K-3 Garden Spring 2012

K-3 Garden Spring 2012
A cleaned out garden bed.

HAPPY SPRING HARVEST DAY-May 17, 2012

  What a beautiful day for our first spring harvest! The spinach was spectacular and the lettuce looked luscious! The first graders and kindergarteners were out bright and early, ready to learn the gentle way to twist off leaves without pulling up the whole plant. They also had to identify which radishes were ready to pick and ease them out of the ground. Many different teachers enjoyed being outside working, and the kids often functioned as instructors to the adults! After working teams filled up the harvest baskets with garden crops, the kitchen staffmembers generously scrambled to get the veggies ready for the salad table at lunch.
(To watch a movie of us in action, please click the picture below. Please be patient; it takes a moment to load).
 

Ms. Collins shows first graders how to gently twist off lettuce leaves.


Garden tags with plant names identify the crops.

First graders put lettuce leaves in the collecting basket.


A kindergartener shows her first harvested leaf!




Radishes were popular at lunch!

The fruits of our labors-a fresh mixture of garden lettuce at the salad table.


Many Hands Lighten the Load




One of the wonderful things about the garden is the number of people both old and young who join in the various tasks to reach our sustainability goals. Not all of the work is outdoors in the sunshine.The Fifth Grade Green Team consists of volunteers who help collect the kitchen waste, weigh it, and flatten cardboard for recycling. The composting step is messy but vital to enrich the soil for the garden.When we harvest and enjoy the additions to the salad bar that we produced, everyone can share in the pride!




Two first graders pair up the washed garden gloves. Notice the environmentally friendly bag!

 

Mrs. Biffen does some heavy lifting along with Mr. Corvino.
Spreading "Chickity DooDoo" to fertilize the soil was not the most pleasant task! The nose knows...




A second grader organizes the brooms.
 


A team of kindergartners throws away garden trash.


Don't even think about "helping,"Bunny Rabbit!


  

Did you know that ladybugs help by getting rid of aphids?





Cleaning the shed is an important job.
  








 
 
 







 





The New Crops Are "Springing Up" Fast!

When we look back on our list of April chores, we feel a great sense of accomplishment. Through the hard work of students and teachers, crops were put in the ground, border stones were put in place, and box frames for new beds were resituated. Mr. Corvino is very proud of his new pizza garden. With the warmer weather and some welcome April showers, the new crops are thriving and look spectacular with the splashes of color from our trusty marigold guardian flowers.


Lettuce that is almost ready to harvest
 Plants protected from a freezing night.


The outside border begins to shape up!



Beautiful benchwarmers for the pizza garden
 
Dedicated faculty gardeners are used to nurturing




 

Can you spy the strawberries before they turn red?

Notice the white flower that will drop off as the strawberries develop.
Look at the red radishes popping out of the ground!









Ms.Collins checks out the racket! What's going on out there?

Ms.Collins checks out the racket! What's going on out there?

Reading the chore list...

Reading the chore list...
Checking out the chores before heading out to the garden to get a few things done.

Hard at work!

Hard at work!

Filling the wheel barrow

Filling the wheel barrow

Wonderful, nutritious soil!

Wonderful, nutritious soil!

Aerating soil

Aerating soil

Deep, dark, rich soil!

Deep, dark, rich soil!

Checking out the veggie flats

Checking out the veggie flats

What are we growing here?

What are we growing here?

Watering the veggie flats

Watering the veggie flats

The woodchips finally arrived!

The woodchips finally arrived!

Spreading out the wood chips!

Spreading out the wood chips!

1SW has one last FROZEN work day in the garden!

1SW has one last FROZEN work day in the garden!
Brrrrr! It was cold, but we managed to get a little more raking, digging and fertilizing done.

Our teacher finally put down the camera for one minute... Smile!

Lots of teamwork by garden groups!

Rocks to cover an unsightly drain... soon to be the home of our beautiful bird feeder from a special elf!

There's lots of raking to do and we had fun doing it!


We all worked together and a lot got done!

2 and 3rd graders working together!


This is how you do it!

Mrs. Euwer demonstrates her garden technique in her snazzy garden boots!

More composting!

Shoveling is harder than you think!