Horticulture & Gardening Project

Plants sprouting indoors

What is it all about?

Growing food, flowers, fruit, and herbs is gardening. Horticulture, the science of growing, helps us understand what we grow, how and where to grow it, and more. Youth in this project may choose to grow plants to eat, plants to enjoy, or both. Older youth may explore hydroponics, the science of growing plants without soil.

Grow in Your Project

Beginner

  • Use safe garden practices
  • Plant seeds and small plants in your garden
  • Grow and maintain the garden
  • Learn about garden pests and friends
  • Harvest what you grow
  • Observe seeds and plants as they grow

Intermediate

  • Start seeds indoors
  • Grow plants from plant parts
  • Learn about families of plants 
  • Explore different ways of composting
  • Try different ways to prevent pests and weeds
  • Preserve what you grow
  • Store and save seeds

Advanced

  • Explore plant genetics and diversity
  • Study current issues in gardening
  • Try different planting methods
  • Plan for how to harvest, store, and sell what you grow

Member Resources

Gardening Curriculum

Gardening Curriculum
4 levels (grades 3-12)

Floriculture Curriculum

Floriculture Curriculum
4 levels (grades 3-12)

Project Leader Resources

Free Downloads

Take Your Project Further!

  • Learn about locally grown foods
  • Participate in the a produce judging contest at your County Fair or the State Fair
  • Tour a local nursery or farm to explore careers that interest you
  • Expand your garden and sell produce at a farmers market or to a local restaurant
  • Start a greenhouse or container garden in your home
  • Explore the health benefits of different vegetables

Applying Project Skills to Life

Enhance Your Communication Skills

  • Make a video on how to properly water your garden
  • Teach your club how to identify common weeds
  • Give a presentation on common garden tools and how they are used

Get Involved in Citizenship and Service

  • Help children plant a garden at a local daycare or school
  • Collect seeds and garden supplies and donate them to a local organization
  • Plant flowers at local parks, your Extension Office, or your fairgrounds

Learn about Leadership

  • Partner with an adult to teach a class using garden produce
  • Organize and host a community garden tour
  • Host a club Produce Judging Contest

Showing What You’ve Learned

  • Exhibit vegetables, herbs or flowers
  • Make a poster about parts of a plant
  • Build a compost bin or rain barrel
  • Prepare an exhibit on how to use fresh herbs in cooking
  • Create a notebook of common plants for a butterfly garden
  • Create design a landscape for home
  • Make planters for accessible gardening
  • Prepare a poster showing proper harvest times for vegetables
  • Display different types of mulch for the garden
  • Make a cost comparison of starting your own seeds vs. buying transplants. Show the results on a poster
  • Create your own garden calendar
  • Start a plant from a cutting
  • Create a display on pollination

Header image courtesy of National 4-H Council

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