I can’t believe anything can survive this cold, but it does, and will continue to do so, I suppose. Our little sapling is buried in snow and can’t be seen. While that may seem inconsiderate, I think the snow is the only protection it’s gonna get.
It’s fascinating how most of the natural world seems to slowly die in the winter, only to crawl back when it seems most dire. A friend of mine in L.A. was saying she had blueberries twice a year, and strawberries year-round. While that sounds delicious, I’m calibrated to the 4 seasons, and I’m thankful for the punctuation throughout the year. This too shall pass; soon we’ll see the first shoots of the spring, and all this will be a fond memory.
My last post detailed the saga of a good-hearted boy and a tiny apple tree. I’m happy to report that little seedling is in the ground where it belongs. A little late, I know, but I’m a believer.
To summarize, a student of mine grew an apple tree sapling, 3 inches tall. The plan was to put the plant somewhere safe for the winter and plant it in the spring, but research indicated that it is possible to just plant it with a little protection for the winter, and it will have a head start in the spring. I had hoped to get it in the ground by 12/1, but we didn’t end up getting it planted until 12/8.
All the same, I think the odds are with us. If it’s alive now, I’m betting that it will stay that way. I have welding skills, so I made a cage to protect our sapling and pounded 10” stakes in to secure it. Now that the ground is frozen, the cage is very strong. I call that a win. So, wish us luck, I will keep you informed. Just know that I’ll be starting another sapling from seed under a grow lamp in February, just in case we need to pull a switch in April! Happy Holidays to all!
I have a student in my ESL program who has made leaps and bounds in the 1.5 years I’ve known him. A Haitian boy who has probably seen and experienced unpleasantries that would shock the rest of us. We would see each other every day, and he knew that I am involved in the garden at school. One day after lunch he comes to me with 3 seeds from his apple, so I said “Cool, let’s go put these in the dirt”. I didn’t think much of it until 2 weeks later when he came to me jumping up and down and dragged me outside to see that there was a 3” sapling coming out of the ground where we put the seed.
He was beyond excited, but somewhere along the way some mischievous fingers may have uprooted the young tree, and the first attempt was for naught. He was crushed. So, we tried again. It was June and school was almost over, so I gave him a planting pot with soil, he saved the apple seeds, and we planted them again, this time knowing that he was going to take the pot home and nourish the seeds and any saplings until September when I would see him again.
Fast Forward to September, and I was afraid to ask, not knowing how much help he had at home, and not wanting to put pressure on the subject. All this time we didn’t talk about it, until the beginning of November, he showed up with the pot, and there was a sapling growing there! Imagine my surprise! I call that a win. So now, the mission is to keep it alive all winter and plant it in front of the school in the Spring. You never know where and how the difference will be made. You never know how things will turn out, and in that I see a compelling argument for optimism.
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!
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.
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!
What a difference a couple of weeks makes! We’ve got a lot more green going on. I’m seeing evidence of peas, corn, tomatoes, bokchoy, and maybe okra. At the same time, there are a lot of un-named plants (probably weeds) that are happening at the same time. I imagine that soon it will be easier to ascertain which are weeds and which are plants that we want. As you can imagine, the starter strawberry and soy plants we received at the grant ceremony are doing great. Interestingly, the seeds I started and planted as seedlings are doing about as good as the seeds I put in the ground 2-3 weeks later. Hard to say why; the seeds are different, and of different ages. Either way, if we can keep that stuff alive all summer, we’ll have some produce.
On another note, there is a student here that we’ve all put a lot of effort into. He has really come out of his shell this year, and when he heard about the garden, he gave me 3 seeds from his apple. We went out to the garden after school and planted them, and today, he greeted me at the door when I got to school, and took me out to show me there is a little sapling there! He was sooooo excited! I’m going to try and find a place on the property to plant it. We’ll see. That scholar was so happy to see a plant coming out of the ground, it was a really special moment.
Hello, I’m brand new to gardening, but I saw an opportunity at my school. I cleaned it up last fall, and put some seeds in the window this spring, and now we have corn, cantaloupe, and pea seedlings making a go of it. We recently threw down some bok choy, lettuce, okra, and tomato seeds, so we’ll see what happens. We’re trying to get a greenhouse set up for next spring, so that should extend our growing season a lot. First thing right now is to set up a soaker hose so that the garden survives the summer. It’ll be fun to plant seeds in June to eat in the fall. These pics were taken at the end of April, by the end of May we should see some good growth. Super psyched at W.E.S.!
Washington Elementary in Roselle has also welcomed raised bed gardens to their school!
Due to the fact that raised garden beds help gardeners get a head start in the season, it is important to know what type of plants can be together in order to get the most out of your gardens. Some examples include;
