Ms. Conn's Class Plants in the Jefferson Garden

Yesterday Ms. Conn's 5th graders planted in the Jefferson Garden. They learned that Thomas Jefferson, the 3rd president, was also a horticulturist. His favorite vegetable was peas! The students planted heirloom seeds of Champion of England peas and Brown Dutch lettuce that we purchased from and that were harvested at Monticello.  The peas originated in England in 1843.  Brown Dutch lettuce was the most frequently planted lettuce variety by Thomas Jefferson in his garden at Monticello.  Thanks to Michele Wahlig for gardening with the children.

5th graders plant heirloom seeds

Today some 5th graders planted heirloom seeds that were popular in Thomas Jefferson's time.
They planted Painted Lady Sweet Peas and Prince Albert Peas. The sweet peas were brought to England from Sicily in 1699. Jefferson planted them in his garden at Monticello in 1811. Prince Albert peas were the most popular variety of English peas in the mid-19th century. This type is said to be identical to Early Frame, Jefferson's favorite pea, which he used when he had pea contests with his neighbors.

Both of the plants are cool season plants.  We obtained the seeds from the Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants at Monticello. We reinforced the meaning of heirloom plants and also the name of Jefferson's residence in Virginia.

We planted the English peas in the middle of the bed and surrounded them by the sweet peas, hoping that the squirrels don't find the peas!

Gardening with Ms. Smith's 5th graders

This week Ms. Smith's class visited the lower garden and also started their study of Thomas Jefferson's garden.  In California we are lucky to be able to grow vegetables year round. We discussed that we are now planting cool season vegetables such as lettuce, broccoli, kale, radishes, beets, cabbage, cauliflower and peas. (Tomatoes are a warm season veggie.)

Thomas Jefferson, the 3rd president, retired to his plantation at Monticello, VA in 1809.  His vegetable garden there is 1,000 feet long. We discussed that Jefferson was a horticulturist and seed saver. I demonstrated how I am saving seeds and explained that we will do that at school. We are planting heirloom seeds that come from the 19th century. We discussed that heirlooms are something that has been passed down from prior generations and this is what's happened to the seeds that I purchased from the Monticello store.  We discussed that growing your own vegetables or buying them at the farmers' market can lead to more variety. I showed them red and yellow beets. At first some kids thought these were radishes and indeed they look like big radishes. This class is planting early Siberian kale. I also introduced the kids to worm composting and they enjoyed investigating the worms that are eating vegetable and fruit scraps. The kids enjoyed tasting mint and chives from the butterfly garden!

Conn's class and Ms. Keller's class learn about Thomas Jefferson the horticulturist

This week the 5th grade students in Ms. Conn's class and Ms. Keller's class began their study of Thomas Jefferson, the horticulturist. They learned that Jefferson, our third president, retired to Monticello, VA. where he had a 1,000 foot long garden that was taken care of by slaves.  Even as president, Jefferson was interested in horticulture. We discussed the concept of heirloom seeds and seed saving. The kids are currently studying Lewis and Clark and I told them that Jefferson asked them to bring back seeds from their explorations.

Ms. Conn's class has planted Marrowfat Pea seeds and Ms. Keller's class has planted China Rose Winter Radish seeds. These are heirloom seeds. Jefferson grew marrowfat peas during his retirement, 1809-1826. The radish is similar to what Jefferson planted.

Today Tyler, Exie and Jamie measured 1,000 feet on the lower yard. They determined that it is over twice the length of the distance from the garden fence to the end of the yard. This was similar to the results from Ms. Keller's measurers.

The kids enjoyed looking at the butterfly garden in the lower garden area. There are many herbs as well as other plants to attract butterflies.  Some kids saw a monarch butterfly caterpillar and others saw a lizard. They also enjoyed tasting from the garden. They ate strawberry guavas, mint and arugula.

We also reviewed the concept of composting.

Note: I purchased the seeds for this study from the Monticello website. It has lots of useful information.