Gardening and Horticulture Project

4H members working in a garden.

What is it All About?

Is your thumb green?  Find out how your garden grows in the 4-H Gardening and Horticulture project.  You will learn how to plant a garden, dig it, grow it, show it, and eat it. 4-H Gardening and Horticulture will teach you facts about soils and plants, pest management, and even how you an experiment with plants in a laboratory or field.

Grow in Your Project

Beginner

  • Identify different types of gardens
  • Grow and maintain a garden
  • Plant seeds
  • Learn pest management techniques
  • Learn how to harvest crops
  • Learn to identify and use common garden tools

Intermediate

  • Learn about garden fertilizer and nutrients plants need to grow
  • Plant bulbs in the fall for spring blooms
  • Make a container garden
  • Learn about compost and make a simple compost bin
  • Discover different ways to prepare and use garden produce

Advanced

  • Research types of plants that grow well in your area
  • Start an herb garden
  • Learn about food preservation methods
  • Take a soil sample and have it tested for nutrients
  • Experiment with organic production
  • Design a gardening experiment

Click Here for Gardening and Horticulture Project Member Resources

Click Here for Gardening and Horticulture Project Leader Resources

Project Leader Resources

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 Cen$ible Nutrition 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

Adapted with permission from Wyoming State 4-H, Project Information Sheet, Gardening and Horticulture. Retrieved from: https://www.uwyo.edu/4-h/projects/healthy-living/gardening-horticulture.html.

*Resources available at your local Extension office or shop4-H.org.

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