i dig dirt

We finally handed out our first ever garden club t-shirts!  Check out all the green...although some kids wanted to save them in their backpack.

The caption on the shirt says "I dig dirt" and was designed by our very own art teacher, Mrs. Palczynski.  

But today, there was work to be done, so we got our hands dirty right away.  One of the second grade beds was not doing well and was overrun with weeds.  We worked on pulling out those wire grass roots, and we decided to plant a pizza garden with tomatoes, peppers, oregano, onions, and parsley.  Yum!

The pea plants were ready for a trellis.

Some of the kids learned how simple it is to make a teepee trellis from bamboo sticks.

We also tried to thin out the plants just a little, but there's not one of us that really likes pulling out the tender shoots we've worked so hard to grow.

And of course the favorite activity of all gardeners is.....WATERING.

Unfortunately, this garden does not have a nearby water source.  Watering cans are our best option...but SURPRISINGLY, this garden always does great!  It gets a generous amount of sunlight and lots of love.

sunflower and three sisters gardens

Our fourth graders have been great at planting sunflowers in their Spanish class with Sra. Melara.  Last year they grew so tall!

And so BIG!

We never knew there we so many different kinds of sunflowers before Sra. Melara taught us about them...from mammoth, to teddy bear, to all different colors, too!

And our pollinators sure love the sunflowers!  Bees, birds and butterflies!  Our sunflowers start off so tiny and look so delicate, but by fall, their stalks are as think as small trees.  And what fun it is to harvest their seeds!

We are hopeful that this year's little shoots will do as well!

Last fall, the fourth graders also planted kale and spinach.  It was barely touched and left undisturbed all winter long.  Look at that amazing harvest!  We decided to let them go to seed, also called bolting.

Did you know the kale flowers could be so beautiful?

But now our fourth graders have taken on a HUGE project....a three sisters garden.  They helped clear out the beds and get the soil ready for planting corn, beans, and squash, a traditional crop of the Native Americans.  

The corn stands tall like the oldest sister, the beans grow up the cornstalk for their support, and the squash provides ground cover to keep out the weeds and prickly leaves to keep out the wildlife.  These crops are great to store and provide food throughout the winter.

It is our first time planting corn and we were very excited to see our first little sprouts appear.  Your advice on planting corn is welcome and appreciated in the comments!

pollinator garden

One of our second grade classes helped put in a pollinator garden this year.  Our hope is to attract all kinds of pollinators to our plants, not just butterflies and bees.  We learned that beetles, birds, flies, and bats (in desert areas) can also pollinate plants!

We chose plants that will flower in different seasons to increase our pollinator traffic throughout the year.  These included coreopsis, alyssum, oregano, aster, begonia, blue star, yarrow, bee balm, lantana, milkweed, and sweet peas.

What a great group of gardeners!

We also added a rain gauge and a thermometer...although the sun seems to be sending our thermometer into the hundreds each day.  It's not that hot yet!

And here is our SHARE sign to make it official.

SHARE stands for Simply Have Areas Reserved for the Environment.  Do you have your own pollinator gardens at home?  What do you see that attracts the most pollinators?

herbs

Herbs are such a fun part of gardening!

This year, we decided to put in a permanent herb garden.  There's rosemary, parsley, oregano, catnip, basil, sage, mint, and lemon balm off the top of my head.

The kids always have a great time digging in to plant.

We started off with a great snack of a rosemary herb bread.  Some kids picked out all the little rosemary bits, but the flavor was still in the bread, and the aroma filled the room.  Many of us wanted seconds.

There are so many lessons to learn with herbs!  Do you know how spices are different from herbs?  (Some common spices are cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and pepper.)

Herbs come from the stems and green leafy part of the plants and spices come from the roots, bark, seeds, or bulbs of the plants.

We did a smell test using a brown paper bag to guess some of the different herbs and spices we had to sample.  Some of us are very sensitive to smells!

Our little strawberry plants were starting to ripen, too.

It was still a little chilly out when we planted, but warm weather was right around the corner!