First day back in the Marquez Edible Garden

Today we weeded and otherwise cleaned up the garden. The highlight of the morning was the visit to the butterfly garden of two monarch butterflies! They loved the purple flowers of the butterfly bush.

The two beds that were planted with tomatoes, basil and peppers are doing well. The basil is ready to be made into pesto and the tomato and pepper plants are still growing. Thanks to Kurt for "squirrel-proofing" the beds this summer.

The butterfly garden is amazing! Lots of herbs and flowers! The butterfly bushes and milkweed are especially colorful. What a nice "legacy garden" from last year's second graders to this year's class.

We are looking forward to planting some cool season vegetables with the second graders as soon as we can.

This week's harvest

Today I harvested some tomatoes and herbs from the garden bed that has a squirrel-proof cover.  Kurt will be squirrel-proofing some other beds this summer! Please email me if you want some of this summer's harvest.

Stories about the garden

"I learned a lot of stuff in the edible garden. I learned that broccoli must be picked in a certain time or else it will sprout flowers, but you can still eat the flowers. The soil must be nutritious or else the plant will not grow. Compost helps plants grow. Some flowers are edible and some are not." Kai

"In the Marquez edible garden I learned a lot of stuff. I learned how to transplant seedlings into the flower beds." Toby

"This year we learned about how to take care of an edible garden. We learned about many things like the following: broccoli, carrots, radish, tomatoes, marigolds and borage. My favorite things are the fuzzy caterpillars and looking for grubs." Elula

"I learned a lot about our Marquez edible garden. I learned a lot about composting. I compost with worms. You put greens and browns into a bin." Chiara

"When I go to the edible garden, I learned a lot about planting vegetables. I learned a lot about flowers and worms. I also learned that the soil has nutrients that help the flowers grow. I learned how compost helps the earth. I learned about different flowers. My favorite activity down at the garden is tasting the vegetables." Samantha

"This is what I learned at the Marquez edible garden. We made a compost bin. Our compost bin had worms in it. We also planted seeds. It was fun. We dug for grubs. It was fun. They had 10 legs. My favorite thing at the garden was digging for grubs. We also ate broccoli. We wasted the broccoli first." Calvin

Ms. Abrams' class prepares their bed and more

On April 8, Ms. Abrams' students did a great job in the garden. They did several different tasks depending upon their group: measuring the area of their bed and calculating how much fertilizer to add; added the organic fertilizer (all of them); turn the soil and removed roots to get soil ready for planting. One student found a worm that he will use for his science fair project. We discussed the Three Sistes that they will be planting in their bed.

Some students wrote what they did: WE MEASURED THE BED AND GOT 6 BY 4 SQ. FEET. THE CONTAINER OF FERTILIZER SAID TO PUT 1 POUND OF  FERTILIZER FOR EVERY 50 SQ. FEET. BECAUSE 6x4 IS 24 WE HAVE TO PUT HALF A POUND BECAUSE 24 IS APPROXIMATELY HALF OF 50. AND BECAUSE 3 CUPS MAKE 1POUND SO WE ARE PUTTING 1 AND A HALF CUPS OF FERTILIZER.

Soil study and planting

Today we discussed soil and continued with other garden tasks. The children observed two different soil samples and voted on the "best" soil for planting. They then answered the question, "what is in soil?" Their responses included: air, water, rocks, leaves, small sticks, earthworms, pill bugs, compost, humus. Our volunteer Gretchen introduced perennial and annual plants to Ms. Conner's class through her discussion of pansies. Gretchen also brought a terra cota saucer that we are using for a bird bath.

Their other garden tasks included:
- transplanting seedlings from small containers to larger ones;
- adding cilantro and peppers to the tomato bed--now the salsa garden;
- starting the Three Sisters Garden by planting corn (Jacobs and Conner's class)
- planting basil, bean, lettuce and carrot seeds;
- adding to the compost bin;
- watering, and
- digging for grubs.

Thanks as always to the garden volunteers! In addition to some parents and Gigi (Gretchen), we had two students who were on spring break that helped today.

Room 5 and 7 Kindergarteners in the Garden on April 2

Kindergarten rooms 5 and 7:

We took this bunch to the lower yard garden.

Students checked on and composted more waste, courtesy of Eleanor Lee, three bags worth of scraps!  Our earthworms love these gifts! Students also worked in teams to water the garden, dig for grubs and work in their journals.  A small team helped weed a bed and collect seeds from broccoli rapini to make room for more seedlings.  We will save these seeds for planting next season. Per request, students noshed on peas before heading back to class.

The First Day of Spring with Second Grade

What a great way to celebrate the first day of spring! Several kids in each class knew that it was the first day of spring. We discussed that many people identify spring as a time to plant and then reviewed the other three seasons.

