May Flowers!

Hello everyone!

I hope that you have all had a great end of April and beginning of May!  Certainly our many April Showers brought us some lovely May flowers, vegetables and fruit!

I also wanted to congratulate the school and all those who organized the Carnival on what a great success it was!  I believe fun was had by all and we also had many new parents and kids come out to visit the garden.  A big thank you to Mrs. Mendez for making her delicious fresh Mint Watermelon Juice, two of the many things we are growing in the garden at this moment!

This has been an exciting year for the garden as it was planted and sprouted just this past August.  I thank all of the teachers and students for being so supportive of the Reynolds Elementary Garden.  Looking forward to this next year we will take into consideration all the great feedback that was provided in the surveys and strive to make the garden a teacher friendly learning tool for the whole school.

We are still hoping to have a stand at the Grogan's Mill Farmers Market before the year is up, however, with the weekends running out it just may have to be a summer activity.

For all those who would like to stay in touch with the garden this summer please send me an email as we will be working in it over the summer and most definitely will be harvesting over our hot summer months.  One way we can preserve some of our bountiful harvest will be by "pickling" some vegetables, we can pickle okra, beans, and cucumber!

Our Eagle Scout candidates will also be carrying out their projects over the summer, so hopefully when school returns in the Fall we will have some lovely new updates to share!

I know many of you are busy with rounding up classes and studies for the end of the year, so if you would like me to stop by your classroom with some treats or show and tell from the garden please email me and schedule a time that suits you!  Today I was able to bring the green peas that Mrs. Sasitarch's class planted and I have harvested enough for them to all enjoy some!  Also, as you will see in the pictures, the cucumber plant that was planted from seed by the second grade has already produced some nice looking cucumber, everyday we will be on the lookout for new tasty treats!  The other things that are all fruiting are the tomatoes, okra, sugar snap peas, zucchini, strawberries, eggplant, and of course our resident pumpkin plant that just might take over!!!

Teachers and faculty, if you are making some tasty dishes for dinner please feel free to come and harvest some fresh herbs, I have to trim them back often and always give them away to the first person I see in the hallway!

I will be in the garden this coming Monday at 10 if you would like to join me!

Thank you,

Maryah Nijim Roberts, nuzha13@hotmail.com

Twin okra!

Yellow grape tomatoes coming soon.

More yummy tomatoes!

Strawberries on their way!

Can you see the different stages?!

Lots of strawberries to come!

Zucchini and potatoes and herbs, yum!

Super sweet sugar snap peas!

Our monster pumpkin plant.

Time to watch it grow!

Pickle in progress!

The gladiolas are blooming!

Grow little mandarin grow!

The "herb" bath tub!

The harvest for the day!

Grow plants grow!

Hello everyone!

Well we have had a great past few weeks, some lovely summer like weather as well as some crisp spring mornings and most importantly some great spring showers!

Over the past few weeks we have been busy in the garden.  Principal Louis and some other Reynold students joined us for a "work" day, where we cleaned up weeds, cut back the grass and planted new plants, we even got to begin harvesting our radishes.  We now have tomatoes, peppers, okra, eggplant, onions, potatoes, squash, green peppers, brussell sprouts, radish, sunflower, strawberries, melon, green beans, basil, oregano, cilantro, and thyme all growing in the garden! 

I have seen some butterflies and bees buzzing around the garden so hopefully our blossoms will all be pollinated and we will have some great harvests coming up soon.  If you go and check on the Satsuma tree you can smell the lovely blossoms, they are truly lovely!

I was able to attend the awesome Spring Fling at Kolter Elementary, where we learned ways to improve our garden, network with other school and community gardens and develop curriculum.  One other school garden that was in attendance was Oak Forest Elementary that is in the Humble ISD, they have a great school garden and have developed a nice curriculum which we can take a look at and utilize as well.  It was very inspirational to see other gardens that have grown over the years.  Principal Louis was also able to visit and was inspired as well!

Please find some pictures of our garden adventures below!

If you would like to schedule some time in the garden or an activity for the classroom please contact me so we can set up a time!  I will be in the garden tomorrow Wednesday, at 10 am.

Thank you and I hope to see you out there!

Maryah
nuzha13@hotmail.com



Happy helpers and yummy radish!

