Mid-July and Summer Thoughts

More than half the summer break is over, and it is similar to getting older.  Both make one think more clearly about what one really wants to accomplish in life and this summer.  I have my long, long list of to-do items, most of which I will never start.

Naturally, this time of year, I think a lot about gardening.  We've expanded the garden beds here at Trout Lily.  The upper garden which is about a 16x 30 has many new raised beds, with some mulch in the walkways.  More mulch is needed.  We have harvested the garlic (over 260 bulbs),  broccoli, strawberries, some cabbage, some kale, some yellow squash, black raspberries, red raspberries and blueberries.  The red zinnias and other flowers look on with curiosity to see if we will get spinach, tomatoes, and eggplant.

The garden to the side, three or the four planned beds were completede have lettuce, beets, and collards growing.  One bed is dedicated to asparagus for the first year, and another partially to pollinator attracting flowers. The lower garden has some squash, peppers, basil, tomatoes, potatoes (now suffering from blight), corn, gourds, onions, and yes, more flowers.  Don't ask me what kind.
The pigs, Barbi and Que watch on enviously.  Oh, how they would like to get in there and do some damage.

If we plan to really make this food grow effectively, we need to get a handle on soil science.  Thankfully, Danielle's sister just published a book on the subject.  If we knew how to effectively test and amend the soil, maybe we can minimize the number of problems with blights and weak looking plants, and the pests.  It seems like the next logical step.

While we have made huge improvements and additions, there is always some new method or information that will make it fun and challenging. For example, we just got the spring fixed so in stead of leaking out, the water from the sistern now goes to a bathtub for the horse's fresh water but the over flow goes into a pipe, down to a hose and to the garden or water trough at the lower garden.  I want to change out the overflow to a higher diameter tubing for greater flow and pressure when we need it.

As for the school gardens, I am seriously considering changing what we grow.  It seems silly to grow things when no one is there to take care of it regularly, despite our best intentions.  I'm leaning more towards an early greens type garden, and then plant things that grow like crazy and are harvested in the fall, like gourds.
Concepts and Lessons in a summer neglected school garden.

School Gardens on my Mind

In some form or fashion, I have tried to integrate gardening into my teaching Career and Technology to my 7th and 8th graders at 6 of the 8 schools I have taught in the last 19 years.  For one thing, the kids love it.  Even though the gardens are small, the kids love the dirt, the worms, the food, and more. We do composting, water barrels for irrigation, vermiculture, seed saving, plant propigation, and more.   I know that it is important.  One student told me once, "My dad thinks it's really cool that we do gardening.  He says in the near future we will all need to be growing some of our own food."  For the sake of personal economy, health and the psychological benefits, it is a skill all kids should be exposed to.

The gardens I have now, thanks to LettuceLearn, Shannon Carrol, Debbie Bauer and doing pretty well. At Parkway, we moved four large beds to a place with better drainage and sun, so those are new. In two of the now smaller 8 beds, we have raspberries and asparagus.  Older established beds in the front of school are looking pretty good, and have a healthy stand of sunflowers to catch your eye.  The median strip is now part pollinator garden, flower garden and even has a few struggling milkweed in there.  There is room to expand the gardens out front if money and resources show up. There are basically 8 raised beds at Parkway.  A cool thin about Parkway is the greenhouse there called a "SunCatcher."  This is our ace in the hole for starting seeds early in the year.

I started raised bed gardens at Bethel almost 18 years ago.  Most have been replaced, and new ones added.  Debbie does a good job of over seeing the project in the summer, and food harvested is given to the needy. We have about 12 raised beds divided into three different areas of school.  She recently harvested garlic and more.

At Mabel, we have developed about 6 raised beds, compost piles.  this year we planted raspberries in one bed, asparagus in another.  Pace Cooper, our award winning science teacher and his kids take care of the beds inside the fenced in playground area. We recently harvested 43 beautiful garlic bulbs.

I'm beginning to clarify my thoughts on school gardens.  We have the problem of two months or more with limited oversight in some locations, and secondly, there are no kids there to help or benefit.

So I'll put this out there and see what suggestions you can offer.
Goals: Teach kids about:

1. Starting plants from seeds, and even transplanting.
2. Types of plants, e.g., annuals, perrenials, hybrids, GMO's and heirloom, and what can be saved for next year. 
3. Planting from seeds, transplants, bulbs, cuttings, tubers and more.
4. Building a garden with soil, amendments, and lumber.
5. Harvesting produce that is useful.
6. Entrepreneurship
7. Keeping our world, and pollinators healthy.

To do that, and minimize waste and maximize student engagement, I want to start planting things that don't need much care in the summer.  

Here is my list:  

• Gourds (to be dried, made into bird houses and sold) Great art project too, as well as teaching the concepts of drilling and painting. Maybe pumnpkins.  
• Garlic (bulbs planted in the fall, to be sold as a fund raiser
• Perrenials like berries, asparagus and fruit trees, and grapes.
• Lettuce and greens to be planted and harvested when kids are in school
• Flowers.  Flowers are cool. Especially sunflowers. 

I think we can teach all the concepts with those few managable plants.