Planting in the Tops and Bottoms Garden

Today Ms. Fein's students planted in the Tops and Bottoms garden. We talked about what parts of the plants we eat at the beginning of school and this reinforces that discussion!

The students planted seeds and seedlings. We showed them the proper way to take a seedling out of the container which is squeezing it and pulling on the soil and not the stem.

They planted beet seeds, carrot seeds and lettuce seeds.  They planted cosmic purple carrot seeds that were donated by Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds as were the Chioggia beet seeds. In addition they planted Capitane lettuce seeds donated by Turtle Tree and lettuce merveille des quatre saisons also from Baker Creek.

They planted seedlings of carrots, lettuce, kale and broccoli.

I suggested that they see if the seeds that they planted outside grew as fast as the seeds that they planted inside earlier in the year.

Thanks to Mrs. Fein and Ms. Ashley for helping.

Ms. Bihari's Students Make Salsa

Ms. Bihari's 3rd grade students made yummy salsa! This cooking lesson is based upon the salsa garden that the children planted in the spring of 2nd grade. The gardens contains tomatoes, onion, peppers and cilantro.

The harvest from the garden was supplemented by tomatoes and onions donated by Frecker Farms, a vendor at the Palisades Farmers Market. Thanks to Marquez mom, Molly Sigworth for getting us the produce!

The children cut the tomatoes, onion and garlic and tore the cilantro in little pieces. They also measured olive oil and lime juice.  We used more tomatoes than the recipe called for, but that was fine with all of us!

The kids are good chefs!

Thanks to the parents who helped: Bernadette Westerberg, Shelli Schmalle, Alexys Buckner, Shah Bahador, Angie and Margarita Reyes.

Salsa Recipe

8 tomatoes
2 onions
2 garlic cloves
1/2 bunch of cilantro
3 T. olive oil
3 T. lime juice
salt and pepper to taste
2 jalapeno peppers (we didn't add these but you might want to at home-just wash hands immediately after cutting)

Growing seedlings indoors and transplanting them

Here are some valuable tips for growing seedlings indoors and getting them ready to transplant. Note that if your seedlings are leggy, they aren't getting enough light and you need to put the light source closer to them.

The number of leaves, instead of how tall, determines when the plants are ready to start going outside. Basically, the seedlings will need 3-4 sets of true leaves before they are ready to be hardened off prior to planting. The first set of leaves are the cotyledons. They are a source of energy for the plant but not "true leaves".

The process of hardening off takes about a week. You gradually leave the seedlings outside longer and longer-first in shade and then in sun.

Read the following articles for details.

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/propagation/seeds/leggy-seedling.htm

/www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/propagation/seeds/when-to-transplant-a-seedling-plant-into-the-garden.htm

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/propagation/seeds/how-to-harden-off-your-seedlings.htm

These cool season seedlings grown under a grow light aren't ready yet to transplant.