Vegetable Garden

 

From big picture to small, a vegetable garden is a fantastic place for children to explore! Looking for green beans, noticing the white strawberry flower, anticipating when the strawberry will arrive as a tiny green fruit - all experiences are part of understanding the world we live in (and eat).

Making compost allows the children to participate in providing nutrition for the vegetable garden. These weeds will soon be rich compost to feed back to the garden.

What a precious opportunity to find peas growing. Soon we can eat them.

We harvested radishes for everyone! Getting ready to eat roots after we wash them. Radishes, lettuce, and spinach are the first veggies in spring that we can eat at school.

We are weeding the lettuce section of the garden. It is amazing how much can be done with a bit of a game: "five weeds to the compost bin" and moving on! While the children do a bit of work that needs to be done, they discover what lives in soil, the feel of the soil and plant, and the insects that live in and among the plants.

Seeing and holding a lady bug may seem so simple and unimportant. But it can be magical! A tiny critter in my hands, a creature that is alive, beneficial and right here! This is the magic of Sustainable Science experiences.

Digging in compost brings the cycle of life full circle. At TMS, we have four compost bins, and a compost pile that supports the compost bin. The soil from the compost pile can be layered on the discarded fruit and veggies in the compost bin. The students can find all kinds of critters in the compost pile. It's a win/win situation: Students are learning what is in the soil; they are comfortable finding and handling (with insect brush, yogurt cup and plastic spoon) the worms, mealworms, pill bugs, grubs, and other critters that they find; the compost gets turned; and ultimately we enhance the vegetable garden.