On May 7th: Preparing Beds & Planting Cool Weather Vegetables
About half of the garden was dedicated to planting seeds. The space was divided into about 12 beds – 2 children to a bed. The children first divided their beds and then put rocks in the separations so they could walk on it. Next they added compost to each bed and seeds were distributed (mostly lettuce, carrots, radishes). We showed them how to divide the bed into 4 rows & then create indentations for each row. We then had them read the seed packets and spread the seeds in the rows accordingly. Students then carefully covered up the rows with soil. Finally they took turns watering their beds.
On May 21st: Maintaining Garden Beds, Planting Warm Weather Vegetables & Basic Companion Planting
First the children learned about weeding, and then we prepared the beds in the remainder of the garden as before. Students learned about planting seedlings & how to handle & plant them (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant). We divided up the beds and had each child plant some seedlings. We also planted squash seeds and potatoes in hills and they watered the entire garden.
June 11th: Maintaining
By now there were lots of weeds!! The children learned to distinguish the weeds from the growing plants and weeded the beds and also learned about thinning seedlings and thinned many or the carrots they had planted in early May. Students did pick a couple of radishes, but not much at this time. Lastly, of course, we watered.
