Trafalgar Middle School will open its garden to the public this weekend for an annual event.

The 4th Annual Taste of the Garden will be held on Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the garden, which is located along Southwest 20th Avenue. It will feature tours of the 2,100-square-foot garden, as well as a range of sample dishes and desserts made from the harvested items. There is no admission.

“This is our way of just giving back to the community,” Al Piotter, an agriscience teacher at Trafalgar Middle, said. “We’re having the public come out and taste dishes that we make from the garden.”

Some of the sample items include eggplant brownies, beet cake, papaya slaw, kale chips, jalapeno muffins, Italian soup, mini cabbage rolls, micro greens, tater tot tacos, moringa tea and more.

A couple hundred people attended last year’s event.

“I would say 250, maybe 300,” he said.

Piotter noted that the school garden is an award-winning one.

“We’ve gone to the White House – we were recognized with the Golden Shovel by the Florida Department of Agriculture,” he said. “We’re on the Lee (County) Extension (Services) garden tour.”

According to Piotter, the garden is actually made up of four areas. There is a garden, a smaller 30-by-30 garden, a flower garden and a “garden of opportunity,” which is wheelchair-accessible and such.

“The people are able to walk through the garden,” he said of Saturday.

The event may also feature live music by some of the students.

The vegetable garden was given life in 2013 after students approached Principal Michael Galbreath about starting one. Piotter explained that the school uses what is harvested, as well as donates it.

“We’ve donated over 10 tons to the soup kitchens and our school,” he said.

The garden teaches the students about nutrition and giving back to the community.

“To teach the students where their food comes from,” Piotter said.

While the event is free, donations will be accepted on Saturday to benefit the Tanner McDonald Family. The grandson of one of the teachers at Trafalgar Middle, Tanner was diagnosed just before his fourth birthday with stage 4 neuroblastoma – an aggressive hard-to-treat cancer, officials said.

He is currently undergoing chemotherapy and has finished round five, with more to come.

The next step is for him to travel to St. Petersburg for scans and stem cell therapy.

Piotter encouraged the public to swing by this weekend.

“And try some new things that they’ve never had before,” he said.

For more details, call Piotter at 239-851-7268.

Trafalgar Middle School is at 2120 Trafalgar Parkway.