garden clean-up (round 2!)

Round two of our garden clean up was very exciting!  Wild animal kingdom in both gardens, but first we learned to compost those extra cabbage leaves.

Our pile is growing!

A precious little frog was found, observed, and later set free.

Look at that tangled mess of weeds.  The kids worked hard and were able to clear all the beds.

A tiny ladybug baby was found among all the weeds.

But the highlight was...

....a lizard!  Well, two lizards, that were living in one of the beds.  We tried to journal about them, but it was just too exciting.

Those that wanted to got close-up for a really good look.

But some preferred hard work with big tools.  Our beds are now ready for a late fall planting.  But what will we plant?

garden clean-up

Our gardens were due for a little fall clean-up, but first it was time to harvest some amazing napa cabbage!  These tiny cabbage seeds were planted in July and finally ready to be harvested in the middle of October.  Beautiful and delicious.

We also chose some of the larger beets to dig up.  I was surprised at how many kids said they like beets!

Let the clean up begin!

The big things are fun to pull out, but those little weeds are such a chore!

We composted some of our green bean plants and sunflower stalks.

And we tested the pH level of our soil beds.  They were surprisingly....normal.

This was one giant pile to be composted.  Weeds were in a separate pile.

Now doesn't that look better?

Garden Club 2015

It's time to get back into the gardens with the children!

We had so many kids interested in the garden club this year, we are having two clubs!

Each club meets twice a month in the fall, once a month in the winter, and then back to twice a month in the spring.

Here is a peek at one of our school's gardens.  Check out those cabbages.  I don't even think that very hungry caterpillar could eat those big cabbages.

We are hoping to try a garden journal this year.  Since we have so many kids, Sra. Melara thought to have our composition books cut in half.  What a great idea!  Such a perfect size for small hands.

We started off the year with our sunflower snack of grapes, celery and cheese.  It disappeared quickly.

This year, we also thought to include some garden rules at our first meeting. 

Of course, the children thought the scavenger hunt was a great introduction to the gardens.  There was so much to explore in each garden.

Some beds are growing vegetables, some weeds, and there was even one hidden carrot that looked like a weed.

The dead sunflowers in the fourth grade garden held lots of surprises.

So cool!

There was so much to touch and smell.  Some herbs smelled good and some not so good.

But the highlight for one of our clubs was this poor tomato horn worm.  It was covered with the eggs of the braconid wasp.  An amazing example of a parasite.  The tomato horn worm is not a friend to the gardener...it eats those beautiful tomatoes that took so long to grow!  But these wasp larvae are a beneficial insect because they are eating this worm!  It's gross, but it's an amazing lesson.  Even VCU has a bug lab that studies this very thing!

We're looking forward to an amazing year!

summer in the garden

Our gardens have been full of life this summer!

New last year, our classes created some permanent gardens with the hopes of attracting pollinators.  It sure did work!

Here is a butterfly enjoying a zinnia...

...and some caterpillars munching on the fennel in the herb garden.

Maybe they were encouraged by the very hungry caterpillar overlooking our beds?

We had no idea our zinnias would grow taller than our butterfly bush!

This is a flashback to what it looked like the day we planted it:

Over the summer,

 we had some wonderful volunteer groups come out and help us weed the gardens and plant some new crops.  The weeds always flourish well in our Kindergarten garden during the summer, so this was a HUGE project.

We planted several fall crops, but without daily attention, the only ones to thrive were the beets....

...and the cabbage.

Sra. Melara also shared some of her kale and spinach plants with us.

 Here's a long view of the entire K garden.  In the foreground is the herb bed, with huge plants of basil, rosemary, and bee balm among others.

There are also two beds towards the back that didn't produce anything, and they were full of seeds!  Gardening is a great experiment for the kids...what works, what doesn't, how can we improve? 

Our little rabbit mascot was happy to come out of hiding in the weeds.  He's got a good view of those cabbage plants now.

Take a look at this jungle of sunflowers!

Towards the back left, there is a mammoth sunflower with drooping leaves, looking almost like a palm tree.  It stem is thick, the leaves are shady...

and the seeds from the flower head will be able to be used for next year's planting.

The sunflowers bring lots of creatures to our gardens....

...bumble bees, butterflies, ants, hornets (uh-oh!), and birds!!

There are plenty of seeds to share with the wildlife.

Our second grade garden always has a productive summer.  The okra bed is amazing and already drying out.

These become fun musical instruments once they are dry.

And there are still lots of bouquets of flowers to be made.

We are looking forward to the beginning of school, fall crops, and another chance to get our hands dirty, observe the nature around us, and watch the miracle of plants growing right before our eyes.

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.