Nick Layden admits: he didn’t think it would take this long.

“I wanted to do a garden,” the Western Springs Lyons Township sophomore explained, for his Boy Scout Eagle Project, “‘cause at that point, it was summertime and it was warm out. I hadn’t realized it would take me all the way up to November to get it done!”

But he—and a contingent of friends and fellow Troop 3 Scouts—did indeed get it done as they bravely installed that new garden in Burr Ridge’s Walker Park last Saturday, despite frigid temperatures and blustery winds.

The garden consists of eight four-foot-by-eight-foot planter boxes, two benches and a descriptive sign. It is intended as an educational tool for Burr Ridge schools, particularly Pleasantdale Middle School, which lies across Wolf Road from the park.

“This will allow [students] to see how they can actually care for crops that they can possibly eat, and also to see a difference in the community,” Layden said. “It’ll benefit the community for the kids to learn how to take care of themselves and be responsible. And the community will have something nice to look at.”

The idea and design are based on a previous project (by fellow Troop 3 Eagle Connor Wambold) in Western Springs’ Field Park that has been in use throughout 2011 by District 101 schools. The Field Park garden has proven extremely popular with both students and the Western Springs community.

On last Saturday, a phalanx of volunteers in Walker Park drove boards into the ground (cut to fit on the previous Saturday), carefully measured the benches to ensure levelness and spread mulch in the spaces between the planters to create a complete garden that will be ready for planting come spring.

If the planting also resembles that in Field Park, it will consist of both flowers and vegetables and help to teach students about sustainable living and healthy eating—also a pet project of the current First Lady that has created national buzz.

“What’s great to see is [Nick] organizing his friends and other Scouts to come out on a chilly day and put in this educational vegetable garden,” said Nick’s father, Bill, a former Troop 3 Scoutmaster, who was helping out along with the rest.

“The best part is actually watching the Scouts and young adults work together. It takes a lot of cooperation and a lot of patience and a lot of effort on the Eagle Scout’s part. Nick has put in a tremendous amount of hours to get to this stage.”

Layden had actually previously planned to renovate and re-cement the dilapidated walls of a storm drain elsewhere in the park as his Eagle Project, but his plan was vetoed by the Army Corps, who had constructed the drain.

Quickly making the turnaround to a new project, Layden worked with the Pleasantdale Park District (who were enthusiastic about the project) as well as local businesses to secure funding and discounts on materials.

The level of work and exactitude involved was intense, Layden recounted. “Pleasantdale required a lot of precise drawings and measurements, and everything in their writeup had to be to the detail,” he said. “Also, to pass the inspection of the troop and my father and everybody else, it all had to be to the very last nut and bolt.

“So that was a very challenging thing to go through.”

Layden’s current Scoutmaster, Tom Reardon, said that Layden acquitted himself extremely well against the demands of his Eagle Project. “The binder for his project was extraordinarily done in detail, down to the number of hours the Scouts would work,” Reardon said. “His attention to detail was fantastic… in terms of his work with the park district, it was a really big success.

“The Eagle project for any Scout is the pinnacle of their career,” added Reardon, whose own son is an Eagle. “They put together everything that they learned as a Boy Scout or a Cub Scout, they have to build it, lead it—it teaches them how to manage a project.”

The result of Layden’s management skills will likely soon be buried in snow—but will hopefully emerge in the spring filled with seeds of crops and the seeds of education.