Vanderlyn Families Take Gardening 101 Class

Shawn Bard is at it again.

As a result, 50 families with children at Vanderlyn Elementary School will enjoy vine-ripe tomatoes this summer.

Bard – a community-spirited volunteer who breathed new life into the vegetable garden at the Spruill Art Gallery by leading the effort to restart that garden – held two workshops last week at Vanderlyn Elementary School. Her purpose at Vanderlyn was to introduce parents of children at the school to small-scale vegetable gardening.

Recognizing that many families don’t have the time or space for a traditional garden, Bard dreamed up an idea that would allow families to grow tomatoes in specialized containers on apartment balconies, patios or in very small spaces. Her idea was to start the tomato plants from seed and then give them away.

She did that on Tuesday and again on Saturday in Vanderlyn’s organic garden area.

There were more children than parents at Saturday’s event, which started with the workshop planting session and ended with the giveaway.

Eagerly following Bard's instructions as she passed out the plants in starter pots, many little hands wasted no time in transplanting the Better Boy seedlings into larger but easily manageable Smart Pots.

These pots, Bard explained, allow air to get to the roots. The air pruning will keep plants from getting root bound and will produce vigorous plants with abundant fruit, according to the Smart Pots website.

Smart Pots are made by High Caliper Growing in Oklahoma City. Bard discovered them in Atlanta at Flora Hyrdoponics, a store in Midtown she likes to visit because it specializes in organic gardening supplies.

Bard had been thinking since last summer about a project to help families enjoy gardening in small spaces. She wanted to introduce people to gardening but not overwhelm them. The Smart Pots, she realized, would allow anyone just starting out to have success in growing the all-time summer favorite, vine-ripe tomatoes. Then, if they wanted to continue gardening, they would have something to build on.

Tomato seeds were readily available and inexpensive. Pots and soil to grow them in were another matter.

Being as resourceful as she is skilled at growing virtually anything, Bard sent an email to High Caliper Growing and asked if they would donate 50 pots for a community gardening project in Dunwoody. They readily agreed, and the pots soon arrived.

To solve the problem with the soil and an additional one with support for the vines, she enlisted the help of two local companies. Farmer D donated soil for the pots and Home Depot provided tomato stakes. As anyone who has ever met Bard can attest, her enthusiasm is hard to resist!

Vanderlyn Elementary PTA President Susan Tallent was next on Bard’s list. She called Tallent and explained what she was hoping to accomplish. Her question to Tallent was a no-brainer: Would the Vanderlyn PTA like to host a workshop on growing tomatoes and a tomato plant giveaway at the school in conjunction with the school's Organic Garden Committee? Not surprisingly, Tallent said, 'Yes.'

The event was booked solid with a wait list within 18 hours of being announced.

Bard then got busy growing 50 tomatoes from seed under grow lights in – where else? – her dining room.

At Saturday’s workshop, Bard shared tips on growing tomatoes. Some of her advice: The plants will need a lot of water in Atlanta’s summer heat and she likes to shred newspapers and use the strips of paper as mulch to hold moisture in the pot. She also told the parents and children they could plant basil in the pots with the tomatoes.

As she continued to answer questions, Bard handed out tomato stakes.

“I’m giving these to the parents,” she said. “At one workshop when I gave them to the children, they used them for sword fights!”

Some parents were as inspired by Bard’s contagious enthusiasm as the children. Priya Nagarajan, for instance, told Bard she hadn’t been involved in gardening since she was a child. She said she needed a starting point to get back into gardening. “This is it!” she said.

Parents of school-age children can anticipate more workshops from Bard. Next April she’s hoping to conduct one on building a raised planting bed.

In the meantime, as Bard told those at Saturday’s workshop: “You are the proud owner of a tomato plant!”