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.

Tomatomania-for school and home

Dear Fans of the Marquez Edible Garden,
Tomatomania is a wonderful tomato event and where I purchase tomatoes every year. It will be held locally at Grow Native Nursery in the Vet's Garden, Westwood on Friday and Saturday from 9 am to 5 pm. A lecture about tomato growing will be given at 11:00 am both days. I'll buy some tomatoes for the school and some for me.  The address is Constitution Ave & Davis Ave, Los Angeles, CA, United States, 90049. It's at 100 Davis Avenue just north of Jackie Robinson Stadium. Take Sepulveda north of Wilshire, turn left on Constitution, and right on Davis. 

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.

Thanks to recent donors

Thank you to two members of the Palisades Village Green Committee who have made donations to the Marquez School garden. Marge Gold generously donated several bags of potting soil. Betsy Collins donated some tomato seedlings which she had grown. We'll use the potting soil to transplant plugs that I got from the monthly Plug Mob at John Muir Middle School run by Master Gardner Mud Baron. The tomatoes will be planted after Spring break.

Donations of soil, seedlings (warm season), selected flowers and potting soil and soil amendment are always welcome! Please contact Marie or Sara regarding specific plants.

Ms. Gardner's class starts gardening

Today Ms. Gardner's class started gardening. They were enthusiastic learners! We discussed composting: what does into the compost (greens, browns), what else is needed (air and water), what decomposers do the work (they volunteered names of decomposers that they had learned in science-earthworms, fungi, bacteria, pill bugs), that heat is generated by the decomposing process and that the outcome is humus which we add to soil to enrich it.

The kids then had the choice of two jobs: adding greens to the compost bin or weeding an area where the fourth graders are planting seeds of our state flower, the California poppy.  They tore the greens into small pieces so they will break down easier. They all should recognize what the poppy looks like since one is blooming in the bed.

Finally, they looked at the earthworms and bugs in the sample of compost which I brought from home. At the end of the morning, some kids added my compost and worms to the 4th grade bin.

It would be great if fourth graders could bring items for the compost bin on the days that they garden. They know what they can bring: vegie and fruit scraps, coffee filters, coffee grounds, tea bags, paper towels, newspaper. I forgot to mention egg shells to them, but they can bring those as well. When adding to the bin, we need to keep an equal balance of greens and browns and keep the bin moist.