Organic gardening gets the green thumbs-up from Maitland Environmental Youth Council. This group of local youths have begun work on an organic fruit and vegetable garden at Maitland Grossmann High School.

Whilst working on the organic garden, Maitland Environmental Youth Council (EYC) aim to:

• Develop practical gardening skills amongst the EYC members and other young people;
• Promote environmentally sustainable and healthy lifestyles; and
• Produce a variety of organic fruit & vegetables that garden volunteers can share and any surpluses may be donated to charities.

The garden was initially established by students at Maitland Grossmann High School and utilised by Science classes, but as a result of changes to the science curriculum the garden can no longer be maintained. This situation presented itself as a great opportunity to the EYC who were enthusiastic about creating an organic garden for the group to work on with other members of the local community.

The garden has facilitated a strong partnership between Maitland Grossmann High School and Maitland Environmental Youth Council; the EYC would like to encourage the wider community to become involved in the garden by donating their time or resources to this new endeavour.

Several working bees have already seen the garden beds fertilised, mulched and prepared for planting. Maitland Environmental Youth Council look forward to planting a variety spring vegetables in the garden.