Barbara Lawlor, Nederland.  Gardeners love to experiment, see what seeds or plants grow best in certain conditions. At altitude, the research is more challenging. That’s what makes it fun.

Laura Fisher of Eldora is a master gardener, her vegetable and perennial gardens are phenomenal, partly because of her willingness to try new techniques. Last week, she ventured into the world of pasting carrot and radish seeds between sheets of tissues, pre-spacing them before they go into the ground.

To prove a premise, many seeds must be planted to be able to come with percentages, the proof of planting success. That means work is always accomplished faster with many hands.

Local junior girl scout troop 3031 has been working towards the Bronze Award, the highest award for the junior troop and the highest community service award. For months, the 14 girls have collected food for the Nederland Food Pantry and have brought in Girl Scout Cookies and other non-perishable goods. Not only do they add to the coffers, they stick around to stack shelves and make the volunteers’ jobs easier.

Last week, Fisher asked the girls to be a part of her seed in tissue experiment. She also asked them to fill large buckets with composted soil and plant potatoes in them. Recently, the food pantry received about 1,000 tomato and basil seedlings, rescued from a nursery and needing to be transplanted from their original germination homes into paper cups. The scouts took on the daunting job eagerly, enjoying plucking the plants carefully, roots and all, and nestling them into their home.

The plants will be given to food pantry clients people who would like to grow some of their own food. Some of the plants will also go back into Laura’s garden so she can grow them up to full production and bring the harvest into the pantry, the freshest produce Nederland can offer.

Seed sheet planters dotted tissues with a flour and water paste and carefully dotted the paste with a seed.  The seeds were alternated carrot and radishes. The sheets will be planted with a layer of soil on top of them and will sprout evenly spaced, no need for thinning when they emerge into the world. At least that’s the theory.

Although there was some squealing about dirty, mucky hands, the girls enjoyed their gardening session under the greenhouse canopy of the Nederland Community Center.