AUBURN — On Wednesday they harvested.

On Friday they ate.

Walton Elementary School fourth-graders planted potatoes last spring. The now fifth-graders stood in line Friday, waiting to get to a table that held the fruits of their labor: potatoes cooked with olive oil and seasonings, zucchini and tomatoes, garden cucumbers and string beans.

The youngsters seemed eager to eat the vegetables, and remembered planting.

“Everybody’s hands got all dirty,” said Tim Whitney, 10. They grew potatoes from potatoes, not seed, “but they were pretty small,” explained Alexandra Sprague, 10.

Kelzie Caron sat in class eating potatoes, string beans and cucumbers. They tasted good, she said. She liked knowing she was eating something students helped grow. “It’s cool,” she said with a smile.

This was the first year that Walton had a school garden, but the school has plenty of company.

To the delight of nutritionists, doctors, educators and environmentalists, school gardens in Maine are a growing trend.

“I hear about more of them all the time. I don’t recall knowing about them at all 10 years ago,” said Dr. Dora Mills, director of the Maine CDC.

It’s important for children to have garden experience, she said. “It is a physical activity that gets them outside. Gardening gives them an appreciation for where food comes from. It provides them a connection to the earth, also a recognition of the importance of preserving our habitat.”

As a parent, Mills said her children want to eat vegetables from their garden, even though they tend to shun vegetables from the store.

Eating more vegetables is a way to boost health and reduce obesity, since vegetables are loaded with nutrition and low in calories, Mills said.

In Orono, the University of Maine Cooperative Extension has experienced more requests for help to start school gardens, said Ellen Libby. The Maine School Garden Network was recently revitalized and will have a booth at the Sept. 24 Common Ground Fair.

One reason for more school gardens “is the whole ‘know your farmer, know your food’ movement,” she said. It’s President and Michelle Obama starting a garden at the White House, promoting better nutrition and exercise. It’s one response to the obesity epidemic.

In Oxford County, the number of school gardens has exploded into “a tidal wave. It’s really exciting,” said Kate Goldberg of Healthy Oxford Hills.

“If kids have a relationship with growing food, they’re more inclined to eat it,” she said. Because of more school gardens, more families this summer grew vegetables. “It’s a ripple effect.”

One of the largest school gardens is at the Buckfield Junior-Senior High School.

Last year that school had a one-acre garden; this year the school expanded it by 50 feet to allow for a pumpkin patch.

Other schools that started gardens, Goldberg said, include the Streaked Mountain Alternative School in Oxford Hills, the Agnes Gray Elementary School in West Paris, the Hebron Station Elementary School and the Telstar Middle School in Bethel.

In Lewiston the Geiger Elementary School had a small garden raised by one class, said Principal David Bartlett. Students grew tomatoes, cucumbers and squash. “We’re looking to have a larger garden in the future and involve more kids,” he said.

For some students from poorer families, access to fresh produce is a hurdle to nutrition. “So having these gardens provide some access,” Goldberg said.

Walton teacher Donna Albert said one student helping her pick string beans didn’t realize string beans grew on plants. “He didn’t recognize the bean.”

Lessons from gardens are huge, said Buckfield teacher Gretchen Kimball. Students learn about composting, the importance of rich soil and how to grow food. “They’re trying fruits and vegetables they’ve never eaten,” Kimball said.

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