Magnet school wins gardening award

Young gardeners at Davis Magnet School won the sweepstakes award this summer in an Orange County Fair vegetables and fruit competition.

The green thumbs from the Costa Mesa campus submitted weekly entries from the school’s Learning Garden that included tomatoes, artichokes, squash, cherry tomatoes and sunflowers, said Lisa Manfredi, who works with the school’s PTA.

The garden was constructed in 2010. In April 2011, the city’s Planning Commission honored it with a green award.

This summer was the third time Davis had entered the competition, Manfredi said. It had previously won blue ribbons — a first-place award below sweepstakes, which is the overall winner, she said.

“Along with our school’s Ecology Center, the Learning Garden creates rich learning opportunities for the entire Davis community,” Manfredi said in an email.

—Bradley Zint

Twitter: @bradleyzint