Before Thursday, Dajee Smith, 11, had not the first idea of how to plant onion seeds, much less broccoli.

But after just his first day of planting and working in the new garden behind Sugarland Elementary, the fifth-grader is hooked.

“I might even have my own garden some day,” Smith said as he recorded in a journal how many seeds he had just planted.

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It’s important to know how many were planted so the students can gauge their success later in the year.

Smith’s planting partner, Anthony Touchet, 11, knew a bit more coming in having already planted a tree once at a relative’s house and was able to show Smith the ropes to some extent.

“It’s really fun,” Touchet said, shoveling around some mulch. “It gives us a chance to come out and make the school better.”

Thursday marked a day students at Sugarland have been awaiting for some time — gardening day.

“It’s all they’ve been talking about,” said Kay Renard, garden project coordinator and a Sugarland reading instructor.

For the last 35 minutes of the school day, more than a dozen students, accompanied by volunteers — or “master gardeners” as Renard put it — tended to the brand new garden for the first time. Although the seeds have just been put in the ground, many of the students are already looking forward to eating the finished product.

The project is called “Inside/Out Garden” and the goal is for students at Sugarland to discover the joy of gardening and gain an understanding of the source and nutritional value of food. Thanks to a grant the school recently received, a 100-foot long garden bed was installed along a chainlink fence behind the school Saturday.

The school is not stopping there.

In January, the school is adding 20 more beds in a ring and will place a butterfly garden and birdbath in the center to form an outdoor classroom space for reading and other activities.

“The garden project will require the commitment and networking that the students would likely not experience in the traditional daily school experience,” Principal Virginåia Lewis said. “This project offers the unique opportunity to bring the classroom beyond the confines of the four walls. Research supports the active engagement of students in the learning in order to maximize retention.”

So far, the students appear to be loving it.