Ms. Yoshida's class plants and saves seeds

On December 2 Ms. Yoshida's class visited the garden. We discussed root vegetables, the different colors of carrots and radishes and seed saving.

The root vegetables that we focused on were beets and carrots. (They are so called because we eat the roots of the plant, though many people eat beet greens.) We discussed that there are different colors e.g.- golden and red beets; yellow, red, white carrots.  We can tell the color of the beet by looking at the color of the veins in the leaves.  I showed them Easter egg radishes. The kids told me why the radishes had that name. (Next time we meet I'll ask them if radishes are root vegetables and see if they can deduce that--they are)!

The children planted Romeo carrots. These carrots are orange, but small and round unlike the ones we usually purchase at the supermarket.

(One benefit of growing your own food or purchasing from the farmers' market is that you have more variety!)

I introduced seed-saving to the kids by bringing parts of a marigold plant and showing them the seeds inside the seed pod. The kids enjoyed pulling apart the pods and "saving" the seeds. They placed them in a paper bag. We'll be able to plant them in the spring.

Finally, the kids enjoyed tasting arugula and lettuce from the garden.

Thanks to Amy Barranco for volunteering!

Saving marigold seeds

Planting Easter egg radishes and Romeo carrots

Mesclun lettuce that was planted from seed.