7/21/15

Did you know we have a lot of edible flowers growing in the school garden? You can eat marigolds, nasturtium, radish flowers and borage. Also, check out the chard and tomatoes!!!

7/14/2015

The first tomatoes of the season!!! There will be lots and lots in the coming weeks. There is also more chard, lots of herbs to harvest and the first sunflower also opened up.

7/1/2015

So far we have harvested radishes, chard, broccoli, lettuce, kale, edible flowers and herbs. This week we will have more available. I harvested some chard yesterday to demonstrate chard chips (this also works with kale).
Take the chard and take out large stems with a knife. Make sure leaves are dry. Toss in a little olive oil and salt, or soy sauce. Place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Bake for 350 for around 10 minutes. Delicious and healthy!

We also have peas ripening

A great way to preserve herbs is by freezing. Below I picked cilantro, basil and chives. Wash them, dry them and put them in ice cube trays until you need them. You can also cover them in olive oil.

6/25/15

I have made notes to show which crops are where

This is the old bed by the entrance to school with the rain barrel

This is where we planted the raised beds- the pollinator, salsa and veggie bed

As produce becomes available, I will try and post ahead of time. So far we have had some radishes, kale, chard, basil and cilantro ready. I have had to freeze some cilantro so we can have it for our salsa recipe later on in the year. If you are interested in produce, let me know. This week the rest of the broccoli will be ready, more radishes, borage and chard.

Beets, peas and onions will soon be ready. Haven and Riley have already harvested some radishes and onions and basil.

05/26/15

This week Scott Keopke from New Pioneer Food Co-op (a kind sponsor of our school garden) came to give us a presentation called "From Tomato to Potato". Students had to say whether the vegetable or fruit grew underground or above ground. We then went out to check on the progress of our garden.

              Photos courtesy of Ben Partridge, New Pioneer Food Co-op.

We also finished installing our Little Free Library! Garden club students helped to paint the post and the car (minus the windows). We will have a small ribbon-cutting ceremony tomorrow, our last garden club class of the school year.

To find out more about Little Free Libraries, go to http://littlefreelibrary.org/. If you have any questions about donations, please email victoriafernandez6@gmail.com

5/12/15-5/23/2015

We've been very busy getting everything prepped and planted. The gardens are all sprouting. We had a workday on Saturday and painted pots, cleaned out the rain barrel and planted strawberries and tomatoes.
The first milkweed plant we had was nibbled down to the bone. A wonderful Master Gardener let us take a few plants from Lowe Park. Hopefully that should satisfy their appetite for a little while!

5/5/15

We have had a lot of rain in our garden and it was too wet to plant much today but we did manage to sow beets, radishes and sunflowers. When we turned the soil we found it teeming with life. We also made plant markers.

4/28/15

This week we measured the bed to add our grids and planted some broccoli, beans, beets and milkweed!!! Milkweed is the only plant Monarchs will feed and lay eggs on and there is a short supply. By planting milkweed we are helping to restore habitat. On May 30th Indian Creek Nature Reserve will have a Monarchs and milkweed lesson where you can make milkweed seed bombs. For more information, go here http://www.indiancreeknaturecenter.org/store/family-activities/monarchs-and-milkweed-seed-bombs-saturday-may-30-1000-am-noon/