Summer 2022: Breaking ground!

 This summer we have a lot to be grateful for. During the spring, we tilled the soil and treated it with compost, coffee grounds, egg shells, and straw. We now have much more fertile soil that is a happy home to our new additions of zinnia and dianthus flowers generously donated by School's Out and the in-ground tomatoes, jalapeños, and onions that we planted this year. This year so many people donated to our garden. We would like to say a special thank you to Kathryn Mueller for her knowledge, seeds, and starter plants. She gave us so many wonderful native pollinator plants. Thank you, too, to the following people who have supported us: the Lia family, the Cantelons, the Orquiolas, Lila Heras, Bill Doran, Steve Mueller, Erin McCarter, Chris King, Maria Featherly, Cathy Peters, Jackie Taylor, Fredy Hernandez Lopez, and Maria Perez Orozco. Like last year, we ended the summer season with a luncheon prepared using fresh ingredients from the garden (tomato, basil, onion, jalapeño, peppermint). We will take a small rest and start up again at the beginning of the school year.  Thank you for all of your hard work, gardeners! Especially on those hot days. 

A year in review

 The 2021-2022 school year came and went with a lot of challenges and changes. As I reflect on the past year and prepare for the next, I have been reviewing pictures of the garden through the seasons. Here are the last photos of the fall season, featuring our fall celebration of painted pumpkins and clay finger bowls made with clay found in our garden. A big thank you goes out to our art teacher, Mr. Gilbert, for tempering the clay, teaching us how to design bowls with leaf imprints, and firing them for us. My goal is to stay current with the blog this school year. Fall will once again return pretty soon! 

Thank you for everything, gardeners!

Fall comes to the garden

 This fall Coyote Parent Council gave us the opportunity to decorate our garden with a fall theme for all to enjoy. Students have been peeking out of windows and venturing out on classroom breaks to discover pumpkins (orange and white), scarecrows (big and small), and vibrant mums. Gardening Club is preparing our garden for fall. We will be mulching, planting, and planning for what will grow in the spring. We will end the season with a harvest party for our gardeners and their families.

Our fall gardeners (Alessandro, Chris, Will, and Mia) strike a pose

Hard at work and having fun!

Eventually we will name our scarecrows

A Garden Party

 We ended our summer with a fabulous feast to celebrate our hard work. Our gardeners incorporated fresh ingredients picked from our garden for each dish! 

Will and Amelia enjoy pasta salad with herbs from the garden, including basil and oregano

Alessandro, Jayden, Xavier, and Conner enjoy Caprese salad with fresh basil

 

We invented a refreshing drink for a hot day: Garden Party Punch! It is one half lemonade, on half Sprite, a lemon and or lime slice, and peppermint or basil leaves to taste. 

This was our favorite thing on the menu! 

Mrs. Kurtz grew corn this summer and Eco Club painted rocks to decorate the garden

After a lot of watering, our ground flower made a brilliant comeback. Thank you so much Orquiola family for donating a Lily of the Valley! We are hoping it settled in nicely and will grow back in the spring. 

Although I didn’t capture it as well as I would have liked to, a monarch butterfly graced us with its presence for our last summer meeting. 

Our gardeners on the last day of summer camp! Thank you for a wonderful summer. 

Sensory Garden

Gardening Club members want our garden to be a lovely, relaxing place for students to visit. Soothing scents and textures now surround our benches made of recycled materials. The calming aroma of lavender, oregano, and rosemary and the soft touch of lamb’s ear plants await. 

Our slightly messy peaceful place 

Mia and Xavier revive our velveteen lamb’s ear plants on a hot day

The crew strikes a pose after a lot of hard work & the storm clouds roll in to give our garden some much needed rain

Mush! Mush! Mushroom Compost

 This summer our gardening crew has been extra busy watering, weeding, and hydrating our soil. After doing a bit of research, Alessandro discovered the function of the hyphae part of mushrooms and gave us the brilliant idea of using mushroom compost to replenish our soil and to help it absorb and retain moisture. 

Alessandro and Mia spread mushroom compost 

Will pulls dandelion weeds while the watering crew coordinates 

Just hanging out by the butterfly bush 

Watering and adding our own compost

Xavier and Connor add fresh soil to our lamb’s ear plants; 

Connor is takes home some fresh peppermint from the garden!

 Everyone took a little something (basil, banana peppers, peppermint, oregano) so that we can experiment with recipes that call for ingredients we are growing. 

Well done, everyone!💪🌱