Learning

This has been a great summer for learning! My students have learned more about where our food comes from, the amount of work that it takes, and how delicious fresh food from their own garden tastes!

I have learned some great things too! First off, I need more space! I started out this year with 5 beds. I didn't want to bite off more than I could chew this year and thought 5 would be fine. It was hard to know how involved the kids would get. It looks like they would be able to handle more gardens. I also struggeled with keeping the tomatoes upright. I did stake the cages, but apparently not deep enough. Because of how fast the garden came together and fear that it might not take, I didn't communicate with our school families well enough to encourage them to come and pick from the garden. This fall I plan on getting more word out through sales or give aways after school and next year encouraging all families to take advantage of the garden.

One thing I need to learn still, is what happened to our cucummbers. I think it was because of too much rain, but the stems started rotting which in the end killed the plants. Perhaps because we didn't till the grass below, the gardens didn't drain well enough. We will have to experiment a bit next year!

Just as I was getting to write this, one of the families came and picked from the garden. The corn is almost ready to go. Some was picked today, but it wasn't quite ready yet. Next year, I will have to spend a little more time working with the kids in learning when it is ready to be picked. We had a few premature pickings due to the excitement of the children which is amazing!

The next update will come once school starts on September 2!