Linden
Summer Gardening
Our students attending summertime programs at School No. 4 did a wonderful job of caring for the garden! We have seen zinnia flowers, strawberries, beans, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, peppers, and more!
Author: sperez
Plainfield
September Garden Photos
In September, the children are still enjoying the gardens.
Roselle
More Flowers?
So, I’ve been thinking about the garden, wondering how effective it is for us to grow vegetables. I think we were hoping to share and enjoy the fruits of the garden, but the reality of the school schedule means that we are always gone for harvest time. I’m sure there was some amazing pink popcorn, Jersey Tomatoes, and fresh okra, but we weren’t here to eat it! I can see many of those vegetables that lived their lives, turned to seed, and fell to the ground, never being savored, pickled, or canned. That’s a shame.
We’ve started to wonder if maybe, we should be growing flowers?
More frequent harvests, more product, and the obvious tie-ins with gift giving and note writing to Moms are some of the benefits. Faster harvest times might give students easier ways to link work with results. I need to research harvest times and try to find plants that give flowers during the school year, but it might be a great direction to go in. Wish us luck!
Cranford
Volunteer harvesting our raised bed
Ryan Smith and other volunteers maintained our bed throughout the summer. Ryan gathered the produce and delivered to the local Cranford pantry, Cranford Family Cares.
FSPY Still Growing Strong!
Our square-foot garden is continuing to grow. We have begun to harvest our yellow tomatoes and zucchini squash. Members love them. Cucumbers are huge and our summer camp made several cucumber salads these past few weeks. Zinnias are so pretty!
Plainfield
August Garden Pictures
Here are pictures of the gardens and the vegetables grown in August. The children are still excited about watering and picking the vegetables.
Elizabeth
August Garden Update
We’ve had a busy month in the garden, and all of our hard work is paying off! In August, our dedicated school team members celebrated the first harvest, observing the fruits of their labor.
The garden has been an amazing hands-on project this summer, and we’re so proud of the time and effort the team put in to nurture the plants. We can’t wait to share the harvest with our students when they return!
Roselle
Summer Break!
Hello everyone, I’m writing this from Thailand, where I went for summer break. This is a place of verdant abundance, where everything grows at breakneck speed year round. While our garden at Washington Elementary School is not year round it is certainly a verdant wonderland. I see evidence of seeds I planted, but also evidence of seeds that fell in years past from other gardening efforts. I see squash of some sort next to pink popcorn that I planted. There is a ton of tomatoes and some okra somewhere in that thicket. We had a student come with seeds from his apple that may be reaching for the sky. Our garden is a reminder of life’s indomitable will. Everything on the planet is pushing forward, working with what it has, and finding a place to thrive. I love the overflowing mishmash of plants in our garden, and we look forward to making it better next year.
Elizabeth
August
Our clients love greens!
Roselle
The Roselle Urban Growers
We’ve had some intense weather, but we’re rolling with the punches! Our flowers are looking sharp, our late-summer herbs and veggies are in place, and we’ve started on our fall direct-sow seeds.
Considering this was literally an unused patch of grass three months ago, we’re excited by the progress.
Lead farmer Carlos has been hosting community sessions twice-weekly. The Roselle Urban Growers program is still in its infancy but destined for great things!
