Queen Elizabeth Annex Garden Consultation and compost workshop

Queen Elizabeth Annex started developing a school garden a few years ago.  This year, one of the parents suggested bringing SPEC in to consult on the garden, and teach some classes.  The entire school, K-3, spent the day with Catriona learning about “what lives in your compost” , finding all the critters that live there, and setting up a composting system for the school.  A group of active parents have built a 3-bin compost system, and now the school is actively diverting waste from the landfill, and will be using it to enrich their food garden.  The school is hoping to bring SPEC on board next year to teach more classes, and to make sure the new Kindergarden students get a lesson on composting as they start their elementary education.

Spring Planting at L’Ecole-Bilingue

Last week Marnie was busy at L'Ecole-Bilingue.  Kindergarteners who previously explored the importance of soil got out into the garden to plant spring crops: nasturtiums, carrots, kale, lettuce and peas.  The keen group were eager to plant and see how the plants grow.  They learned about the different parts of plants and are excited to taste fruits, roots, leaves and even flowers in a few months time.

little seed, little hole





Has it grown yet?



Garlic Bed



garlic



wheelbarrow herb planter

mural

strawberries

spring crops

The thing kids say

Yesterday I was working with a small group of grade 2 kids fertilizing and hilling up the potatoes, and took the opportunity to quiz them on what the garden means to them...

"It's just all so amazing"
"We garden to save the planet"
"What, some schools don't have gardens?  That is so sad"
"because of the Pac Choi and Kale flowers" said one kid with a mouth full of yellow blossoms!

These kids are lucky, they have been involved with Catriona and the QE school garden since Kindergarden, so it makes sense to them that people should grow food, appreciate nature, and eat well.

mmm, yummy nutritious kale flowers!

~ Allison

SPEC in the classroom

In addition to creating school gardens, Catriona Gordon, and Marnie Newall, the SPEC School Garden Educators, are constantly in the classroom, teaching a variety of science-curriculum based courses they have developed over the last 4 years.

In early March the topic is potato planting, which starts with a lesson on plant propagation via seed, bulb, cuttings and tubers then moves on to a talk about what part of a plant is a potato.  Finally potatoes are planted in tubs in the classrooms, to get a head start on the season, to be moved outside when the weather warms in mid-April, and eaten in June at the school garden harvest parties.

In Mid March students direct seed cold season crops outside in the garden beds. A few weeks later the students get a lesson on warm season crops, planted inside, and raised on windowsills or under lights, to go out in late May.

 

In the Spring, the students get to create their own imaginative garden designs, which are often posted around the schools. 

 

 

 

 

Throughout the school year Marnie and Catriona can be found digging through handfuls of compost to see what critters live there

 

Making dyes or teas from native plants

 

 

 

 

 

Talking about plant biology

 

 

 

 

 

Or studying soil science with a group of French Immersion 6 year olds

The SPEC School Garden Curriculum is as diverse as gardening, science and nature itself.  If you want to know more, please don’t hesitate to contact us.


 

January Garlic Planting

A lot of the garlic planted in the fall at QE failed, or was eaten or damaged, so Green School replanted it one during lunchbreak last week.  First Catriona gave a lesson on the lifecycle of garlic, and how to plant it, then  the kids grabbed tools and got to work.  Finally the bed was covered in straw to protect the emerging shoots from the elements.  Half the sidewalk was covered too, so Catriona and Allison stayed behind to clean up!. 

The garlic planted now won't be as big as that planted in the fall, but replanting ensures there will be plenty to go around at the June harvest festival.

Winter Crop Protection

In December the QE garden beds were covered to protect the winter crops from the elements. 

After some experimentation we settled on installing 2 c-clamps at each end of bent PVC irrigation pipe.  This was covered with cloch greenhouse film, and held in place with cloche clips, available from Westcoast Seeds.   

http://www.westcoastseeds.com/product/Gardening-Supplies/Crop-Protection/

Inside the cloches the kale, winter lettuce, radish, mustard greens and winter cover crops are thriving.

New Pear Tree at QE Orchard

On October 11 Roger Philips came to help members of Queen Elizabeth Elementary's Green School (a lunch time group dedicated to all matters environmental) plant a new Comice Pear Tree in the Orchard Garden. The Empire Apple tree had to be replaced, due to a fungal disease called canker.

