Spring has sprung!!

No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden.

Thomas Jefferson

Hello Reynolds gardeners!

The year is speeding by and it is already in full spring bloom!  If you come and see the garden you will see that it is teeming with change, new life and growth!  We have taken out the old and planted the new.  For our spring and summer season we have started to grow potatoes, green beans, tomatoes, peppers, okra, artichoke, onions, basil, parsley, cilantro, oregano, sage, squash, cucumber, cantelope and watermelon!!!  The potatoes are already well on their way and were all planted by our first graders and the garden club.  The kids learned that the plant grows from a seed potato, where they first had to cut out the sprouted "eye" of the potato and plant it in the ground, then as it grows new soil must be mounded around the plant so it can continue to grow new potatoes.

We have had a few new and exciting developments, the most visually exciting and impressive is our new mural that was completed by Mrs. Miller with the help of Mrs. Burgess and Mrs, Malloy and with the artistic hands of many students, please take a moment to come out and see their work, you will be happy you did!!!

Also, we have been working on forming a partnership with the Horticulture program at Wunsche High School and we are excited to have them come out and speak to our garden club at our next meeting.  This will hopefully be the beginning of a great relationship where the Juniors and Seniors can bring their knowledge to our students and we can our students can share their enthusiasm and eagerness to learn in return.

Our plans for the remainder of the year are to host a "open garden" during the spring carnival.  Last year we had some lovely fresh watermelon basil juice, and some fresh sampling of green beans!

The most exciting project will be for students from the garden club to host a market stand at the Grogans Mill Farmers Market, where they will price and sell the produce as well as share information regarding the benefits of school gardens.  The students from Wunsche will be working on this project with us!

We also had some interest from Spring ISD regarding the garden and they sent someone to come and video and take photos of some of our garden events.  The Houston Chronicle also contacted us, wanting to hear more about our garden.  Good news travels fast!  I will be sure to let you know when the final pictures, video or print are available.

I send out an email earlier this week asking if any other classes would like to do something special with the garden, it can be a cooking event, poetry, reading, observing, or just a simple visit to see what is going on?!  Please let me know what time is good for your class!

I look forward to seeing you in the garden!

Maryah Nijim Roberts
nuzha13@hotmail.com

A cilantro transplant, yum!

A growing peach

Peaches and more peaches!

The lovely mural!

What a difference some creativity can make!!!

The lady bug is a helpful garden insect.

Our blue bonnets are blooming!

New pepper and squash plants!

Happy potatoes!

Yummy artichokes!

The fig tree returns and already has figs on it!

Perfect harmony of art and nature!

What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have never been discovered. Ralph Waldo Emerson

It will never rain roses: when we want to have more roses we must plant more trees.

George Eliot

Hello Gardeners!

Although it does not feel much like spring yet, it is just around the corner.  In fact, we have already started preparing the garden for our spring planting.  At the moment we are rounding up the last of our fall and winter harvest, pulling carrots, harvesting cauliflower, broccoli, lettuce, chard, kale, parsley, cilantro and pak choi!  It has been a tasty season for sure!

As spring nears, some of the first graders helped to plant potatoes, this was done by cutting out the eye of the potato and planting it in the ground, a learning lesson for all!

Some fifth graders also popped in and helped me plant onions, and were able to munch on some carrots and broccoli while they worked.  

Our garden clubbers also were very creative with their use of river rocks, and painted fun critters on the rocks, some of the are currently decorating our garden!  They also did a great job of cleaning up the garden, thanks garden club!  

Also be on the lookout for the developing art mural that Mrs. Miller has been working on, displayed on the big wooden fence inside the garden.  

Looking towards sunny days and spring showers, we are going to plant green beans, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, herbs, melon, okra, cucumber and more!  If you have any ideas for planting please bring them to the garden!  Also be on the lookout for the blue bonnets that were planted by Mrs. Neskorik and her third graders, how lucky we will be to have our state flower in the garden!

After 1st grade finishes up February in the garden, Kindergarden will be in charge of exploring and watering the garden, what an exciting March we will have!

Also, as we can all see, after the cutting down of all the trees in the back of the school, lots of garbage is blowing onto the playground and green space, perhaps we can encourage the students to take ownership of the upkeep of their school and "pitch in!"  

