Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Latest update on the impact of school gardening on child education
The National Foundation for Educational Research in UK, recently released a report on a research conducted by the Royal Horticultural Society on the impact of school gardening on learning. The results are amazing and very well explained in this report. It is worth to take some time to read it (click on report to open the document).
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Diana Reynolds and her daughter Isabelle built and installed for us a Garden Loom!
I big "Thank You" goes to Diana Reynolds and her graduated 6th grader Isabelle Class 2010.
Being super helpful during the summer was not enough for them.
Today I went to the garden and Diana was there working on something.
She had this idea for a long time, and sure she put it in place with the help of Isabelle.
They built a Garden Loom for the Wilson Garden Wonder.
We now have a this wonderful Garden Loom where the children can wave grass, weeds or recycled colored strings to produce a beautiful piece of art that can be used by birds in the spring to build their nests.
The children can make as many as they want weaved pieces that will then decorate the fence during the white winter.
Diana dug the holes for the loom's posts and.......
..... a very very young girl put her final touch for a few minutes with tools and why not bare feet, making sure the hole was deep enough and ready for the concrete.
Excuse me! Never miss an opportunity of playing in the mud!
Being super helpful during the summer was not enough for them.
Today I went to the garden and Diana was there working on something.
She had this idea for a long time, and sure she put it in place with the help of Isabelle.
They built a Garden Loom for the Wilson Garden Wonder.
We now have a this wonderful Garden Loom where the children can wave grass, weeds or recycled colored strings to produce a beautiful piece of art that can be used by birds in the spring to build their nests.
Diana dug the holes for the loom's posts and.......
..... a very very young girl put her final touch for a few minutes with tools and why not bare feet, making sure the hole was deep enough and ready for the concrete.
Excuse me! Never miss an opportunity of playing in the mud!
What is ready to be harvested by the children in the second week of school
Sunflowers
Water melons
Pumpkins
Yellow summer squash
Italian Zucchini
Basil
Carrots
Eggplants
Tomatoes (red and yellow of all shapes)
Lettuce seeds
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Harvesting the hot summer produce and getting ready for the new school year
School is about to restart. And everyone is busy getting everything ready.
At the garden we worked on some improvements during the summer. We recycled cardboard and had two contractors companies dropping off wood chip obtained from cleaning trees and branches along the roads in Anderson. That way we were able to divert this precious material from the landfill. We used them to cover all the grass in the garden area, making the garden maintenance much easier. We just need to complete a few spots in the garden and lay a border all around the fence. We also recycled some tennis ball and we are using them to cup the fence posts making it look nicer and safer.
We were able to successfully grow corn, tomatoes, eggplants, basil, pumpkins, watermelon, sunflowers, soy beans, potatoes, summer squash.
The summer has been so hot that we already harvested most of the corn, hopefully there will be still some left for when the kids restart school on the 25th of August.
When kids will be back they will be able to harvest tomatoes, watermelons, eggplants, summer squash, basil, potatoes, pumpkins.
They will also be able to collect the lettuce seeds as we left the plants we had in the spring finish their life cycle, so that the kids will be able to learn the all cycle seed-plant-flower-seed.
I want to thank you all the summer volunteers who made possible to have such a fruitful summer garden that will welcome the kids for the new school year.
As school starts we will be seeding some cool hardy plants, to be harvested before the first frost, and we will prepare the beds for their winter rest, well tilled and covered with compost.
At the garden we worked on some improvements during the summer. We recycled cardboard and had two contractors companies dropping off wood chip obtained from cleaning trees and branches along the roads in Anderson. That way we were able to divert this precious material from the landfill. We used them to cover all the grass in the garden area, making the garden maintenance much easier. We just need to complete a few spots in the garden and lay a border all around the fence. We also recycled some tennis ball and we are using them to cup the fence posts making it look nicer and safer.
We were able to successfully grow corn, tomatoes, eggplants, basil, pumpkins, watermelon, sunflowers, soy beans, potatoes, summer squash.
The summer has been so hot that we already harvested most of the corn, hopefully there will be still some left for when the kids restart school on the 25th of August.
When kids will be back they will be able to harvest tomatoes, watermelons, eggplants, summer squash, basil, potatoes, pumpkins.
They will also be able to collect the lettuce seeds as we left the plants we had in the spring finish their life cycle, so that the kids will be able to learn the all cycle seed-plant-flower-seed.
I want to thank you all the summer volunteers who made possible to have such a fruitful summer garden that will welcome the kids for the new school year.
As school starts we will be seeding some cool hardy plants, to be harvested before the first frost, and we will prepare the beds for their winter rest, well tilled and covered with compost.
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