Roger Philips is a Master Gardener and fruit tree expert at Stewart Farm in Surrey http://www.surrey.ca/culture-recreation/2875.aspx, and he kindly donated his time, expertise and the pear tree to the garden. Catriona, and Green School members learned about the importance of preparing the planting area with rich soil, untangling the roots, planting to the correct depth, and watering well. Mr. Philips also showed them the basics of pruning, and will be back in the spring to help prune all of the trees in the orchard.

Remove from pot

Loosen the roots

Water the roots

check planting depth

water thoroughly

Back to School, Back to Gardening

After a great summer break, Catriona and the kids at QE were back at it this week planting crops to overwinter for harvesting in the spring. Kale, chard, winter lettuce and peas, as well as some cover crops went into the garden boxes, which had been cleaned up, and topped off with fresh sea soil.

Planted box ready for winter

What is a cover crop? Cover crops are planted in the fall to protect the valuable soil from the elements over the winter. They also provide a green manure, enriching the soil in the spring when they are cut down, and either dug into the soil, or added to the compost pile to provide valuable nutrients. The can also be aesthetically pleasing - nicer to look at something green and growing, than bare black soil. Cover crops used a lot on the coast include: Fall Rye, Buckwheat, Red Clover, Winter Peas, and Broad Beans - try one this year.



Cover Crops





Caution: Kids eating Veggies!

I've spent the summer working with kids in the garden, and here are some of the reasons why it's been so awesome.

1. They're super cute.

2. They just get it! When I was talking to them about why people grow their own food, they immediately understood why it made sense to harvest fresh organic veggies from your own garden vs. flying them halfway around the world, spraying them with pesticides, and paying a lot for them in the supermarket. It's much harder trying to get some adults to understand this.
3. I have been witness to them loving & eating veggies! As my co-worker says, if they grow the veggies themselves, they're much more likely to eat them.

Mmm.. freshly picked peas.

Wrestling over some peas...

Nasturtium flowers: sweet and spicy! 

I'm sure there are 1 million more reasons, but I'll stop there for now.


- Razan

Garlic Harvest and Sprouting Seeds at Brock!

Today at Brock, we harvested some garlic. Just like at Ecole Bilingue, some of the kids needed to play tug-o-rope with their garlic before it finally agreed to come out of the dirt. Some of the heads were huge! Take a look...


Garlic right out of the ground...

And all cleaned up!

One head of garlic accidentally got speared by a trowel. I tasted it and it was already super garlicky! That garlic is going to be so strong when it’s cured. It’ll probably cure colds on contact.

Some of the seeds that the kids planted are already sprouting! There were already little carrots, beets, and beans sticking their heads out. The kids were ecstatic to see that something they planted was actually growing. They even started calling themselves farmers! This is why I love this job.

- Razan

Grenfell potatoes!

We harvested 115 yellow, red, and fingerling potatoes from Grenfell last Tuesday from only a few plants! It's amazing how abundant nature can be even in a small school garden.

 

- Razan

Garlic and Potato Harvest!

Although the weather wasn’t the greatest, some kids and parents braved that looming rain clouds and came out to attend the garlic and potato harvest at one of our schools! First, we harvested the potatoes. It was like a treasure hunt for the kids. The kids and parents dug the soil a foot and a half deep in order to harvest the deepest and largest potatoes. The kids had a great time getting their hands dirty, and got excited when they found even the tiniest (bread crumb sized!) potatoes. We harvested 25 pounds of potatoes from just one container!

Dig, dig, dig!

Pull out the crop!

Let's find some more! 

The harvest! (25 pounds!)

And finally, the triumph of finding the biggest potato!

Next, we harvested the garlic. The kids dug around the garlic, and then pulled it up from the bottom of the stem. I forgot to specify that we should only pull out garlic plants, so we had a few sunflowers pulled out as well. Whoops! I guess the kids got into a harvesting frenzy. No worries though- we replanted the sunflowers, and because they are volunteers and thus extra hardy, I'm sure they will make it. In all, we harvested 25 heads of garlic!

The hunt...

The find...

The treasure.... 25 heads of garlic!!

After brushing the dirt off the garlic, it is now being cured- which means leaving it out to dry in a place out of direct light and with lots of air circulation. Curing gives garlic an extra strong flavour! And soon it will be braided as well.

One of the parents later emailed me saying, "Thank you again for the great experience last night. [My son] raved about the project all the way home. We look forward to seeing you again later in the summer."

Another update is soon to come!

- Razan