Principal Louis and the "work" day team

The herb garden gets some new basil, lemon verbena and more, watch it grow!

Our Brussel Sprouts are huge!

New plants are ready to take off!

Some more radish is almost ready to pick!

The potatoes and squash are sharing a house with the radish.

Green beans and cilantro, watch them grow up the fence!

Lots of yummy strawberries soon!

Smelling the lavender at Kolter Elementary.

Beautiful Blue Bonnets in the Kolter sensory garden.

Sneaking a tasty strawberry!

Kolter's garden is inspiring!

Marigolds for natural pest control and pollination!

The delicious smelling blossoms on our Satsuma tree!

Our cactus has bloomed!

The basil is already bigger!

Look how much the potatoes, radish and squash have grown in just a couple of weeks!



The beans are working their way up the fence!

Our cucumber is very happy!

Hunting for radishes!

Time to wash them up and try a bite!

It is officially Spring!!!

Hello there!

Sorry for the long break from our blog, between the cold weather and Spring break the garden has been laying low!

However, that does not mean that it has been idle, not at all!  We welcomed our first Garden Club members to a day in the garden where we explored what we have growing, harvested some lettuce and prepared it to be served in our "green smoothies" for our Reynolds Family Science night.  The smoothies were a hit as well as our garden club.  Currently we are figuring out the best time to meet as well as how to get anyone and everyone who would like to visit the garden out there even if they are not in the club.

We have also expanded the garden and planted many seedlings with the 2nd grade, many of which are now growing in the garden.  We also had a 1st grade class come out on their own and plant some green beans along the fence, so be on the lookout for some climbing vines!

Right now we have tomatoes, eggplant, okra, sunflower, brussell sprouts, pumpkin, radish, peppers, potatoes, onions, purple basil, lavender, and many more herbs and landscape plants that are all new to the garden!  Come and watch them grow, now is a great time to come and visit the garden and see what all the plants look like before the magic of our sun and rain make them grow into big edible plants!

Our goal is to grow enough vegetables for us to enjoy as well as take some to a local farmers market and have our very own produce stand.  The goal will be for the students to set prices for the produce, sell it and manage the payment.  We will also spread the word on how great it is for other people to start a garden at their own school!

Also Mrs. Miller is working on some fabulous art that will be displayed in our garden, so be on the lookout for that as well!

Please let me know if you would like to do anything specific with the garden, we still have room to plant more things and I will be there this coming Friday from 9:15 to 10:15 and we are tentatively scheduled to have a "work" day in the garden on Saturday March 29th. 

Teachers, feel free to plant and take the kids out there as you like, I am here to coordinate and help you optimize the garden space for you and your students, I love to help but I do not have to be there. This is OUR garden so feel free to blaze ahead!

Also, on April 5th, Urban Harvest is hosting their annual Spring Fling at Kolter Elementary, HISD and the focus will be on school gardens, you are most welcome to join us and children are also welcome the event will be as follows, please let me know if you would like to attend!

The Urban Harvest Community Gardens Committee presents the Spring Fling Saturday, April 5th from 11-2pm.
There will be planting and recipe demonstrations, school curriculum, as well as garden and prairie tours! 
This event is a potluck, so make sure you bring a dish to share! 
In an effort to reduce waste, we ask that you please bring your own plate and utensils. 
Please bring your family and fellow gardeners! 

Kolter Elementary School

9710 Runnymeade Dr Houston, TX 77096
Email kelly@urbanharvest.org with any questions.

 

I look forward to seeing you in the garden, I will be taking more photos now that we have some new pictures subjects sprouting!

Maryah
nuzha13@hotmail.com

 Our delicious "green smoothies" in the making!

 

Are you ready for some GARDENING!!!???

 

Who needs the Superbowl when spring time is just around the corner!?

 

We have had lots of exciting developments in the garden this past week, the most notable is our collaboration with three Life Scouts that will be working on their Eagle projects at the Reynolds Elementary garden.  The three young men will help us bring our garden to a new level of accessibility, sustainability and new ways for all of our students to utilize the garden.  We are going to move ahead on a special area for our special needs students, as well as creating a wheelchair accessible pathway leading to the garden and finally we will ad environmental practices such as composting, a worm bin and rain collection!

