Last week of June

During the last full week of June, the gardens were cultivated, weeded, watered and poles were added for the beans. The plants continue to grow from the great weather; sunshine and moderate temperatures. A watering team has been recruited to look after the gardens this summer. If you wish to help out, post a comment on this site and we will contact you. The peas, which were bent over a few weeks ago when the netting was added, have grabbed onto the netting and are now producing pods. Look carefully for crisp, green peapods! The strawberries are flowering so berry production will soon follow. The spinach and lettuce are abundant and ready to eat.

The nasturtium in planter box 1 are beautiful.

Planter box 2 which has mostly warm weather crops is filling in nicely. My attempts to photograph the baseball-size green tomato were a failure, so you will have to trust me. There are a few radishes ready to pick, and the cucumber plant is starting to show some small cucumbers. One zucchini plant is taking over the front of the planter, and the corn and beans are about 10 inches tall. The forecasted warmer weather should give these plants a burst of energy!

The new bed needed the most weeding, but is now looking well. Some sunflowers are knee-high. The blueberry plants are looking very healthy, though it is not likely they will produce berries this first year.

Compare the following photo with the same shot posted earlier in June of a sunflower planted by Ms. Teres 5th grade students.

Finally, the bed planted between the two wings of the school is finally responding to extra watering and the added compost. The sunflowers are over a foot tall. There appears to be some new shoots that are from the onion family. It is uncertain if these are leeks or chives. The seeds were dormant for the full month of May and finally sprouted when watering was stepped up in June. The carrots are starting to produce greens and the mystery gourd plants at the northend are getting bigger. Several packets of seeds were planted as part of Science Friday and someone forgot to label the bed. Now it is a science project to guess what is growing! The Children's Garden team has identified the plant families, but we are waiting for more clues.

Summer Vacation Starts Next Week

Box 1 was planted in late April and has filled in considerably. The cabbage heads are rounding up and the lettuce and spinach have been harvested several times. A new crop of radishes has been planted and the strawberries are starting to form small fruits. A squash and pumpkin plant were added this week to provide some late summer activity for this box. The brussel sprouts are getting taller and the peas have been staked. The netting was added also, though not visible in the adjacent photo.

Box 2 which was planted in late May by the third graders is now showing many sprouts. Check out the corn and beans which have really grown with the warm weather. If you click on the picture, you can see an enlarged version which really shows what's growing! The tomatoes are so tall they are ready to be staked too.

Kindergartners Adopt Science Friday Garden Box

In late April, Lakeridge students planted seeds in the planter box that is located between the two wings of the school during recess time as part of Science Friday. A few starter plants left over from the Service club project day were also planted at this time.

As May progressed and the weather became drier, Ms Millsap's kindergarten students adopted this box and took on the task of watering. The seeds finally sprouted!

In June, this box was amended by Mrs. Lambe who added the remaining pumpkins started by Ms. Olson's students, squash, eggplant and some mulch.