Rain rain don't go away!

The third grade bean plants!

Our bean plant from seed it doing well!

Can you see our new fig sprouts!

Tomatoes ready for picking!

These ones will be ready next!

The plants are huge!

These big ones will be a treat!

The peach tree and lantana are looking peachy!!

Our vinca and croton are loving this weather!

I already had to pick some of our basil before it flowered!

Our first tomato harvest!

Hello garden friends!

Sorry I did not keep you updated last week, I was a bit under the weather!  Even though it is a bit cloudy and rainy outside our garden is loving all this rain and cooler temperatures.

The fun fact of the week that I learned as I was listening to a story about Monarch butterflies on the radio, is that they like to eat poisonous plants!  This way the butterfly eats the poison and when a predator like a bird tries to eat it, they stop because they do not like the taste, if a bird eats a butterfly it could possibly die from all the poison the butterfly carries inside its body!

http://www.kidsbutterfly.org/faq/general/5  you can find more information about butterflies at this website.

Today was a great day for harvesting tomatoes, I picked about 7 of them and there are many more to come as you can see in the pictures.  Also one of our third grade classes went out and planted their young bean plants which are looking very happy in their new home.  Unfortunately it looks like our seed plantings have not done that well, perhaps the seed was not very good and they have also been eaten by some garden critters.  Since our transplanted baby plants seem to be thriving I am going to be in the garden this Friday to plant some cucumbers, broccoli, lettuce and other fall vegetable plants.

With cooler temperatures on the way we can start planning how to build a "cold frame" to protect our plants from a possible frost, this will be a great math and science project!

Teachers, below you can see sample ideas for using the garden as part of your lesson plan and as we get the garden more developed I can work with teachers on formulating specific curriculum.  If anyone would like to contact me I would be happy to talk over how I can help make the garden part of your classroom.

nuzha13@hotmail.com

I will be in the garden this Friday at 9:15 to 11, I hope to see you there!  Please email me if you have any questions!

English	Reading & writing seasonal stories and poems Making a gardening scrap book Producing a school garden newsletter
Mathematics	Counting seeds, plants, flowers per plant etc Using fractions & percentages i.e. Number of seeds that germinate Measuring plant heights Collecting rainfall measurements
Science	Investigating what plants need in order to grow Observing the life cycle of a plant Watching and recording changes in the garden through the seasons Creating habitats for wildlife and watching the results Making weather observations through the seasons
Geography	Studying the water cycle Making scale drawings and maps of the garden
Information & Communication Technology	Inputting data into the computer to produce graphs and charts Investigating topics on the internet Uploading gardening news onto the schools website
PSHE & Citizenship	Carry out sustainable activities i.e. rainwater collection, composting, recycling Develop community involvement in the gardening activity Carry out activities in teams with individuals having specific roles
Food Technology	Harvesting food and learning how to cook it Discovering which foods can be eaten raw - peas from the pod etc
Art & Design	Making collages using natural materials Taking inspiration from the outdoors for drawing & painting projects Creating posters to publicise the garden for fundraising Photographing the gardening year
Physical Education	Getting exercise in the great outdoors Learning about fruit and vegetables and healthy eating
History	Study of plants and their uses historically for eating, medicine, making dyes etc Studies of gardening through history, i.e. dig for victory campaign