November, 2014

The Garden Sleeps

The Garfield Garden was cleared of all dead tomatoes and squash plants in early November (with the help of a few visiting first graders who gobbled up any last remaining ripe cherry tomatoes).  We didn't get a picture of the towering sunflowers that the first graders grew but the diameter of their stalks was easily 2-3 inches and were about 6 ft. tall.  A couple of 5th graders helped remove the stalks but we were unable to get all the roots out before the first hard freeze froze them in soil - that will be a job for the Spring.  

Many beds produced large tomato plants which spilled out covering everything and carried quite a few green tomatoes. The Kindergarten bed was possibly the most prolific grower overall, with huge squash plants (were they pumpkins?), tall sunflowers and marigolds.  

Kept in the beds to winter over were some chives (3rd grade?) and some mint in the 4th grade bed.  The Blind/VI classroom has a 'sensory' garden with a few mint plants and two lavender plants which should hang in there over winter and be ready next Spring.

Mr. Robbie kindly ground up some leaves from the school yard and spread them on some of the beds to help feed the soil.  Before more mulch could be put down, we had our first big snow and now winter looks like it's here to stay.  

See you in the Spring!

Summers growth

Look how our garden has grown!  Thanks to our dedicated garden volunteers our plants are flourishing.We had an infestation of earwigs in the sunflowers. Wanting to keep the garden organic we sprinkled Diatomaceous Earth from Zamzows around the plants. It is made from ground up shell fish. To us, it is a fine powder. To soft bellied insects, like earwigs, it is like razor blades. Kind of gruesome (and cool).

Garden Volunteer Helpful Hints

Sarah Sims wanted to send you the following message regarding the sign up: Summer Garden Caretakers:

Garden Volunteer Helpful Hints
Hello! Thank you for helping Garfield’s garden grow!

Some info to know about the garden:

Garden log - please find this little yellow book and sign in when you come to care for the garden.

Tools - you probably don’t need anything more than your bare hands and a little muscle but if you choose to, you can bring some gloves, weeding tools and/or kitchen snips for harvesting herbs. If it’s harvest time, bring something to carry your veggies home.

Watering - custodial staff will be watering once a week. We are not sure which day(s) yet but will send a note out when we do.
Try to water deep enough to reach the plant roots, it will help the plants make it through the really hot and dry days.

Turning the water on - There is a round, metal faucet handle that needs to be attached to the faucet to turn on the water. The handle will be located in a white 5 gal bucket near the garden. The actual faucet is at the front of Garfield facing Broadway (go through the chain-link gate)

Weeding - If you aren’t entirely sure if it’s a weed or something we’d like to keep, leave it and observe it next time. If it looks just like something that is growing on the path around the beds, it is probably a weed! Most of the plants should be labeled.

Here is the list of everything that has been planted:

Garden Beds:
Kindergarten: marigolds, squash, sunflowers
First: sunflowers and peas
Second: tomatoes, green peppers, mint,
mustard greens and basil
Third: tomatoes, green peppers, mint, chives
Fourth: (not sure as of this moment what is planted)
Fifth: lavender, borage (flower) and tomatoes
Sixth: tomatoes, peppers, hot peppers, variety of herbs
VI Classroom: lavender, mint, oregano, basil

Harvest Tips:
Harvesting won’t probably be for at least a month, although a small bit of the herbs can probably be snipped within the next few weeks.
Generally speaking, if it comes off easily with only a gentle tug (tomatoes) then it’s ready to be harvested. For lettuce/mustard greens; a few individual leaves (outermost) can be torn off the plant while leaving the rest intact and root in the ground to grow some more.

There may be more updates as we move through the summer. In the garden log are some emergency contacts if you need help or have questions or are concerned about something going on.

Thank you! Enjoy your garden time!

- Garfield Garden Committee


To view the sign up, go to:
www.SignUpGenius.com/go/10C0C4EABA92FABFC1-summer/5288010

THANKS TO THE SUMMER VOLUNTEERS!

