Posted: August 9, 2022
The Master Gardeners of Bucks County noticed some unusual activity in the educational veggie demonstration garden at the Venice Ashby Community Center in Bristol ... and the mysteries turned out to be something wonderful.
Photo courtesy Donna Manion
This little story begins in July 2021, when Bucks County Master Gardener Maryann Ferraro, while watering the vegetable demonstration garden at the Venice Ashby Community Center, noticed that seven ready-to-harvest cucumbers were suddenly missing! The cucumber plants were grown from seed by youth who attend the Master Gardener after school horticulture education program.
Maryann checked for animal activity and found none. Somehow, the cucumbers had quietly vanished. Later, it was learned that one of the youths who had planted the cucumber seeds proudly took the seven cucumbers home to his family to share. Mystery solved.
In June 2022, while the Bucks County Master Gardeners were tending to the demonstration garden, they noticed that all their reserved jugs of water were suddenly empty. This was odd, considering that the Master Gardeners were regularly watering with the Community Center's hose hookup. The empty jugs were the next mystery to be solved! After much puzzling by the team, one of the youth related that he was watering every day using the jugs of water. He was watering the plants he had planted, which, once again, were cucumbers. Mystery solved.
Some of the skills taught to youth by the Master Gardeners at the Venice-Ashby Community Center include garden maintenance such as watering, and sharing the produce from the garden with family, community, and those in need. According to these "cucumber mysteries" the lessons are working well.
Content and photo credit: Donna Manion, Penn State Master Gardener, Bucks County
