While most teens spend their time indoors playing video games or at the mall, some choose to take on a hobby that benefits the environment, brings beauty in their backyard, and provides a great way to bond with family: gardening.
After helping her parents with gardening at home, senior and president of the EcoWay club Vaibhavi Kulkarni wanted to expand her hobby schoolwide by working on the school garden, she said.
“At the garden, we used to have a lot of littering and trash and nobody really cared about this place, so this year EcoWay took charge and transformed it,” she said. “I think flowers were a popular choice among the club to plant and we happened to have the seeds. We went with wildflowers and poppies because they’re local.”
At home, Kulkarni focuses on outdoor gardening by tending to various fruit trees, which she finds to be a very fulfilling hobby, she said.
“I think it’s really helped me realize that gardening isn’t just for the environment, but something you should do for yourself,” she said. “It really helps relieve stress and just watching these beautiful things grow, you can communicate with them.”
For senior Navya Kadalayil, watching her parents grow carrots in her backyard during freshman year inspired her to begin gardening herself so she could use what she grows, she said.
“I wanted to do my own thing,” she said “So I ended up planting flowers. Now I plant almost everything. I help my parents take care of apple trees, peach trees, nectarine trees, orange trees, lime trees, curry leaves, and other indoor tropical plants.”
At the peak of the pandemic, Kadalayil had almost 20 plants in her room and learned some of the struggles of indoor gardening, she said.
“Indoor gardening was really strange because, with wet soil, a lot of flies come and the plants next to my bed were really annoying because of that,” Kadalayil said. “Learning that you could over-water, underwater, when to water, and what nutrition to put in your soil – all of that was a little learning curve,” she added.
The most rewarding part of gardening is being able to eat the food you grow, Kadalayil said.
“I love eating in general, but when I put time and effort into growing fruits in our backyard, they taste even better,” Kadalayil said.
Sophomore Isabelle Nguyen credits her mom’s green thumb with her love for gardening.
“I think it’s a thing we both bond together with which is part of the reason why I really enjoy gardening,” she said.
As secretary of EcoWay for the 2023-2024 school year, Nguyen has big plans for the school garden, she said.
“We still need to weed it and get the soil to an appropriate state for even more plants,” she said.
Gardening is a hobby for everyone and is especially great for students, Kulkarni said.
“I encourage all students to start gardening, whether it’s just a little succulent that you take care of at home or maybe you water some plants that you already have,” she said. “I think it’s definitely a great idea for all students to start it as a hobby, and I’m sure if they gave it a shot, they’d like it,” she said.