The kids did garden maintenance, transplanted plugs and planted seedlings and bulbs.  Maintenance consisted of watering, weeding and adding some greens to the compost bin. Some kids removed arugula that had gone to seed from bed #1 and added it to the compost bin. Several kids transplanted very tiny seedlings, called plugs, to larger containers. I obtained the free plugs from a monthly give-away at John Muir Middle School in Pasadena organized by Master Gardener Mud Baron. Other children planted more sugar snap pea seedlings. The kids love to eat these peas so I thought we needed to plant some more!

What's new in the garden? The radish seeds that were planted last week have already sprouted.

Ms. Abrams class starts composting

We worked with Ms. Abrams class on March 11. We discussed decomposers (which they had studied in science), composting, and what vegetables we will start growing in the raised beds.  The kids had a good grasp of the types of decomposers and enjoyed looking at the worms and pill bugs in the compost which I brought from home. They learned what goes into a compost bin and the started putting greens and browns in one of them.

In addition some kids prepared areas for planting.  One area has a California poppy and we reviewed that this is the state flower and that it was used by local Indians.  The most exciting thing was the discovery of a strange bug in one of the raised beds. It was a Jerusalem cricket.

Second graders in the garden on March 6- flowers, worms, planting and eating

We were welcomed to the garden by blooming bulbs and violas. The violas are edible!

This week the 2nd graders continued to look at worms with magnifying glasses, added greens and browns to the compost bin, planted seeds and planted some plants. After they finished writing in their garden journals they could choose a snack from the garden.

Today's guest bloggers are three girls in Ms. Fein's class who wrote this on my laptop without assistance:

"Today we went into 3 different groups .  In the first group we explored worms . In the second group we planted lettuce .  And in the last group we fed the compost and got to see a baby worm hatch .  We found a bunch of pill bugs and we had lots of fun today in the Garden . And at the end we will get to choose to eat something . We think that it will be arugula or lettuce . We saw a lot of worm eggs and a lot of worms eating . We learnd that when worms have fat bulges on them they are eating . And that when worms are thin they are not healthy and when they are energetic they are healthy . And now we are learning about the pea plant . And that was what we did."

Some children planted edible flowers and herbs. They planted yellow marigolds, lavender, rosemary, lemon thyme and mint.  

I'm making two auction donations for Friends of Marquez. 1) Edible Gardening Bucket.  It contains the following: a pair of kid's gardening gloves, a kid size trowel, lettuce and nasturtium seeds, a viola plant, a copy of "Roots, Shoots, Bucket and Boots". Value: $ 42.00 2) a Topsy Turvey Tomato Planter. Value: $5.00.  Please tell your friends! They'll be available at school this coming week.

Red wriggler worms and some planting

Today we investigated the red wriggler worms that we're putting in our worm bin by looking at them under magnifying glasses.  The kids enjoyed the worms--many held them!  The worm eggs are small and yellowish. You can see them in the second photo below.  We discussed that the worms are voracious eaters and that means that that eat a lot. The kids could see the worms digesting food as it moved through their bodies. Some kids also planted tomatoes and beets. Other kids harvested the stalks and leaves of the broccoli plants and put them in the compost bin.

Thanks to the parents, students and teachers who contributed vegetables and fruit to our compost bins and the cafeteria manager who saved coffee grounds! We will be adding to our bins every Wednesday, so please bring the worms some food next week!

Here is what they did, in the words of one second grader (written on my laptop):


We saw red wrigglers digesting food.
We saw pill bugs.
We saw worm eggs.
We saw red wrigglers.
We looked at the red wrigglers with magnifying glasses.

"E"    Room 11

Vocabulary for today included: red wrigglers, microscope, decomposers, digesting, voracious eaters.

Eating kale chips, measuring and composting

February 6 and 13

This month we've focused on eating, measuring and composting. After our earlier success with broccoli, parent Sara Houghton prepared kale chips using some of our school-grown kale and some purchased kale. They were a big hit with the kids!


Kale chip recipe

Wash leaves well, pat, spin or air dry well. Remove most of center ribs and stems. Chop into bite-sized (1") pieces and place in a bowl. Toss with 2 T. olive oil, throw on sea salt.  Lay evenly on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes until they are dark green and crunchy.


Sara also did some measuring activities with one of the beds eg. 1/2, 1/3, 1/4. We're trying to reinforce some concepts that the kids will be tested on, using a"real world" situations.

February 20

This week we did whole class lessons on composting inside the classrooms. I read "Garbage Helps Your Garden Grow" and excerpts from "Compost Critters". (Another good book is "Composting, Nature's Recyclers"). I also brought some compost from my home compost bin.  The kids enjoyed looking at the organic material in different stages of composition and also seeing the pill bugs and earthworms.  These are just two of the decomposers that help the greens and browns in the bin decay. When the compost is decomposed it becomes dark-brown humus. It is then ready to put around plants. The kids wrote in their garden journals after the lesson.

