How does your garden grow?

Giovanni Oup grinned as he picked up his trowel and sunk it into the soft soil of the raised bed at the Hazel Dell School and Community Garden.

The 7-year-old, a first-grader at Hazel Dell Elementary, jumped with enthusiasm as Barbara Nordstrom, a Washington State University Extension master gardener, asked him what the first step is when planting lettuce.

“Digging!” Giovanni said.

The garden, founded in 2004, was built as a project among the elementary school, WSU Clark County Extension, Clark County Environmental Services and Vancouver Public Schools. And as it has grown, it has drawn progressively more community members into its green, leafy fold.

“We want to instill a love of gardening and to really reach into the community,” Nordstrom said. “We grow a lot of food in these raised beds, and we give that back to supplement the backpack program for kids from families that are food insecure and for other organizations like Share House.”

Lesson topics include worms and pollinators, soils and soil cycles, using beans to study plant growth and the importance of eating colorful plants or eating your colors.

And the kids — especially the young ones — are learning quickly.

After Giovanni’s answer about digging, fellow first-grader Skyler McCalmant, 7, followed up by explaining the next steps in lettuce planting.

“I know what to do,” Skyler said. “You just take the roots, keep it inside (your hand) and plant it!”

Looking over the work of Chloe Baldwin, 7, Bobbi Bellomy, a master gardener and coordinator for the school and community garden, continued to move the action along.

“Can you pat the soil around it?” Bellomy asked the girl.

Chloe eagerly complied but said she wasn’t as excited about lettuce as she is about some other plants.

“I like to grow flowers,” Chloe said.

About five years ago, the garden expanded to 25 raised beds, which allowed the group provide space for community members — especially low-income families — to grow their own food.

“It’s our constant mission to teach kids and adults about growing things,” Bellomy said. “I think it builds self-esteem. When you put little seeds in the ground, and then you come back and see things have grown — wow! You pick that and put it in your body, and it’s just so healing and satisfying.”

Many of the low-income families who use the community gardens also have kids in the school, she added, noting that there are still a few beds available.

Nordstrom, Bellomy and others at the site also run garden nutrition classes, a summer garden program for kids, community gardening workshops and several other activities.

Next on their agenda is the May 28 School Enrichment Fair, which brings in 40 classes and will focus on “tomatoes for planting and snacking,” Nordstrom said.

The kids also plant varieties of lettuce, spinach, radishes, blueberries, raspberries, kiwis and potatoes every year. Planting isn’t always everyone’s favorite garden activity, she said, with a smile.

“The younger kids love to come out and spread bark dust,” Nordstrom said. “They get to use a wheelbarrow and shovel dirt, which they really like.”

Community members, master gardeners and even students in a Clark College class also help in the garden by weeding or tending to several of the beds. Veronica Brock, a professor at Clark College, brings her class of about 40 students two or three times a year to help, Nordstrom said.

“They work magic in the garden,” Nordstrom said. “They come, and there are things that need pruning or taking care of, and when they leave, everything is just beautiful.”

For more information about the garden or to volunteer, visit www.hazeldellgarden.weebly.com or call the school at 360-313-2050.