 

We are also going to be planting seeds with the second grade that can be grown in the classroom, I have many seeds and if any class is interested in growing some seedlings to later be transplanted to the garden please let me know!

 

We have a new tree that has been donated to us from Plants for All Seasons, and our new Satsuma citrus tree was planted into the ground this weekend.  We also discovered that what we thought were cauliflower that had not yet fruited are actually brussel sprout plants! 

 

In the past couple of weeks we have also decided to become an affiliate garden with Urban Harvest, a local nonprofit that is dedicated to helping local community gardens grow and thrive, we will be visited by one of their representatives this Monday.

http://urbanharvest.org/

 

I will be in the garden this Monday at 10 if anyone would like to come and see our new discoveries.  Also if you would like to have a specific time for your class please email me and we can schedule a time just for your class.

 

Also we still have lots of lettuce if you would like your class to experience and enjoy making "green smoothies" and pizza!??  Please email me to set up a time!

nuzha13@hotmail.com

 

I hope to see you all soon and always welcome and appreciate any and all feedback!

 

Maryah 

 

 

 

 

Our fig tree is on its way back!

Life Scouts visit our garden.

Can you see the little brussel sprouts growing?!

This is some good looking broccolini!

Beautiful shades of green!

Getting ready to build another bed for planting!

Mrs. Violet planted our latest addition, the Satsuma tree!

Broccoli and cauliflower growing together.

Here are our brussel sprouts and cauliflower.

 

 

Lets get planning and planting!

Good morning gardeners!

Now that we have the first week or so of school behind us and we are all getting back into a good routine, we need to think about what comes next!?  We are approaching the optimal time to plant a number of different fruits and vegetables and will be discussing what would be best and most fun to plant this Friday the 17th in the garden.

I had the good fortune this past week to visit a school in the HISD, Kolter Elementary, which has a wonderful garden.  I spoke with their garden coordinator and she gave me lots of sage advice regarding the garden.  I am very excited that we are growing our garden community and I truly believe that we have just begun exploring the learning potential of our outdoor classroom!

This semester our goal will be to continue meeting with students in the garden for some hands on gardening, observation and predictions, as well as more "garden to kitchen" adventures.  Many of you worked with myself and Mr. Ferriante on our pizza and green smoothies as well as the 2nd grade vegetable soup.  Lets get creative and enjoy more time learning and understanding about the science, environment, math, vocabulary and fun that are all a part of growing, harvesting, preparing and enjoying our food!

Currently we have lots of cauliflower and broccoli growing as well as some lettuce.  If anyone has ideas regarding what to plant, lesson plans, or better times to meet in the garden please let me know. 

I hope to see you this Friday, tomorrow the 17th in the garden!

Here are a few pictures of our cauliflower, lettuce and broccoli as well as the garden at Kolter Elementary.

Also here is a link to one of the great activities that Kolter was able to participate in.  Our goal is to participate in the Grogans Mill Farmers Market later this spring!

http://blogs.houstonisd.org/news/2013/11/20/students-to-sell-school-grown-produce-at-whole-kids-farmers-market/

Maryah
nuzha13@hotmail.com

Our cauliflower is getting bigger!

Happy New Year!

Happy new year Reynolds elementary gardeners!

I hope that you all enjoyed the break!  Certainly the garden enjoyed all the cool weather we have had over the past month.  Even though it is sad to lose many of our mild weather plants, the reality is that their productive cycle was over and we enjoyed many of their fruits.  The tomatoes, green beans, and peppers have been pulled up and added to the compost.  We are making room for new plant varieties for the spring, believe it or not we need to start our plants next month! 

Right now our cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, beets, and lettuce are all still doing very well and I believe we will have some tasty vegetables to cook up soon!

Teachers, please take the kids out to see how the cauliflower and broccoli are slowly growing into large heads in the middle of the leaves, you can take measurements each week and calculate how much they grow each week.

Also, for those classes that would be interested in participating in growing seedlings in their classroom which we will then transplant into the garden, please let me know.  This form of growing has great success and can be a fun hands on project inside the classroom!

I will be in the garden this Friday at 9:45 for anyone who would like to come out and see what we have going on and discuss plans for the spring!

Please email me if you have any questions.

Happy January!

Maryah