St. Paul’s Catholic School has an existing school garden in need of serious rejuvenation. Beds have been left abandoned and weeds have overtaken the beautiful soil. But no worries! These students are up for the challenge.
Looks rather daunting, but when promised they can restart their school garden program with the clearing of the raised beds, they took to task!
Don your gloves and man your rakes, trowels and hoes–it’s time to get to work! And work they did…
We can see soil! Not bad for an afternoon’s work. By the size of this pile of bags, I’d say they should be commended for a job WELL done.
Next up: Time to amend the soil. What better way then to use Black Kow compost and bedding mix? It definitely improves the quality of our growing medium!
Add a little bit of tilling and we’re ready to check and adjust our irrigation system. Plants need water and with spring break approaching, we need to be sure the plants are watered while the students are out of school.
Mister Landscaper irrigation systems make this part a breeze. Whoops. We need a micro spray top over here! Even “problems” are easy to fix!
No worries. We’ve got it covered. And now it’s time to move on to planting.
The students worked with seedlings and seeds. They also added fertilizer to the mix, giving their garden a jump start on success!
Drawing shallow channels is the perfect way to plant seeds like carrots, lettuce, radish, and beets. The seeds are small and must not be buried too deeply over they won’t make it to the surface for germination.
So much fun. As their garden grows, they reap not only edible harvest, but knowledge–and sharing the wealth with classmates.
During my last visit, I stumbled upon this student explaining to the other why the flowers were forming on the lettuce and how they would then produce seeds.
Radish, scallions, Bok choy… It’s all green and lush and plentiful and ready for harvest. As these students went to work, it was for a good cause.
The school garden produce was used for a farm-to-table fundraiser benefiting Lake and Sumter Counties giving more students the opportunity to grow. Thank you students, one and all. You’re terrific gardeners!
With the new school year back in session, so are the school gardeners. Weeding, tilling, planting.
With the right tool, any job is easy!
Team work rules the day. Makes these gardeners happy, too.
Today was a good start to the garden with broccoli, Bok choy, radish, scallions, peppers and tomatoes. Watch out farmer’s market, here we come!
The December market was a wonderful opportunity for the students to connect with the community and sell their produce and these kids did a great job. They had plants as well as produce.
Big success for all who attended!
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