Wilson participating to the Ohio State University "Buckeye Lady Beetle Blitz" of 2010

A few months ago I was searching some information on Organic Pest Control. One of the most important insects for agriculture available in nature to control unwanted pests are Ladybugs. And this is why Ladybug is the Ohio State Insect since 1975. 


Then I came across the "Buckeye Lady Beetle Blitz"  a census program of Lady Beetles conducted by Ohio State University with the help of volunteers all over Ohio State.


I decided to participate to this program with our Wilson Garden so that some elementary kids could be able to be part of their first ever University scientific research and be proud of contributing to the study and protection of those cute red insects.


On the 13th of June we placed our sticky card on a post in the middle of Wilson Garden and waited 7 days.

On the 19th we collected our sticky card and studied the tiny world living in our garden.

The kids where fascinated on discovering how many little living beings are in the garden that they never noticed. And we did have 2, maybe 3 ladybugs. The kids learned that our beloved ladybug population is decreasing at an alarming rate and that we were helping scientists collecting data to understand why and find a solution. 

The sticky card with all the information was sent to the Ohio State University at the Agricultural Landscape Ecology (ALE) Lab. Our data will be part of a big pool of data that will allow scientist to help ladybugs and save our crops here in Ohio.

We will have another sampling at the end of August and then we will report the results of the research.

The School is closed for Summer, but not the Garden. Come Volunteer with Us!

Before school closing we were able to put together a great Garden Club to take care of the Garden during the Summer, so that kids will enjoy some harvesting when school opens again.

The main activities of the Garden Club volunteer is to water, weed and mow the loan.
Entire families are participating and at times entire streets of a neighborhood. Kids enjoy spending time at the garden and playing on the school playground. Parents do some exercise and feel good about helping keep alive the school garden for next year. Plus they often get a chance to make new friendship with other families who shares the value of educating kids about healthy foods and take care of nature. And when the work is done it is nice to bring home some fresh harvested lettuce to enjoy for a healthy family meal.

We also involved kids in more seeding.
During the Summer we will grow
Tomatoes
Basil
Carrots
Beets
Summer squash
Peas
Beans
Water melons
Corn
Sunflowers (some tall up to 16 ft)
Pumpkins (some big up to 100 lb)

Most of the harvest will be ready by the end of August just in time for the kids to be back.

We still need volunteers, especially for July. If you are interested click here and submit the form with all your data. a Garden Committee member will contact you with all the information.

You do not have time to volunteer in the garden, but like the idea of the School Garden? Please support us by visiting our "Wish list" and "Donations" page.

All class harvesting at the end of school

On the last week of school all classes were able to complete their garden projects.

A class transplanted beans grown in the class and harvested radishes

and 5 classes harvested the fruit of their work.

They tested lettuce in a dip of oil of olive with balsamic vinegar, happily and proudly brought home spinach and radishes.

And they were all exited they got to be on the news too.

       

I want to thank all the Garden Committee, the school Principal and staff, the teachers and of course the kids to participate to our first year of school gardening.

Many kids will keep coming to the garden with their parents as part of our "Adopt the Garden for a Week" program organized under the Garden Club.

The Garden Club is open to the Anderson Twp and Newtown communities. If interested click on the "Volunteering" tab on the left inside of the blog page and fill out the survey form with all your information. Someone will contact you and welcome you on board.  

Wilson Garden now has a Butterfly Garden !

As you may or may not know our bees and in general pollinators (butterflies, wasps, etc) are decreasing at an alarming rate. In the past four or five years entire bee colonies in USA and around the world are dying for still unknown causes, the so called Colony Collapse Disorder or CCD  . The production of 1/3 of the food produced in USA depend on the hard work of this little creatures, we in general associate to painful stings or honey. Bees are the major pollinators for fruit trees, vegetables and flowers, the base of our food chain.

So when Christel Wells, a Wilson parent and an expert gardener, came to me and proposed to create a Butterfly Garden near our vegetable garden I immediately accepted.

Greenfield Plant Farm kindly donated the plants, happy to help 
providing the garden with a live laboratory to learn about butterflies 
and other insects.

On a weekend Martin and Christel Wells came over to the garden and 
prepared the bed. Pull out the grass, dig the hard clay
and donating top notch soil.

The following day Christel shared her expertise with her daughter's class and taught them landscaping design and the art of transplanting. Kids had a blast and the work was so intense that no picture were taken. But this is the result.....

...a state of the art Butterfly Garden with all sorts of plants and flowers all labelled for anyone interested  to learn more, that will attract butterflies and bees as well.

We now have a happy and lively garden with many butterflies of all kinds of colors, from white to yellow to light blue to orange, a place where kids can learn about the importance of taking care also of little creatures so important for our survival.

The Butterfly Garden will soon be joined by huge Sunflowers we recently seeded in the big garden plot. As nor the Garden nor the school use any kind of pesticides, the bees and butterflies will surely enjoy a safe and healthy place where to live.

 

(The Working Bee kindly donated by Ron & Diana Reynolds)

We hope the Anderson Twp. community will get inspired visiting our Butterfly Garden and plant some yellow and blue flowers in the backyard, reduce the use of pesticides and help the bees thrive again.

Thank to all!

The power of Wilson families and community involvement

Looks like I cannot stop thanking for donations and time dedicated to the Wilson Garden Wonder. 

Dr. John Giennantonio from "Sea of Smile Pediatric Dentistry" kindly supported our garden with funds that allowed us to build a nice gate for the garden. I guess we could name the gate "Sea of Smile Gate" also because kids in our garden are always smiling and happy to take care of their garden and learn about life and healthy foods.

Me and Diane Reynolds went shopping to Home Depot where they helped us selecting all the needed materials.  

Dr. Ron and Diane Reynolds kindly put together the gate.

A little bit of work to dig the holes for the posts....(me and my daughters were still full of energy after the fantastic Forest Hills 5K)

...a cool evening helped the Reynolds complete the installation of the gate..

and now we have a nice and safe entrance to the garden to be proud of.

Thank you all!