COEUR d'ALENE — Some soft skills start in the soil: Planning, patience, organization, critical thinking, time management.

"There's no screen time. Your hands are in the dirt," Skyway Elementary School second grade teacher and Skyway Garden Club co-adviser Carol Behrens said Wednesday morning.

The Skyway Elementary garden has been a learning space since it was installed in 2012, paid for by a state garden grant. It's where younger students are introduced to botany and horticulture, and where older students might learn how to design their own gardens for optimal growth and happy plants.

"In the beginning, they would freak out about bugs," Behrens said. "Now they're like, 'Look how big this worm is!'" 

The Skyway garden is filled with tomatillos, pumpkins, chives, sunflowers, marigolds, strawberries, beans, tomatoes and wildflowers.

From budding artists sketching the plant life to garden club leaders making executive decisions on what and where to grow different varieties, the garden offers multiple avenues for education.

“What we are trying to do is educate these young people to become productive citizens in our community and this is part of it — understanding our local food sources, watershed management and that sort of thing," Behrens said.

Skyway is one of three schools with gardens that members of the Coeur d'Alene Garden Club are supporting through $500 grants. The other gardens are at Ramsey Magnet School of Science and Lake City High School.

Coeur d'Alene Garden Club Community Projects Committee Chair Susan Davenport explained how the club set aside money last year in case it was needed for a financial audit this year. The $3,000 leftover will support the school gardens and provide $1,500 of patio furniture for Canopy Village (formerly Children's Village).

The Coeur d'Alene Garden Club raises money for local causes through its annual Garden Tour, usually held on a Sunday in July. The school garden grants were presented in addition to the funds that will be distributed to other local charities and nonprofits later this fall.

Fifth grade teacher Megan Beaudry pointed out the garden shed that was built by a former Skyway student at Kootenai Technical Education Campus, and a garden arbor a Lake City High School senior made as part of her Eagle Scout project.

Beaudry said she hopes to expand the garden's composting capabilities and create a small greenhouse for the club.

"I feel really grateful we're able to raise the funds through the Garden Tour and support something like this, I just love it," Coeur d'Alene Garden Club President Rhoda King said.

She said it's important to involve kids in gardening as their worlds have become so focused on technology.

"They are future gardeners," King said. "This gets them outside with their hands in the dirt and they get to see something grow."

The Coeur d'Alene Garden Club provides horticultural education through meetings, field trips, presentations and the annual Garden Tour.

Info: cdagardenclub.com

    The Coeur d'Alene Garden Club gifted $500 to the Skyway Elementary School garden program Wednesday morning. The club is also providing monetary support to garden programs at Ramsey Magnet School of Science and Lake City High School. From left: Carol Behrens and Megan Beaudry, Skyway; Cheryl Christensen, Rhoda King and Susan Davenport, Coeur d'Alene Garden Club.
  

    From left, Carol Behrens, Lacey Bitnoff, Bryn Bitnoff and Lyla Maestas work in the Skyway Elementary garden earlier this summer. The garden just received a $500 grant from the Coeur d'Alene Garden Club.
  

    Brilliant orange wildflowers are seen Wednesday in the Skyway Elementary School garden, where students learn horticultural and botanical lessons about everything from planning and planting a garden to pollinators and irrigation.
  

    A curious quail looks over the Skyway Elementary garden from atop an arbor Wednesday morning.