Thousands of Free Plants Distributed to School Gardens throughout San Diego County

San Diego County CA—  The Resource Conservation District (RCD) of Greater San Diego County, in conjunction with Altman Plants of Vista, gave away thousands of plants last Thursday to help support school garden programs throughout San Diego County. This is the sixth year that the RCD has facilitated this much-needed school plant giveaway, benefiting 132 elementary and middle schools.
With childhood obesity on the rise, more and more schools are making the commitment to create and maintain school gardens, which use fun, hands-on gardening techniques to teach students about healthy eating. The nearly 1,500 vegetable and herb seedlings donated by Altman Plants will help hundreds of schools get a jump start on their Spring planting.

In addition to vegetables and herbs, schools received more than 1,200 narrowleaf milkweed seedlings, a variety of milkweed native to California. The plants were grown by Butterfly Farms in Vista and donated by the RCD. Milkweed is the only food source for the dwindling Monarch Butterfly population. Because of this, the RCD created its “Milkweed for Monarchs” program to encourage schools and individuals to grow native milkweed in their gardens to help increase the number of Monarchs throughout the county.
The RCD is also encouraging schools to participate in a citizen science program to monitor the Monarchs visiting and breeding in their garden, as well as the first and last dates of the year they observe Monarchs so that we can learn more about San Diego Monarchs’ overwintering habits.
To learn more about the RCD’s School Garden and Milkweed for Monarchs programs, visit www.rcdsandiego.org, or contact Ann Baldridge, RCD Education Coordinator, at 619-562-0096 or ann.baldridge@rcdsandiego.org.