Horticulture

The GAB horticulture department grows plants in two large greenhouses and an outside nursery area. Students in elementary, middle school, and high school all contribute to the program. Elementary students enjoy planting seeds for spring flowers and vegetables. The middle school students begin to learn the basics of horticulture and get the opportunity to gauge their interest in taking the course as a pathway in high school. High school students can take horticulture as a science credit or they can choose to take horticulture as a CTAE career pathway. A student that chooses a pathway must take 3 years of that subject to complete the pathway. In horticulture, students take Basic Agricultural Science, General Horticulture/Plant Science, and Nursery/Landscape.

All the students work year-round to make our fall and spring plant sales possible. Students begin in the fall planting poinsettias at the beginning of the school year and then take care of them by trimming, watering, and fertilizing until our annual poinsettia sale after Thanksgiving break. Students also spend the fall making stem cuttings of many plants around campus that will eventually sold as shrubs in a year or two. They also are constantly transplanting and dividing plants in the greenhouse to get them ready for the spring. After winter break the students work hard planting many varieties of flower and vegetable seeds to get ready for the spring sale in early April. The sale is very popular with many members of the community returning year after year to purchase plants. The students also get the reward of seeing all their hard work come to fruition!