Mattey’s Garden

Mattey’s Garden is a hands-on learning garden at the Matthew Whaley Elementary School. And while the students were absent due to COVID-19, the garden continued to grow, including the weeds. Luckily, Louann Martin, who heads up this project for the James City County Williamsburg Master Gardener Association (JCCWMGA), assembled a team made up of the elementary school’s families and students as well as JCCW Master Gardeners.

This team has been tending the garden with a watchful eye pruning, weeding, and watering weekly. They planted vegetables, herbs, and flowers. The participating families harvested and enjoyed taking home their produce as part of their experience. The student volunteers learned about growing food, the coexistence of different crops, and interaction with the birds, bugs, and butterflies along with some critters who frequent the garden.

Now, after a two-year hiatus, Mattey’s Garden is resuming regular class sessions right after Labor Day, 2022. During this academic year, the kindergarten classes will focus on “Herb of the Month”.  One or two herbs are introduced to the children where they can touch, smell, compare (fresh vs dried) and sometimes taste and see how the herbs are grown in the garden.

The 1^st Grade curriculum is gardening through literature.  A designated book is read to the children by the teacher in class prior to the session and briefly discussed. Then the students plant food or flowers related to the theme of the book. Through these activities, they are taught seed spacing, depth of planting, the value of worms and composting as well as learning the importance of supporting wildlife and how to grow food for their family.

Mattey’s Garden is 980 square feet with an outdoor classroom, all tucked neatly into a corner of the schoolyard on Scotland Street. Mattey’s has quite a history. The initial planning for the garden started in 1997 by Mary Ann Brendel of the Williamsburg Garden Club when she contacted the school to participate in the “Roots and Shoots” program. Mattey’s was created by landscape designer Gale Roberts and built with the help and contributions of eight organizations including JCCWMGA.

Dedicated in 1999, Mattey’s was awarded the Beautification Award by the City of Williamsburg in 2001. In May 2019, Mattey’s celebrated its 20th anniversary, and a few months later in September, the first lady of Virginia, Pam Northam visited the garden to promote “Farm to School” programs. Mattey’s Garden is certified as a Monarch Butterfly Waystation which means in addition to containing plants that support the life cycle of the Monarch Butterfly, it has lots of milkweeds!

The garden is made up of several sections. One of the most popular is the Alphabet Garden where each letter of the alphabet is represented by a plant with the corresponding first letter. Other sections include the butterfly garden, the herb plot, the sundial area, and the raised beds.

In the garden, the children learn how to plant various seeds, and bulbs; which end’s up? They discover worms and watch the vegetables they planted grow. Some of their favorite things are picking bouquets, identifying the banana tree, and checking for tadpoles in the pond. Everything that is done in the garden is done organically, using natural herbicides like vinegar and Epsom salts.

During the school year, students in Grades K-5 use the garden with its outdoor classroom for a variety of learning experiences. In the summer, a Matthew Whaley family is typically paired with a Master Gardener to help them with their vegetable growing skills where kids quickly learn how good those vegetables taste when picked fresh!