Emily from 721K shows off the seed starting mix that her teacher sent her so that she can plant from home. The class has been doing a number of remote planting experiments with lemon and avocado seeds. As you can see, they have also been practicing recycling and sustainability while they are at home. Great job class Y51 and thank you Ms. O’Donnell!
Since all of us are working from home or learning from home, why not share stories about our home gardens? I’ll start.
This glass terrarium is the only garden we have in the house. In fact, there are no other plants anywhere except for inside that. We bought it pre-made from Costco (!) last year, and it has been thriving ever since. There are four spiky cactus plants, and a bigger, more classic-looking cactus in the back.
There are other plants in there, too.
Cactus-type plants are pretty forgiving — there are weeks when we forget to water it — and love sunlight. I recommend them for home-gardeners that have not had luck with other plants.
Ms. Jazzmen’s class at 77K recently revived their tower garden and planted some new seeds to get it going. Check out their engineering skills and the awesome diagrams that they sketched to show the process. Once the plants are transferred, they will train their peers in other classes in the maintenance and upkeep of the garden. Way to go 77 for starting the first in-school hydroponics work site!
Investigating edamame seeds and discovering fuzzy caterpillars at the Genovesi farm.
This year four D75 classes are partnering with the Genovesi Environmental Study Center in Mill Basin, Brooklyn, making multiple visits over the year to study plant and animal adaptations. An added bonus: lunch with the chickens! (They are very friendly!)
We just received this note from 368K about gardening-as-therapy and felt we had to share:
We’re writing today to highlight the success our school community has had using the garden at our site as a tool to build upon student skills, while incorporating its therapeutic benefits into conversations with our children and teenagers. We support, teach, and encourage students in one of the most restrictive school settings in New York City; our garden is a way to show our students that we care about their emotional and physical health and well-being.
Last year 368K focused on “student involvement in the preparation of the garden beds, student creation of signs, students maintaining the garden, staff helping to create an on-site market to share produce from the garden, and finally students were able to bring produce home from the garden.” This year their goals are “a Halloween pumpkin fest; a green market where we hope to have students using scales to weigh and share produce; students … actively involved in making compost for the garden; and, finally, students … using the garden along with their therapists to develop healthy coping habits.”
Thank you to The Garden Committee at P368K at New York City Children’s Center for sharing your thoughts and plans for the year.
Have you ever been to the Genovesi Environmental Study Center in Brooklyn? These D75 students have! They are participating in a six week study, making predictions, observations, and collecting data about aquaponic and hydroponic growing systems. They are also working the farm and hanging with the Turkeys in their spare time.
Congratulations to 53K @ Spring Creek for being in the TOP 5 Youth Garden Grant winners over 800 schools that applied! Here is the link to read more about the grant and Kid’s Gardening organization: 2018 Kid’s Gardening Youth Garden Grant winners. Spring Creek, we can’t wait to see the fruits of your labor.
d75plantlearngrow.com 