Greenhouse at Senator Gershaw Coming into Production

It may still look and feel like winter, but the greenhouse at Senator Gershaw School in Bow Island is now fully planted for the season with a few cucumbers ready to be picked.  

“The greenhouse has been operating for a couple of years now and we've been learning through trial and error with what works. What we’ve found is if we start too soon, we get too many bugs from the summer,” explained Principal Scott Angle. “Now, what we do, is we wait until there has been a good solid freeze before we move any plants in.” 

The school partners with Stigter’s Greenhouses in Redcliff who provide propagated plants around the second week of January. “We’ve found we aren’t successful if we don’t use the propagated plants and because we aren’t a big enough bulk purchaser, we can’t buy them on our own. As a result, we have to partner with a greenhouse to make it happen,” stated Angle.   

Even though it’s small, the greenhouse is operated along the same lines as a commercial greenhouse. Angle is learning alongside the students as the teacher who began the program transferred to another school. “We worked together lots and I was the one who knew the most about it, so I took over,” said Angle. “The tomatoes and peppers need to be pruned and I need to learn how to do it properly, but I’m going to work with Jeff Stigter on that and figure it out.” 

Growing in the greenhouse are peppers, tomatoes, and cucumbers in coconut bags and there is a small hydroponic unit for lettuce. Over the next few weeks, younger students will start planting seeds for the school garden west of the school. 

There are between five to eight students who choose the greenhouse option each year, which is the perfect number as it allows those most interested in the program to join. Additionally, the work in the greenhouse can be done most effectively by a smaller group of students.  

Grade 9 students Alia Babcock and Gage Hintz both signed up for the greenhouse option this semester.  

“I think it’s a good option because it produces and gives us something fun to do by getting your hands dirty, doing extra projects and watching your plants grow,” said Babcock. For her, the biggest challenge is putting lots of effort into plants that aren’t thriving only to have them continue to fail.  

Hintz joined the greenhouse as he does aquaponics – germinating plants on top of an aquarium where the fish provide the nutrients - and gardening at home. He enjoys how much faster plants grow in the greenhouse compared to an outdoor plot. “The hydroponics we’ve never done before, which is cool, we helped set that up. The hardest thing was getting the pump working right to get water to the system.” 

 By Samantha Johnson, Prairie Rose Public Schools Content Writer