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Dozens of students used Sharpies to write the names of plants on markers to label the tiny plants that had sprouted from the soil in flats and four-packs.
Cherry tomatoes — check.
Cherokee purple tomatoes — check.
Variegated vinca — check.
On a recent Wednesday morning, the greenhouses at the Conway High School were filled with plants — about 50,000 plants. Those plants will be sold during the students’ annual Conway High School Plant Sale 8:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m., starting Wednesday, March 27, and lasting until the plants are gone. In a two-week period, agriculture teacher Randy Romeo expects to see about 1,000 plant-lovers buy plants, including snatching up 15 varieties of tomatoes, 10 varieties of peppers, hostas, daylilies, fern and ivy.
“I love plants,” said sophomore Deidre Baker while standing among the plants in the greenhouse. “I love seeing how they turn out.”
Baker helps her family garden around the house. Other students said they liked being able to grow food they plan to use — like tomatoes.
“Everyone loves nature,” Baker said.
Money from the plant sale will go back into the plant sale, Romeo said. It pays for what the students — about 120 from about four classes this year — need to learn to grow flowers and vegetables, he said. The students are learning skills sought after from one of the largest industries, he said.
“Everybody has plants now,” Romeo said.
Senior Cassidy Cowles pointed out the cherry tomatoes, one of her favorite types. She’s been learning about acidity in soil, vermiculite for holding water in the soil and transplanting plants from Romeo, she said. Cowles is thinking about buying some of the plants herself because she cooks a lot and wants a garden. There are a variety of tomatoes, including Big Boy, to chose from, she said.
“It’s good to learn about things you are going to use,” Cowles said. “I think it’s really cool.”
(Staff writer Scarlet Sims can be reached by email at scarlet.sims@thecabin.net or by phone at 505-1246. To comment on this and other stories in the Log Cabin, log on to www.thecabin.net. Send us your news at www.thecabin.net/submit)
CORRECTION: The day of the week was wrong in the original story. The plant sale is Wednesday, March 27.