Garden Volunteer Helpful Hints

Hello!  Thank you for helping Garfield’s garden grow!

Some info to know about the garden:

• Garden log - please find this little book and sign in when you come to care for the garden.  Inside you will also find harvesting tips.

• Tools - you probably don’t need anything more than your bare hands and a little muscle but if you choose to you can bring some gloves, weeding tools and/or kitchen snips for harvesting herbs. Just For Kids is open on campus during the summer and will have a bucket of tools available that you can borrow, but you will need to go during the their hours of operation.

• Watering - custodial staff will be watering once a week on               . So please pick your watering days to complement that and help sustain the plants through the hot, dry days of summer.

Summer 2014 Garden Caretakers

Thank you for volunteering to take care of our Garden this summer! 
June 8-14          Ana Harper
June 15-21        Ashely Morgan
June 22-25        Elizabeth Janey
June 29-5          Michelle Walsh
July 6-12           Laura Rodriquez
July 13-19         Catherine Dickson
July 20-26         Michelle Walsh
July 27-2           Gail Bryant
August 3-9        Betty West
August 10-16    Catherine Dickson
August 17-23    Michelle Walsh

Summer Garden Volunteer Schedule

Garfield Garden Volunteers Summer Garden Caretakers Garfield's Garden needs Garfield friends and families to visit and care for the garden weekly throughout the summer.  You can sign up for one (or more) week's care which will include 1-2 visits to water, do a little weeding, and harvest anything edible at that time.  That week's harvest you pick is yours to keep for your family! More details: Your week runs Sunday through Saturday - the date you sign up for is the beginning of your week. The garden will be watered once per week by the custodial and/or grounds staff.  Volunteers may need to visit twice during their week to give a little extra water as needed through the hottest months.  We will send you reminder emails when it's your turn.   Thanks for helping to keep our garden growing strong! LOCATION: Garfield Elementary CREATED BY: Sarah Sims CONTACT I need to change my sign up

Date	Available Slot
6/8/2014  (Sun. )	Garden Caretaker  water, weed & harvest    ana HArper
6/15/2014  (Sun. )	Garden Caretaker  water, weed & harvest    Ashley Montgomery
6/22/2014  (Sun. )	Garden Caretaker  water, weed & harvest    Elizabeth Janney
6/29/2014  (Sun. )	Garden Caretaker  water, weed & harvest    michelle Walsh
7/6/2014  (Sun. )	Garden Caretaker  water, weed & harvest    Laura Rodriguez
7/13/2014  (Sun. )	Garden Caretaker  water, weed & harvest    Catherine Dickson
7/20/2014  (Sun. )	Garden Caretaker  water, weed & harvest    michelle Walsh
7/27/2014  (Sun. )	Garden Caretaker  water, weed & harvest    Gail Bryant
8/3/2014  (Sun. )	Garden Caretaker  water, weed & harvest    betty west
8/10/2014  (Sun. )	Garden Caretaker  water, weed & harvest    Catherine Dickson
8/17/2014  (Sun. )	Garden Caretaker  water, weed & harvest    michelle Walsh

Summer Volunteers NEEDED!

Would you love to let your kids dig in some dirt this summer and harvest some fresh veggies?  Pick a week this summer to come care for Garfield’s new garden!  Each week the garden will need some watering, weeding and a little harvesting.  It should only require 1-2 visits per week and you get to keep whatever fresh foods are ready for harvest!

To sign up, go to:

www.SignUpGenius.com/go/10C0C4EABA92FABFC1-summer

or email Sarah Sims at lanesims@gmail.com and let me know what week you would like to work.  The weeks run Sunday through Saturday, starting June 8^th and running through the week of August 17^th. 

THANK YOU TO THE JUNIOR LEAGUE OF BOISE!

Garfield Elementary greatly appreciates the Jr. League of Boise for volunteering 2 hours to help us get our garden boxes ready for planting!  We moved 5.5 yards of compost/soil into our beds.  They also pulled the remaining weeds in the beds!  THANK YOU!  Our students will soon be planting the seeds in the beds and also starting seeds in their classrooms.

