grade classrooms. Although teachers need to sign up their
students for the program now, Bonnie’s Plants will deliver the cabbage plants
in the spring. The free plants are OS
Cross (Over-sized), which produce giant (as in up to 65 pound) cabbages.
In 2002, Bonnie Plants began the program to “inspire a love
of vegetable gardening in young people,” according to their press release. Each year, Bonnie Plants gives more than one
million 2-inch cabbage plants to 3rd grade classrooms. The company provides detailed growing
instructions, and each child takes responsibility for nurturing his or her own
plant. At the end of the growing season,
in May or June, each class selects a winner based the size, appearance, and
maturity of the cabbage and Bonnie's Plants enters the class winners in a
$1,000 state scholarship drawing.
Children can plant the cabbages in containers or in the
soil. The directions include complete
care instructions, information about possible pests and diseases, as well as
guidelines about how to know when the cabbage is ready to harvest, so no
gardening experience is necessary.
Teachers search for ways to make problem solving and research skills relevant
to their students, and figuring out how to defeat pests and diseases to grow a
giant cabbage is a fun way to use these skills.
Teachers may register their classes at http://bonniecabbageprogram.com. As for what to do with a 40-pound cabbage,
well that is another problem the children will need to solve. Maybe they can make coleslaw for the entire
school!