CHAMPAIGN — Parents know how hard it is to get kids to eat their vegetables. But try getting them to grow their vegetables.

Some students will have the chance to become growers themselves when they arrive at the new Booker T. Washington Elementary School later this month. With the help of a $10,000 grant from Ernst & Young, a University of Illinois student group and a few hard-working volunteers on Tuesday, they will have their own garden in Douglass Park, right behind their school.

"Our hopes are to show children that vegetables are really good," said Erin Harper, a UI student in agriculture.

The student group received the grant last year, and a portion of the community garden was actually intact in a somewhat hidden corner of Douglass Park, just northeast of the elementary school, before they started ramping up their efforts this week. The weeds had taken over by Tuesday (and a few mice had taken residence, too), but Harper said the garden will be ready for planting by the time the school year starts.

The connection to Washington Elementary is just a perk of its location; Harper said three gardening beds will be dedicated to fifth grade classes and three more to third graders. Beside those, 16 plots are being built for the community at large, and they will be available for rent beginning next spring.

The Douglass Park garden will hold cold-weather crops like lettuce and celery once the students return to plant the seeds, Harper said. Students will then begin to grow warm season plants, like tomatoes, in the spring.

Parent groups and UI students will tend to the garden during the summer when the kids are gone, Harper said. Because not all the gardening can be done during the school day, Washington Elementary is hosting an after-school gardening club, too.

It will be a valuable experience for the students, said principal Asia Fuller-Hamilton.

"Students will actually get to go over and actually watch" the plants grow and how they are maintained, she said.

The plants will attract insects, too, for students in entomology classes.

Parents and students alike have expressed an interest in the garden, Fuller-Hamilton said, and it also opens opportunities for community service ventures. School officials have considered holding a student farmers market after the vegetables are harvested, she said.

Harper said the Douglass Park site was chosen because of the park district's willingness to work with the group and its location in a low-income area.

Washington Elementary first-grade teacher Dominique Collins was one of those volunteers pulling the high, thick weeds out of the planters on Tuesday. That was one step toward improving the appearance and functionality of the garden — others were mulching the area around the planters, and eventually, more gardening beds will be installed.

"I think it's really important for the community being able to see these boxes used to the highest level," Collins said. "And I like to get my hands dirty."

On the Web: For more information, visit http://cu-garden.com.