Lee Budish's weekly garden update for the week of February 11, 2008. Spring Fever:

Last week, the beautiful weather in the garden brought out 'very' energized happy children in the garden. Lots of activity last week, foreshadowing of the Spring to come. Please remember to order seeds and to tell your friends and family about the paperless seed fundraiser on our website. Have a great winter break and see you all soon. Thank you all for your help. You are all amazing--so many of you all willing to get down and dirty in the winter--GO GARDEN TEAM!

P.S. See below, the garden appeared in the Mill Valley Herald last week.

1. Weed the area surrounding the reading corner and Ms. Zimmer's garden.

2. If your garden bed is empty, please amend it with soil in the mound near the artichokes. Be careful of the irrigation.

3. Takes a couple of pages of newspaper and role in a cylinder; mark it with your class number and put in the garden somewhere. Check back on your next visit to see if you caught any bugs i.e. earwigs, snails, slugs, etc.

4. Have the kids dry off the stones in the copper fire pit in the front entrance and have them write their most favorite word on the stone and then put back. We make a word 'soup' each year. It is okay to write over the faded words, and please bring a sharpie and paper towels from the classroom.  Ask them for their most favorite word in the universe and see what they come back with.

5. We need some worm food. Looking for kitchen composts. Does anyone want to bring in a blender and show the kids how to make a worm shake or a worm salad? Please no citrus.

6. A BIG HIT! Worm stuff.
Here is a fun questionnaire that works really well with a buddy class or by itself. Make a copy and have the kids find a worm in the bin to fill out the form.  Worm books in the library.

7. Pull weeds near citrus trees. If it doubt on what it is, do not pull, only if you are 100% sure.

8. In the K area you will see farm animals made of terracotta, we need to weed that area and then amend with soil. Please take soil from the new pile near the artichokes; have the kids fill wheelbarrows maybe 4. K area needs massive weed pulling. We need to clear out and create a sensory garden there.

9. I have three tree companies on notice so we should see more wood chips this week--still no luck. We need to place on pathway between garden beds and citrus to keep those weeds down. And we need to dump in the area outside the greenhouse.

10. The weeds near the apple tree nearest the shed are out of CONTROL. Please tackle.

11. Keep searching for those snails and slugs in dark places.  Promise: They are there!

12.  Map the apple orchard with the kids, count the trees, and have the kids write down the names of the new trees, do NOT, do NOT, remove the tags.

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Apple trees replanted at Edna
By Mill Valley Herald Staff

Taking a page from Shel Silverstein's beloved book 'The Giving Tree,' the Edna Maguire Elementary community celebrated Giving Tree Week, Jan. 19-25.During the morning hours of Sat., Jan. 19, parents, community members and students gathered in the school's garden to replant a number of apple trees in the garden. It was a bittersweet replanting - the garden suffered major damage last year after young vandals destroyed much of the garden's fruit orchard.The day was billed as a celebration of the one-year 'rebirth' of Children's Garden by replanting a dozen heirloom apple tree whips to replace the original apple orchard, planted in 1998.In honor of the tree planting, Edna staff decided to celebrate Giving Tree Week at the school. The curriculum for the week was tied to Silverstein's works and the theme of 'giving.'In addition, the Children's Garden is getting some special love from a corporate parent - Smith & Hawken announced recently that the garden will be one of four in Northern California adopted by the company through the National Gardening Association's Adopt a School Garden Program.The four schools include the Mira Vista and Coronado elementary schools in Richmond, Edna Maguire Elementary in Mill Valley and Cragmont Elementary in Berkeley.Funds from the company will allow the schools to enhance their gardens through the implementation of plant-based education programs and hands-on learning.The company has also adopted four school garden programs in northern Ohio.
 
Contact Herald Staff at mvh@marinscope.com

Posted by Linda Dunne on February 10