April in the garden

Well you know it's Spring here in Oregon because we have fabulous sunny days of balmy 65 degree weather followed by a drenching of rain and maybe some thunder added in for excitement. Plus some gusty wind to blow things around a bit. Is it time for planting? Yes!! says the sun and warm. NO!!! says the rain and soggy, muddy dirt.


I had the help of several of Mrs. S's students to plant some color in the garden today. There were some pansies and flowers they used for a recent art project (think Georgia O'Keefe) that desperately needed to be in the dirt and grow in the wild, not plastic pots. We also had a few colorful things to add--Mexican marigolds, which attract aphids, which are really eating up the newly-exposed kale and greens. Although maybe it's caterpillars doing the damage. I will have to post a picture for the experienced gardener to review.

Here's some flower planting. You can see peas in the background. They are purple sugar-snap peas. Ever heard of those? Me neither! But they will have pretty purple flowers, and purple pods and be oh-so delicious in a few weeks time. Before June for sure!

The gardeners also planted sweet alyssum and nasturtiums because they are lovely, smell nice, and attract those important pollinators.

Mark your calendars!

The garden needs some serious clean up and attention. We will have a garden clean-up day

 on Sunday, April 22nd. 

Yes! Earth Day! 

What better way to spend the day than tending 

to our own, precious school garden.

Look for a flyer home this week with more details.

HOOP HOUSES & GREENS

  

Isn't the Willamette valley an amazing environment? The next time you are complaining about the rain, think about this fact. Because we have a fairly mild climate, and we get lots of rain, we can grow food year round! These hoop houses are a perfect example. These were planted in the Fall, survived our usual gray and wet winter, and are still growing strong. And they taste delicious! And to be totally honest, we pretty much ignored them most of the winter. Oh, we put the flapping plastic back on in the wind storms, and dumped off the collected snow and rain, but mostly we just let them be.




The 3rd & 4th graders helped construct some hoop houses this fall and planted some greens inside. And look at this! There are some hearty plants dying to get out and see the sunshine! The kale and mustard/mizuna (not sure which it is) were hardly watered, snowed on, their cozy cover was blown off countless times, yet here they are.

The kale is the curly looking green, the mustard/mizuna the other one. They are both tasty. I checked. 

They have been soooo happy that they are starting to flower which means time to harvest and eat some of this delicious, healthy veggie. You will be able to taste some kale chips at the auction this Friday night. Come to the garden table and discover a crunchy new way to eat your greens.

Not coming to the auction? Well you may still have a chance to try out the greens.  Friday, April 20th there will be an assembly for Earth Day and we will hopefully have some of the harvest from the school garden in the cafeteria that day.

Want to learn about volunteering?