Vocabulary:
decomposers: creatures that break down organic matter and eat them,
decompose: to rot or break down,
earthworms
humus: the decomposed compost,
pill bugs
worm castings: the waste from the earthworms, the basis of humus and very high in minerals. (You can purchase bags of worm castings at nurseries to use as soil amendment).

The kids will probably remember that rot and decompose are synonyms.

At school we have both compost bins and worm composting bins which we will start using in earnest.

kale

earthworms at work

Note: If you wish to start composting at home, you can try vermiculture or use a compost bin. Vermiculture involves feeding kitchen waste (what the kids know as greens) to red wriggler worms. The waste from the worms, worm castings, are a high-quality soil amendment. Worm bins can be made or purchased. The LA City Dept of Sanitation sells worm bins and composting bins at Griffith Park.  http://www.lacitysan.org/solid_resources/recycling/composting/bin_sales_events.htm. In addition, you can make them yourself. A later blog will describe this.

More Broccoli!

The lesson on January 30 focused on the broccoli bed and the worm bin.  The kids also amended one of the beds for future planting and planted nasturtium seeds.

As we did the week before with the other half of each class, some kids measured the perimeter of the bed and the height of the plants and we all looked at the broccoli plants. Some plants still had green florets or buds, others had yellow flowers and some flowers had fallen off. We picked some green florets from a couple of plants to extend the production. This week several happy bees were visiting the flowers. The kids learned that they can eat all parts of the plant-the stem, leaves, florets and flowers. Today we served them parts of stems, flowers and florets. The flowers were very popular!

I had brought some worms from my compost bin to add to our worm bin. Several kids enjoyed counting them and naming them! Other kids added greens and browns to the bin and tore them into small pieces. At the end of the morning, the kids added the worms and water to the bin. The bin needs to be kept moist, like a damp sponge, so things decompose and so the worms don't dry out.

If you want your own worm bin, you can make one from a plastic Rubbermaid-type container, or purchase one from LA City Department of Sanitation at their compost sales events held in Griffith Park. There are two in February. http://www.lacitysan.org/solid_resources/recycling/composting/bin_sales_events.html Composting is an easy way to recycle your kitchen waste and a good learning opportunity for the kids. In addition, you can add compost to the garden to improve your soil.

We amended an empty bed with compost from Whole Foods. Raised beds need to have the soil amended annually to add nutrients to the soil. The kids have taken out most of the grubs that were in the bed. As the kids should be able to tell you, grubs eat the roots of plants.

Today's journal activity: the kids copied a drawing of a broccoli plant and labeled the parts, they wrote the word broccoli and at least one sentence about what we did in the garden.

The kids had several opportunities to taste broccoli today thanks to my shopping trip to Vons. The kids act like broccoli is candy! They love it! Note to parents: serve broccoli as a snack, with or without ranch dressing, depending on your child's taste. Even better, buy a plant or two at the local nursery and grow your own. Then you can eat the yellow flowers as well as the green flowerets! You can use the flowers in salads just like you can use nasturtiums and pansies.  Also, steam or saute all of the parts of the broccoli.

Please let me know if any of you would wish to help purchase some vegetables for next month's tasting. One goal is to have the kids sample every type of vegetable that we are growing and we don't have enough of our own to do this.

Thanks again to our parent volunteers, the teachers for sharing their kids and of course, the kids! They are enthusiastic workers!

Sincerely,

"Ms. Marie" harty3@gmail.com

Learning about Broccoli--and Eating It!

This week and next the second graders are learning about broccoli through math, science, language arts and eating!  Most of the broccoli plants planted by a local boy scout have flowered and it is time to harvest them. They should have been harvested when the head was firm and tight and before they flowered. fyi, when the sprouts start to flower, the plant will stop sprouting. At least we have two plants that aren't flowering yet!

The highlight of the morning seemed to be eating the broccoli which I purchased at Von's. We don't have enough for all second graders to eat what's in our garden.  The kids had three opportunities to eat the broccoli, with or without ranch dressing. Several kids also ate some of the yellow flowers from our garden.

The math lessons: we all stood around the broccoli bed and counted the plants: "There are 20 broccoli plants".  Each class had a team that measured the perimeter of the bed and the height of the tallest and shortest plants.  The tallest broccoli plant is either 25" or 23 1/2 " depending on the group that measured. The shortest broccoli plant is 3". They all should know what perimeter is by now!

