SPRING SEASON IN THE GARDEN 2013

 

 

In April we were excited to start a new garden season. In the art room we used our creativity and ceramic skills to make guardian owls to keep predators away!

 

 

It took a lot of third grade teamwork to clean up the old autumn leaves before the new planting. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First graders help with the spring planting of lettuce for our salad bar. Mr. Williams will be happy for a new supply.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fall Harvest and Clean-up-October 11,2012

The summer drought is gone, and the snap of autumn coolness is in the air. The kids have been working hard at clean-up tasks and the harvesting of fall crops for the lunchroom. The first and second-graders were very surprised and excited by the joy of pulling up potatoes and beets from the ground. They gave the "spuds" to the kitchen staff who used them for a delicious soup. It is magical to experience the full cycle!

 

                                      

(2-Dr observations on Potato Harvest Day)

It was hard for me to find the potatoes because I had to dig deep into the ground.
     

 

It was hard to see the potatoes because the top of the bed just had dead plants. We thought the potatoes had been eaten by creatures, but when I pulled out the dead potato plant out popped two potatoes! I felt great!



When my classmate pulled out the first two potatoes I thought they were the only ones left in the bed. I was surprised when I started digging to find more potatoes!



                        



Potaoes for the lunchroom!

 



We found some peppers too!

Non-appetizing beets before cleaning...

Sweet beets ready to eat! Beauty and the Beets!

 



Proud Pingry Farmers! August 18, 2012

Lots of Pingry students had great success in their home gardens! As school gets ready to reopen in September, success stories and pictures are starting to trickle in. How did your garden crops do? Have anything you want to show off? Send Ms. SW a picture and we'll proudly post them here!

  

Can the Short Hills Garden Beat the Heat?! July 31, 2012

As July turns into the dog days of August, our community garden is mostly flourishing (with a few exceptions) in spite of the weird weather cycles of crushing heat and thunderstorms. The red onions are bulging out of the ground and have been pronounced "extremely sweet and tender" by Mrs. Gibson, who cooked them with chicken breasts. All the staff members rattling around the empty school building have enjoyed the bountiful harvest of tomatoes. We have had to pick them when they are green and ripen them off the vine to foil the chipmunks who love to dive into the red ones. Even the addition of strong plastic netting and a scarecrow could not keep the determined critturs out! We wonder what is catching the attention of the fox visitors.

It is interesting to see the short term effects of the drought on farmers in New Jersey and America and to learn about the ripple effect on crops and food prices in the future. While our tomatoes, zucchini, eggplants, basil, and sunflowers are thriving, our corn ears are stunted and shriveled.  Corn is used to feed livestock, make corn syrup, and even as a substitute fuel for cars, so a bad crop has many long term effects.

Click on the link below to learn more about this problem:

SIRS Discoverer ® : Document : Drought in the U.S.

Is Mr. Fox heading for our garden?





Dried out ears of corn



Maybe our Pingry scarecrow looks too friendly! 









Luscious tomato eaten by a chipmunk





Busted by the Ms. Collins roving camera eye...

At least Mr. Corvino beat the chipmunks to the zucchini squashes...



Sweet red onions

 

Eggplants are thriving...



Mr. Buckley reaps his reward after working hours in the heat1



Our first potato out of the ground...

 

Pingry's Newest Little Gardeners-SH Summer Enrichment Camp-June 2012



Ms. Smith-Willis was thrilled to see the eagerness of the incoming kindergarten students as they were introduced to the summer garden. They learned to work in teams, observe details, move carefully around the beds, use the trowels to plant flowers, properly fill and carry the watering cans, and harvest mature crops with care. Ms. Smith Willis's son, Lloyd Willis, Pingry class of 2016, was her able assistant, and the little ones loved the interaction with an older Pingry student. At the end of each camp day, the students went home with plastic bags of basil, mint, baby carrots, and anything else that was ready to harvest.



 



Learning about George Washington Carver from the Smart board







Girl campers share scrubbed and cut baby carrots



Planting a sweet potato