YOUTH GARDENING PROGRAM
The Wilton Garden Club’s Youth Gardening Committee, created in 2015, is dedicated to offering educational gardening programs geared to youth in the Wilton community. Shortly after this committee was formed, the Wilton Garden Club, Wilton Youth Council, and Trackside Teen Center collaborated on managing a small garden originally built by a Girl Scout in 2011, located on the Trackside property and decided to offer a free, youth gardening program for middle and high school students called “Green Teens”. The primary goals of this program are to encourage participants to get more involved with creating and maintaining organic vegetable gardens, to learn about the importance of healthy foods, and to give back to the community. Each year, hundreds of pounds of fresh, organic produce grown in the Green Teens garden is donated to the Wilton Food Pantry! Additionally, roughly 200 small floral arrangements are created by our youth gardeners from flowers grown at the garden and delivered to the Wilton Senior Center for the Seniors to enjoy!
The initial idea for this program resulted from a Girl Scout Gold Award project in 2011. Over the years, several other Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts have undertaken projects related to the construction and maintenance of the garden. Click on the History of the Youth Garden at Trackside tab below for more information.
In addition to their commitment to overseeing the Green Teens program, the Youth Gardening Committee works with hundreds of youth in the garden, greenhouse, classroom, as well as various sponsored groups such as Girl and Boy Scouts, Church Groups, Community Steps, and High School Internships and Clubs. The Youth Gardening Committee has earned numerous awards. Click on the Youth Gardening Awards tab to see a full list of National and State Awards this extremely dedicated committee has earned.
The Youth Gardening program is led by experienced Wilton Garden Club members with the generous support from local donors and programs. The Youth Garden has developed into a successful garden due to the continued support of scouting families that have donated countless hours to help build this program. Tremendous gratitude is given to Trackside Teen Center as the largest supporter of this unique youth experience.
During the Green Teens program, youth gardeners participate in hands-on activities including:
- Designing and planting the garden beds
- Weeding, watering and harvesting the produce
- Donating produce and floral arrangements (Click the Donations, Goals and Education tab for more information)
- Preparing, preserving and cooking with vegetables
- Learning about medicinal and culinary uses for herbs
- Teaching about plant varieties and organic growing practices
- Making recycled and Botanical Art garden projects
- Identifying pests, diseases, beneficial insects, and invasive species
- Providing the Wilton Garden Club cornerstones: education, conservation, preservation and beautification in and around our town.
Green Teens Program Details:
- Spring: Wednesdays, 3:30-5:00 p.m. from May through the end of the school year.
- Summer: Mondays, 9:00-11:00 a.m. from mid-June through mid-August. After each session, youth can hand deliver the produce and flowers to the Wilton Food Pantry and Wilton Senior Center located at Comstock Community Center.
- Fall: Wednesdays, 3:30-5:00 p.m. through October.
- Free of charge and very informal – come when you can.
- Youth earn community service hours by volunteering
- For more information, please contact Laurie Musilli dljamus@hotmail.com or Pam Nobumoto pam.nobumoto@gmail.com
Additional resources are available here.
- 2011: Karina Olsen originally built four raised garden beds with a mission to produce organic produce for the Wilton Food Pantry for her Girl Scout Gold Award Project.
- 2015: The Youth Gardening Committee within the Wilton Garden Club was created by then club President, Nan Merolla. Co-Chairs, Ann Collis and Pam Nobumoto began to oversee the Neighborhood Garden at Trackside and welcomed local youth to a new program called “Green Teens”.
- 2015: Steven Batter, Jr. built and installed two new raised beds for his Eagle Scout Project.
- 2015: Nicholas Johnson designed and constructed a tool shed for his Eagle Scout Project.
- 2016: Sean Bergen constructed and installed two new raised beds for his Eagle Project.
- 2017: The Neighborhood Garden blossoms into the “Youth Garden” as it now welcomes youth of all ages and new Co-Chair, Laurie Musilli.
- 2017: Michael McElroy constructed and installed a large, three sectioned compost bin for his Eagle Project.
- 2018: Purab Angreji and Cole Avallone enlarged the garden perimeter by moving the deer fencing area surrounding the garden, built two new raised beds and rebuilt/refurbished the four original raised beds for their Eagle Scout Project.
- 2021: Mitchell Bakken built a border wall around the entire perimeter of the garden using over 800 donated bricks for his Eagle Project.
- 2023: Michael Adams built three smaller raised garden beds placed along the interior of the garden fence to maximize the space to grow more produce for his Eagle Scout Project.
- 2025: Brianna Shiue, Pip Mitchell and Ryann Tobey built two garden bed cold frames for their Girl Scout Silver Award.
The primary goals of this program are to encourage youth to get more involved with creating and maintaining organic vegetable gardens, to learn about the importance of healthy foods, and to give back to the community. All of the fresh, organic produce from this garden is donated to the Wilton Food Pantry. In the beginning, the garden was producing about 150 pounds of produce. Over the last several years, the garden has donated over 350 pounds each season.
The committee also focuses on educating the youth about pollination and the differences between annuals, perennials, native, and invasive plants. Pollinator plants with successional blooms are grown to ensure pollination of the vegetable garden. From these plants, the youth make a wide variety of floral arrangements which beautify the tables in the Wilton Senior Center for the Seniors to enjoy when they attend their weekly programs. About 200 floral arrangements are donated each season.
Youth Gardening Awards
2016 Federated Garden Clubs of CT: Connecticut Tribute Award – Pam Nobumoto
2016 Federated Garden Clubs of CT: Luckner Youth Award – Silver Bowl
2017 Federated Garden Clubs of CT: Youth Club Certificate of Achievement – Green Teens
2018 Federated Garden Clubs of CT: Luckner Youth Award – Silver Bowl – Green Teens, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts Fairy Gardens
2018 National Garden Clubs, Inc.: Certificate of Appreciation Award YR-2Aiv- Youth Environmental Education
2019 Federated Garden Clubs of CT: Luckner Youth Award – Silver Bowl – Boy & Girl Scouts
2019 Federated Garden Clubs of CT: Youth Activities – Award of Excellence – Silver Tray – Senior Internship Program
2019 Federated Garden Clubs of CT: Tribute Award – Youth – Pam Nobumoto
2019 National Garden Clubs, Inc.: Youth Horticulture Award – Overall Winner Award Y-5 plus $100
2020 Federated Garden Clubs of CT: Youth Club Certificate of Achievement – Senior Internship Program
2020 Federated Garden Clubs of CT: Luckner Youth Award – Silver Bowl – Green Teens, Girl Scouts, Wilton Women’s Club
2020 New England Garden Clubs: National Gardening Association Award – Green Teens
2021 Federated Garden Clubs of CT: Tribute Award – Youth – Laurie Musilli
2021 Federated Garden Clubs of CT: Luckner Youth Award – Club Certificate of Achievement – BS, Eagle Projects, Student Interns
2023 Federated Garden Clubs of CT: Luckner Youth Award – Club Certificate of Achievement – Green Teens
2024 Federated Garden Clubs of CT: Youth Award of Excellence – Genesis Program
2024 Federated Garden Clubs of CT: Luckner Youth Award – Club Citation – Outdoor Learning Center workshops with Conservation Committee on winter seed sowing
2025 Federated Garden Clubs of CT: Presidential Citation – The Wilton Garden Club, Inc. Youth Gardening 2015-2025
2025 National Garden Clubs, Inc.: YW-8 Horticulture Education for Youth – The Wilton Garden Club – Genesis Program plus $200