Friday, April 11

Beautiful Day in the Garden....Thank you to Mrs. Wolfkiel's class and Ms. Harsin's class for spending some time this beautiful day weeding our Garden Boxes in preparation for the soil/compost soon to be added.

Monday, April 11th

THANK YOU TO THE GARDEN COMMITTEE FOR MEETING AND PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE

Updates/Meeting Minutes:

1. Materials/Seeds Needed:    Carol put together a nice Survey Monkey questionnaire for all teachers at Garfield to tell us about their plans and seed/equipment needs. Debbie emailed the survey to all teachers yesterday. We asked folks to respond by next Wed, April 16th. 
2. St Joe's service project:   Requests from the Survey Monkey doc as well as ideas brainstormed at the meeting will be passed on to the teachers/students at St. Joe's who want to do a service project for Garfield. I may get this submitted to them sooner than the 16th depending on their time crunch. Joni, can you send me the name and email or phone for the teacher at St. Joe's that I need to coordinate with? I will call her and find out more details and get them what they need as soon as possible.
3. Water:   I asked Debbie about some of our water questions and here is the info:                "It will be watered as needed by our custodian staff.  It is just a simple turn on and off valve. (next to the GATE portable)  We can also have a hose available on the spigot at the main building (front corner).  Erin (from BUGS) said it would be great.  She and I met with them.  I really don't think we need to meet again.  As we proceed in the summer---we can see if it needs to be adjusted.  It can easily be adjusted." If committee members have questions about the water, please email or talk to Debbie. It sounds like we just let the custodian staff know once things are planted in the beds and that we would like the watering to begin. If anyone is doing direct-saw seeds early in the spring (like next week) then you may want to consider hand-watering the seeds until they sprout with watering cans as the big sprayer currently out by the beds  may drown seeds with too much water. It will be a good test anyway... We will need to get some watering cans as soon as possible....
4. Storage:   We discussed the need for a medium-sized storage shed for garden tools, etc. that could be located near the garden. I believe Alyssa was going to look into this (using Firefighter guys to construct if we supply the materials...) as well as Tara (as a potential Eagle Scouts project where they would do the fundraising, get materials and build it). Lisa Conde also has Eagle Scout connections (though her husband) and could possibly help connect us to the right person at that organization.  In the meantime, we wanted to ask Debbie if we can use the storage shed by the back cafeteria door. How do we get access to that? And is there any room in it for short term?
5. Other Equipment:   Carol is going to follow-up with Home Depot and possibly Thriftway about getting some 5 gallon buckets and some simple gardening tools donated - spades, weeders, for each bucket and 1-2 bigger tools (shovel, hoe, etc.)
6. Volunteer Calendar:   Sarah is going to be the coordinator of the Summer Garden Volunteer Calendar. Debbie put together some sample calenders that we can use. Please send volunteer names, info, leads to Sarah as you come by them.. Consider signing up for a week yourself.  Remember, those who weed and water that week get to take home the produce that week as well.  When it gets closer, we will need a write up of What To Do and Who to Contact in Case of a Problem for all the volunteers. Maybe it could be laminated and posted on a wall near the garden.....
7. Donations:   Sarah donated an awesome Composting Bin that she won at the BUGS training and it is not in the storage shed near the basketball courts.  This will come in handy in the future! 
8. Bed Work/Other Donations:   After the meeting, some of us went out and took a look at the beds - the sun and the watering situation - and found the beds full of weeds! A few teachers said they could maybe come out with the classes this week to weed before the beds get filled. Good luck!!  The beds get filled with donated compost (North End Organics) this Saturday (the 12th) by the Junior League volunteers.  I will bring thank you cards for all of us to sign for Junior League and North End Organics to the next meeting.
9. Next Meeting:   We will have another meeting in a week or two to see how we are all progressing on our various tasks. Invite others who are interested. We will try to get a few more parents there and perhaps a community member or two!
10. What else?   That's all I can think of for now. Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions. I welcome your feedback! :)