The science lesson: I drew the parts of the broccoli plant and labeled them.  We discussed the parts of the plant and that the stem, leaves, florets and flowers are all edible.

Language arts: the children write in their journals every week, recording what I write on the chart. I use the language experience approach and write down the sentences which they give me.

Some children also dug for grubs in one of the empty beds and others added greens and browns to start a new compost bin.  I think we'll be able to prepare the soil for planting as only five grubs were found!

Thanks to the parent volunteers, Ashley and Mr. Alex for their help!

If anyone wishes a good book about composting, Wen-Chia Parker, a Master Gardener and parent at Beethoven, has written a cute book, "Kids Can Compost". I have a copy to share and the second grade also has a copy. The book costs $10.

Back in the Garden

We had only half of the classes due to field trips. Today we took the 2nd graders on an observation walk around the garden to see how it had changed during the winter vacation. One girl said, "the plants got very big!"

Some of the seeds that they planted are growing-especially radishes, lettuce, and carrots. Some poppies are also coming up.  The kale seedlings are doing very well and we will start harvesting them. GG, a volunteer, showed some children what happened when pansies went to seed.

We spent a lot of time looking at at the broccoli plants that a local boy scout had planted in one of the beds. Some of the plants were almost ready to harvest, some were ready and some had yellow flowers. We explained that people usually eat broccoli before it flowers and that people also eat the stems. (We'll discuss more about broccoli next week since people can also eat the flowers and leaves.) We'll save some of the broccoli seeds from the flowers for next year.

The kids observed that there were holes in some of the plants and that some of the plants had been eaten. They knew that squirrels hadn't eaten them since the the beds are covered with wire. We'll discuss more about pests and how to prevent them later.

The kids worked in three groups. One group measured the broccoli bed, one group planted seeds in plug trays and one dug for grubs. The measuring group used both a yardstick and a tape measure. "We measured the broccoli plants and we measured the perimeter of the beds".  I explained that the perimeter is the outside of the bed. The bed is 36 " x 136". One of Mr. Jacob's students added up the numbers--344".  Mrs. Fein's group measured the height of the broccoli plants. The seed planting groups planted carrots, spinach, lettuce and cornflowers.

New vocabulary this week: perimeter. Continuing to reinforce the names of the vegetables.

Early December in the Garden

The second graders are continuing to learn and to work hard in the garden.   The last two weeks they learned about composting, continued to hunt for grubs, weeded and planted some seeds in seed trays. Some of the seeds which they planted earlier in the ground and in seed trays have germinated.

We used "Kids Can Compost" by Wenchia Parker as a resource. I have two copies if anyone wants to borrow them. The book is also available online at kidscancompost.com.  The kids learned that compost contains greens and browns and that it's food for the soil. Compost needs: greens, browns, air, heat and water.  Greens are fruits, vegetables, bread, rice, pasta, coffee grounds and tea leaves. Browns are leaves, newspaper, paper towels, wood chips, grass clippings and cardboard pieces. We have a small compost container in the garden and will continue to have the kids compost by tearing the greens and browns in small pieces.

We are almost ready to plant in two more beds that have been "degrubbed" by the kids. The grubs would eat the roots of the plants, thus we need to remove them. They are being fed to Sara Houghton's chickens.

Tips for those who took home some seeds: cover the container with plastic to keep the seeds warmer and keep them moist. When the seeds germinate, i.e. you can see the green stems and leaves appear, take off the plastic.

This is what they did, in their own words: Jake: We dug up the dirt to find grubs; Alexandra: My friends and I made compost; Elula: We broke things into small pieces. We planted round carrots. Angie: We dug up dirt to find grubs and we pulled out roots. Others: We planted lettuce. We planted arugula.

We are keeping the garden open at recess as much as possible. We post a sign-in sheet at the gate. On Wednesday, 55 kids came to the garden between the two recesses! We are open for kids of any grades and have had several first, third and fourth graders visit.

Plans for the garden include: transplanting seedlings into the ground; working on the butterfly garden in the center circle. (We have planted butterfly bushes and milkweed.  The first graders will plant wildflower seeds there soon); red trumpet vines along the fence bordering Marquez Avenue; planting of all the remaining beds with cool season vegetables and herbs; creating a birdbath; composting in a worm bin; and shortening the wooden supports for the bed covers. We plan to expand to other grades after the winter break.

Note to parents: it's not too late to plant lettuce and radish seeds at home with your young gardeners. You can plant in the ground, in containers or in small pots by your kitchen window.

Some good books to read with the kids: Kids Can Compost; Roots, Shoots, Buckets and Boots; Rah, Rah, Radish.

Sara and I welcome volunteer parents to help with the kids, to help water over vacation, and do some manual chores e.g. shortening of bed supports.

The kids are very enthusiastic workers!