Garden Initiation!

Way cool! A sustainable garden!!!! I’m thrilled to be part of this evolving opportunity at The Montessori School!

On Thursday, two groups of 7-8 Upper Elementary students, one other teacher (Mr Entwisle) and I worked on preparing the sustainable garden for planting.

Here are some things that were accomplished, and some notes from the day:

• The compost bins are ready for food scraps. Compost from last year was emptied into the square garden last fall. The food scraps that are collected daily by Children’s House can be put in the beehive compost and topped with a handful of dried leaves daily. When the beehive compost bin is full, the rotating compost bin could be used-be sure to layer food scraps with “greens” and “browns.”
• The Upper Elementary students were totally enthusiastic, energetic and knowledgeable as they removed weeds and turned the soil in the square gardens. All of the squares have soil that was turned over on March 17. Each square is ready for the new soil that Mr Entwisle is ready to mix.
• The (crabapple?) tree above the compost bins was trimmed so the branches do not hang right on top of the compost bin. The tree could use some more trimming in order to create more space for people to work under the branches, or to remove dead branches. The removed branches were piled in the woods as habitat for woodland creatures.
• Piled leaves by the compost bin are ready to alternately layer with food scraps. The leaves could be raked into a tighter pile, including the gathered leaves from around the garden fence.
• Fun with learning:
• using tools wisely and safely,
• finding grubs, centipedes, worms and spiders,
• noticing and naming mycelium from molds,
• enthusiastically removing tubers that are likely pokeweed,
• shaking roots to keep the valuable soil,
• digging, turning, cutting, and raking are fun!

Recommended tasks:

• Remove the compost bin from the lower end of the field. Put up a temporary sign on that spot when you remove it: Thank you for helping keep our watershed clean! Please take any trash to the township trashcans in the parking lot. (Or something like that.) Or alternatively you could decide to manage a trashcan at that site, but that means you have to schedule someone to regularly empty the trash can.
• We are ready for soil to be added to the squares.
• We are then ready to plant. What would you want to plant? I’ve some suggestions.
• We could improve the fence and the garden gate. I’ve some ideas.

Cheers, Dottie Baumgarten

Environmental Science teacher