Hello from the garden teachers!
We have been learning about leaf shapes, and about how soil is made from leaf mulch. Kids did a lot of hands on gardening this past week as we all worked together to move a big pile of beautiful wood chips. The aromatic coniferous chips made a lovely mulch for our garden paths. We talked about how the core of the wood chip pile was very warm, hot enough even to see steam rising from the center. This is how compost is made, by creating conditions for microbes to begin to break down the organic matter. These past few weeks we... -found leaves in various shapes to learn about leaf identification -spread woodchips in the garden pathways, under the majestic plum tree, and under our little fig trees -talked about hot compost and how microbes help us break down organic matter -added more carbon to our compost bins -designed our dream gardens -swept up the leaves in the kitchen courtyard garden -planted mums, pansies, and violas -weeded and cleaned up daily -digging in the herb patch -had scavenger hunts for all the different foods we grow in the garden -talked about our favorite salads and made salad recipes -planted a row of sunchokes -cared for our “tropical” garden in the stairwell of lemongrass, bananas, hibiscus -cared for our indoor plants by misting their leaves and watering their soil -transplanted spider plant babies and up-potted our houseplants -sorted our seeds -had indoor art time (painting, crafting) Follow us on Instagram @gardenofwonders to see our daily stories and adventures in the garden. Happy Gardening! Mel and Jess
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It’s been a few weeks since we’ve written about the magical moments we’ve had in the Garden of Wonders! Garden kids have been learning about leaves, seeds, soil, and teamwork! We play a lot in the garden and the kids have really taken a liking to “capture the squash,” which we have been playing most often in the native garden. We have been collecting leaves to press and learning about how beneficial bugs and pollinators take shelter in the fallen leaves to overwinter. Some kids may have brought home“seed bombs,” which we made together with water soluble clay, dirt, and many seeds! We included red clover, wildflowers and vegetable seeds. Seed bombs are a positive peaceful act of spreading biodiversity and helping kickstart ecological processes of land restoration. Scroll down to read more about what we did this past week in GAP and follow us on Instagram @gardenofwonders to see our daily stories and adventures in the garden. The past few weeks we... -collected leaves in shades of green, yellow, and red to make leaf art inspired by the artist Andy Goldsworthy -pressed autumn leaves in notebooks -collected dry leaves for paper making -made SO many seed bombs -played SO much capture the squash -found and released worms into our garden beds -learned about how touching soil helps us feel happier and how it’s proven by science -shoveled out and harvested horseradish root and leaves -harvested sunchokes -swept up the leaves in the kitchen courtyard garden -made an indoor “tropical” garden in the stairwell of lemongrass, bananas, hibiscus, and others -took care of our indoor plants by misting their leaves and watering their soil -learned about how seeds travel -added carbon to our compost bins -learned about carbon and nitrogen ratios in making soil in our compost bins -indoor Art time (painting, crafting) -walks through the native garden Happy Gardening! Mel and Jess |
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November 2019
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