Recently, I have connected with the FFA teacher at Wuensche High School and she is excited for her seniors to come and work with the students and garden at Reynolds, I am looking forward to see where our new partnership may lead!

Please contact me if you have any ideas, questions, comments or general feedback for the garden program!  Like the wise George Elliot said above, lets take the initiative to do what we can to improve each day!

Thank you all!

Maryah

beautiful cauliflower!

one happy veggie family!

the fig tree grows a new leaf!

pretty and tasty carrots!

all washed up and ready to eat!

lettuce eat!

onions, yummy!

freshly weeded and ready for planting!

I think the oregano is winning!

beautiful and fragrant blossoms on our peach tree!

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New year Reynolds Armadillos!

It is amazing that we are almost a full month into 2015!  I hope that you all had a good break and are embracing this crisp and chilly weather, as it will not be long before we are in the long hot days of summer.

Since our last post the garden has seen many exciting changes and activities despite the slower growth of winter.  We planted many cold weather plants, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, pak choi, artichoke, carrots, kale, lettuce, asian greens and much more!  All is growing fantastically and it will be exciting to sample the veggies once they are ready!  We also found some critters munching on the leaves of our plants, so we introduced lady bugs into the garden, a natural pest control as they eat aphids and other tiny insects that grow up to become harmful to the plants.  You cannot see them now as they are staying warm inside the interior leaves of the plants!

Also third grade did a great job of their short month in the garden and watched the last of the tomato harvest ripen in their classroom and ate them once they were ready.

Second grade also had a short month in the garden and recently made great use of a bag full of broccoli, kale, pak choi, cilantro, parsley and oregano.  They made a tasty soup and smoothies!  This was all done by the initiative of the second grade teachers so be sure to ask them what they made and how it tasted!

The garden club along with Mrs. Mann's first grade class also munched on some fresh pak choi, which is a crunchy mild tasting  veg that is full of water, first graders enjoyed it "naked" and the kids in the garden club enjoyed it with some ranch dip.

If you would like your students to come out to the garden for an activity or a tasting event please let me know!  

Beginning in February it will be first grades chance to look after the garden!

As spring in Texas comes soon, we are already thinking about what to plant, next on the list are potatoes!  If your class would like to learn about how we grow potatoes please reach out and set up a time to explore!

Happy Friday!

Cabbage and pak choi, yum!

Our newest residents, lady bugs.

Using garden items as stencils using spray paint, lets add color to the garden!!!

A splash of color, making patterns using a leaf and a stick!

Marigolds and cilantro are happy together.

Freshly planted artichoke and asian greens, watch them grow!

A baby broccoli

A beautiful array of colors and textures!

Bigger and bigger!

The cauliflower begins its journey.

The artichoke and greens are getting bigger!

Carrots, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, artichoke and asian greens.

Testing to see how the carrots are doing, not ready yet, this one is purple!!!

Second grade turned this bag into some delicious food!

Growing every day!

In another month this will be all filled in!

Come harvest some lettuce for your lunch or a green smoothie!

ch

Is it really almost winter break!!!?

Hello garden friends!

I hope that you all have had a wonderful Thanksgiving break and are ready to learn lots of new things in school and in the garden before the next holiday!

It has been a busy time for the garden, many of our summer and fall plants have lost their leaves and have been pulled out, making room for or winter crops.  We say "see you next year" to the okra, tomatoes, cucumbers, basil, peppers and some of the other herbs, and we say "hello!" to broccoli, cauliflower, pak choi, kale, lettuce, carrots, beets, raddish and more!  If you have been out to the garden lately you can see much has changed.  Many of the beds are looking more spacious as we have removed some plants and will be planting new ones soon.

Also, almost all of the trees have been cleared from behind the school and has left the playground looking very stark and bare.  All the more reason to make our garden look even more lovely!  To this end, we will be making efforts to increase landscaping around the outside of the garden and have more benches to sit on.  If anyone enjoys the creative aspect of gardening please feel free to contribute!  This would also be a great time to do some painting in the garden if any teachers would like to do some more creative work in the garden please let me know!

