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.

Third Graders in the Garden- Late May

The rainy month of April created a plethora of lettuce and spinach which was harvested by Mr. Aguilera's third grade students on May 27th. Some radishes were also pulled. The class enjoyed a salad snack the following day prepared by a children's garden adult. On this day, the warm weather crops were planted into the second planter box. These crops included: nasturtium, tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, corn, squash, pumpkins, and eggplant. Again, both seeds and starter plants were used. Many of the starter plants were begun by Ms. Olson's 4th grade students earlier in the spring.

Spring is the Time to Plant

During the early spring, two groups at Lakeridge indicated they were interested in working on garden projects together. On April 27, the Lakeridge Service Club scheduled several projects to improve the school grounds. One of these activities was third grade students working with Children's Garden adults to plant and prepare the garden.

Our main project was planting a box that had previously been weeded, cultivated and prepared by the adults. A collection of cool weather crops were selected due to the current temperatures. The box was planted using the "square foot" method of dividing the box into 1 foot by 1 foot plots and planting each square as if it were its own planter. Some vegetables were planted from starter plants, while others were started from seed. The crops in this box include: Chives, brussel sprouts, spinach, lettuce, peas, radishes, carrots, oregano, tarragon, nasturtium, strawberries, beets and cabbage. Some marigolds were also included in one corner to attract bees and discourage slugs.


The second project the third graders worked on was mixing soil additives into another planter box. This task was popular due to the large number of bugs and worms that were found. This planter was raked smooth and left for planting of warm weather crops later in the season.

The third project students helped with was digging out a new bed for two blueberry plants. This was hard work as the soil proved to be extremely dense.

View of the first garden box at the end of the garden party.

Fourth Graders Plant Seeds - April

Shortly after spring break, Ms. Olson's fourth grade students eagerly planted pumpkins, cucumbers, zucchini and nasturtium seeds into "peat" pots they made from recycled toilet paper rolls. The students carefully watered the seeds until they sprouted. Eventually, they were taken home by Mrs. Lambe to harden off for planting outdoors.

Fall 2008

In October 2008, a group of adults started working on Mercer Island to develop a children's garden. The team leader was Gordon Polson and his vision was to find a place on the island for children to participate in gardening while learning about nutrition and how food grows. The group explored several locations and talked with other groups in the community that were already working with youth on garden projects.

In November, the group located three garden boxes at Lakeridge Elementary that were weedy and in need of care. Two were started years ago by a kindergarten teacher, but were no longer maintained by a class. The third box was built more recently and was used as part of the "Science Friday" program that is popular at the school. The program runs during recess and introduces students to a variety of science topics. Through conversations with PTA president Leslie Moore and principal Ralph Allen, an idea grew that the two organizations could become partners. Discussions continued over the winter.