Lee Budish's weekly garden update for the week of February 25, 2008. Welcome back everyone from winter break. Hope you had a great week and that you are ready to get down and dirty!  Spring is around the corner; you can see it (the daffodils) and you can smell it (tree blossoms)!  This Saturday, March 1, contingent on the weather, there will be a garden work day beginning at 9am- until noon.  Please check ednamaguire.org website for updates regarding the weather. It should be a beautiful day but...it is March. We can work in the morning and dance at night; don't forget it's family dance night at Edna!  

We will begin to experiment with greenhouse planting. In the greenhouse there is potting soil, plastic pots and plant labels (white plastic sticks) and various seeds in a clear plastic bag. Here are directions. Feel free to contact me with questions, I will be around. Thank you garden parents! Have fun!

1. Have the children fill the small plastic pot with potting soil.

2. Add seeds from the plastic bag (whatever you wish) and cover with soil.

3. Label with a sharpie (please bring sharpie from the class because every time I bring them out they disappear immediately). Label with information so that you know that it belongs to your class. example: Rm 2, beans, 2/25 (the date) whatever you can fit on the label.

4. Moisten with water.

Some seeds will make it and some won't. Don't feel bad if they don't. If they do not germinate in about 2 weeks, we will start all over again. That is why we will mark a date.

Stay tuned for details of our big spring planting week......

CHORE LIST

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.

Posted by Linda Dunne on February 24