Since 3rd grade had a short month in the garden it was not possible to get in our tasting experience in November, however we will make it happen!  As we will be pulling out the tomatoes before the next frost, I harvested all the tomatoes and we will watch them ripen in the classroom, then we will use our cilantro from the garden and make a delicious salsa and chips snack!

Kindergarden was also able to sample some of the garden goodness, making the famous garden soup!  They slurped up the savory mix of okra, green pepper, green beans, eggplant, tomatoes, chicken broth and pasta, it was a big hit with our little friends!

The garden club also got to work and enjoyed a lovely snack of dried herbs from our garden, mixed with olive oil and enjoyed with french bread, yummy!  Thanks to Ms. Heather Mendez, Mrs. Mann and Mrs. Burgess!

I look forward to working with 2nd grade in the garden this month, even on these cool days there is much to see!

No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden.

Thomas Jefferson

cuke on the vine

our poinsettia starts to turn red!

the very bare playground...

yummy parsley and cucumber!

the poinsettia will be in full red color soon!

pak choi and cauliflower are loving this cool weather!

broccoli, carrots and kale are getting bigger each day!

even the rainbow chard is making a comeback!

happy marigolds mixing with cilantro and mint, yumm!

the end of this seasons basil bush!  until next time!

j

Fall, fun, friends, food and new plants!

Happy October!

It has been a very exciting past few weeks for the garden and the students.  Since our last post we have had two great cooking experiences, first the 5th grade did a great job looking after the garden and were able to sample some of the produce.  We made a fresh garden pesto using all of our delicious basil and drank refreshing watermelon basil mint juice, also made using the herbs from our garden.  Over 100 fifth graders enjoyed this sampling and were also fortunate to listen to our fantastic guest speaker, Ms. Judy Walden, from the NAM donation garden speak about the importance of donation gardens and organic gardening and natural pest control.  We are very grateful to Ms. Judy for sharing her time and passion regarding the impact if this type of gardening, they donate over 3000 lbs of food each year!!!

Thank you to our 5th grade gardeners and teachers!!!

Due to the great success of our crock pot soup last year in Ms. Mann's class, we decided to treat all 110 students in first grade to a similar experience.  With three crock pots, we made a lovely pasta vegetable soup, using fresh okra, green pepper, yellow squash, basil and oregano all from our garden.  We added some broth and tomatoes and yummy vegetable pasta, and the kids loved it!!!

Our garden club also had its inaugural meeting and it was fantastic.  Ms. Burgess, Mrs. Mann and volunteer Heather Mendez helped make this club meeting a success.  The kids began learning about a composting program that we are going to begin in the school, recycling organic scraps from our cafeteria and watching them slowly turn into a yummy fertilizer for our garden!  Thank you to our super club leaders!

Right now the 4th grade is doing a great job of looking after the garden and have harvested many yummy fruits and vegetables.  The figs on our fig tree have finally begun to ripen and are truly delicious.  They have also picked yellow squash and a few tomatoes.

Thanks to Ms. Sastarch's first grade class, we now have a plentiful harvest of green beans that they planted from seed!

In Mrs. Neskorik's 3rd grade class we had the good fortune of reading some lovely poems in the garden on a beautiful fall afternoon.  We read poems by Robert Frost and some of the kids even got up and "freestyled" their own poems!  This was a huge success, let me know if you would like to do this with your class!?

Have you seen our two fairy gardens courtesy of Mrs. Neskorik and friends, please enjoy them, but be careful of the "treasures" and the prickly cacti!!!

Right now be on the lookout for the new lettuce, spinach, chard, kale, carrots, beets, broccoli, cauliflower, bak choi and much more that has recently been planted!  Also we have many small cucumbers that are getting bigger every day and will make a tasty treat for sure!  Our okra is still growing strong and we will be using it along with the green beans, green pepper, squash, tomatoes and herbs to make a yummy garden soup with kindergarden next week!

If you have any ideas for your class please let me know!  nuzha13@hotmail.com

Have a great day!

Poetry in the garden

Our eagle scout candidate Ikaika Jensen finishes the water catcher!

mmmm green beans!

A pretty, yummy fig

A spider making its web!

Everyone loves our garden tic tac toe!

Beware the tomato horn worm!

Soon to be soup!

Yummy first grade soup!

Pesto and watermelon basil mint juice, more please!!