SCARBOROUGH – With the growing season fast approaching, the garden initiative at the Blue Point School in Scarborough received a boost last week when the Board of Education accepted a $500 grant to help the garden at the school expand.

The garden was first planted last year and consists of three raised beds where produce is grown with the help of students, staff and the community. There is also a memorial flower garden, planted in honor of former student Kyle St. Clair.

The grant, which came from Kitchen Gardeners International, will be used to build a water line from the school to the garden plot.

In their grant application, garden project leaders Jo-Anne Capron and Liz Stockwell, said the gardens at Blue Point School “are a great hands-on educational tool to teach the kindergarten through second grade students about growing, harvesting and cooking food. The food harvested last year by volunteers was shared with the students and community.”

Any money left over from the grant will be used for used for purchasing compost and soil and for other routine maintenance items, according to the grant application. Principal John Thurlow also said the school hopes to plant some trees for the benefit of future generations.

A community work day will be held at the Blue Point School on Saturday, April 26, 12:30-3 p.m. and the projects to be completed include filling the existing beds with fresh compost, repainting existing beds, preparing new, additional beds for planting and clearing space in the nearby woods for play.

Kitchen Gardeners International, which is based in Scarborough, is a nonprofit community of more than 30,000 people in 100 countries who are growing their own food and helping others to do the same, according to the group’s website.

Last spring, a new school garden was created at the Blue Point School in Scarborough. With a recent grant, the hope is to expand the garden this year.