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Townhouses and apartment complexes surround Samuel P. Massie Elementary in Forestville, but in the school's small open courtyard April 2, sixth-grader AnDrogenie Roane was creating a garden.

"It's kind of fun, that we get to plant and learn a little more about Mother Nature," said AnDrogenie, 11, of Forestville, who was working with dozens of other sixth- and second-graders who were hoeing and planting seeds in wooden troughs. "It's really inspired me to do my own gardening," she added.

Massie teachers say inspiring students is the whole point of the project, and the garden — which will eventually provide fresh peas, strawberries and other produce for the cafeteria — is only part of the school's effort to earn state certification as a green school and to teach young children about respecting the environment.

"Some of our kids don't have parents to take them outside or to play in the garden," said Shiree Slade, Massie's science coordinator and a co-coordinator of the school's green activities. "I think that's where the school can play a vital role."

Massie will apply for recognition under the Maryland Green School Awards Program, run by Annapolis-based nonprofit Maryland Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education, Slade said. In order to give the school time to build up its green credentials, she will not apply until May 2010.

The activities started Oct. 18, on Gorgeous Prince George's Day, when the school received 23 young trees and 200 tulip bulbs from Neighborhood Design Center, a nonprofit with offices in Baltimore and North Brentwood that promotes livable communities through free landscaping and other services. In the same month, Craig Fairclough, a Massie fourth-grade math and science teacher, set up eight recycling bins outside of the school and put smaller bins in each classroom.

Now around 15 students stay after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays to empty those recycling bins, and the same group of students picks up trash outside once a month, Slade said. She wants to create more new programs in the future, including an effort to recycle wasted cafeteria food as compost, she said.

But the centerpiece of the school's program is the garden — three wooden troughs that will eventually provide fresh produce, and a fourth trough that will soon be turned into a butterfly garden.

"It's important for young people," said Kyle Lowe, a park ranger with the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, which gave the school supplies for the projects and sent rangers to help with planting and trash pickup, as he watched a group of students hoeing one of the troughs. "It's a step towards getting them outside, getting them connected with their food supply."

If Massie is recognized as a green school, it would be eligible for a commemorative flag, a free tree, books and other resources, as well as a cash award. But Slade said the real incentive is the hope that government leaders and people who live near Massie will recognize the students' efforts — and, maybe, be inspired to imitate them.

"It's important for us to be recognized as a green school, so that not only the students see it, but the community does," she said.

Lola Jones, who teaches second-graders, said she thinks the green activities will affect more than just her students.

"I honestly do think they're learning a lesson," she said. "I think they'll take it home. I think they'll take it home and tell their parents."

Second-grader Leigh Allen, 7, of Forestville said working on the garden has made him want to start his own tomato garden when he gets older. Leigh said his favorite part of the activities is digging in the dirt with his shovel. But he added that other parts of the program, like picking up litter, are just as important.

"If we have no litter, it will be taking care of God's world," he said.