Garden Update #2

Thanks to all for supporting our Whole Foods 5% Day!  We will receive $4237 towards our school garden!  This brings our grand total to $13,737!!

Fifth graders will be testing seeds we saved and collected from last fall for viability.  You can do this at home with your old seeds or you can have your class do it.  Mist a paper towel.  Place 5-10 seeds on the paper towel and fold it, pressing the seeds in between the layers.  Put inside a sealed plastic bag.  Check every day, keep the paper towel misted and if 80% or so of seeds sprout, you can plant them and are good to go!  

We are also taking data on sunrise and sunset times.  Students are seeing daylight increasing by around 2 minutes a day.  March 20th is the vernal equinox, when hours of light and darkness are the same.  It's worth celebrating as daylight continues to increase until the summer solstice in June.   Students are also taking data on high and low temperatures and the data is not pretty so far. Most garden curriculums follow a "Plan to Plot to Plant to Party" cycle. You can celebrate building, planting, and harvesting!

We've tentatively scheduled a Building the Garden Day on Saturday, April 11th.  We'll be looking for volunteers and expertise, so keep that date in mind!  

Garden Update #1

Talia's tree video came in third place in the Trees Rock competition.  Her hard work will provide us with $4000 for our school garden!  After seeing the article about her in the newspaper, Salt Creek Butterfly Farm has contacted us to donate butterfly seeds to our garden project!   Laurie, the owner, will give us caterpillars and a monarch butterfly to tag!

We have also received a Whole Kids Gardening grant (sponsored by Whole Foods) for $2000.

The garden will be located outside the 3rd/4th grade wing on Laurel Ave.

Our students have learned a lot so far.  We planted milkweed and butterfly plants where the old sign used to be on Plainfield Rd.  The students have researched school gardens and found some great ideas.  They have drawn their Perfect Garden and made a list of vegetables, herbs and flowers that they would like to see in our gardens.  They found garden quotes that they illustrated, and made posters for our Whole Foods Day and hung them up throughout the school.  Right now, they are researching seed varieties and learning terms like Days to Maturity, direct sow, hardy annual and tender perennial.  They are also making presentations about things like raised beds, companion planting, garden zones, and types of gardens.