Archive for September, 2008

School Garden Resource Fair

Hope to see you all there!

The Los Angeles Unified School District’s
CALIFORNIA INTSTRUCTIONAL SCHOOL GARDEN PROGRAM
ANNUAL RESOURCE FAIR
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2008  10:00am-2:00pm

AT THE “HIDDEN GARDEN” IN NORTH WEDDINGTON PARK ADJACENT TO
Rio Vista Elementary School
4243 Satsuma Ave North Hollywood, CA 91602

OVER 50 RESOURCE TABLES!
OVER 50,000 FREE VEGETABLE SEEDLINGS!
FREE GARDEN SUPPLIES, WORKSHOPS, AND MORE!
KEYNOTE ADDRESS by Tim Alderson, Chair, California School Garden Network
FREE To All Administrators, Teachers, Volunteers, Parents and Students
No pre-registration necessary. Supervised child play area available.

Sponsored by the LAUSD Instructional School Garden Program and CSGN Los Angeles, www.csgn.org
For more information contact: Tonya Mandl, tonya.mandl@lausd.net & Mud Baron, m.baron@lausd.net

How to Read a Seed Packet

The back of a seed packet lists all the information one needs to directly sow seeds in the ground. Let’s go through it item by item with this Cauliflower variety, Early Snowball and Carrot variety, Scarlet Nantes.

The Latin name isn’t always given but it’s a good idea to note the family name for rotation purposes. Brassica is the genus name, oleracea is the species. (See Making Sense of Botanical Names for more on proper name classification)

1)   Planting Depth - When we make a trench to lay our seeds the distance from the soil line to the bottom of the trench is the planting depth.
2)   Seed Spacing – Refers to distance in trench between seeds. With carrots its 3-4 per inch. Don’t overseed. It makes thinning later more difficult.
3)   Days to Sprout aka Days to Germination refers to the length of time between when a seed is first planted and when it first appears above ground.
4)   Spacing after Transplanting or Plant Spacing refers to the distance between plants once all thinning and transplanting has been done.
5)   Row Spacing refers to the distance between the rows. In school gardens we use mostly raised beds and not large fields in which these seeds are intended. The distance between rows in a raised bed can usually be greatly reduced.
6)   Days Until Harvest aka Days to Maturity is the time it takes to go from seed to table. Some will start from the day the seeds are planted while others use the day the seedling are transplanted to their final position.  Notice cauliflower takes 60 days however it is started indoors for 4-6 weeks. If we plant cauliflower directly in the ground our Days until Harvest will be 88-102 days.
7)   Misc – The following information is sometimes included but not always: light requirements, soil requirements, irrigation suggestions, when and how to harvest, fertilization requirements, and, growing suggestions.

School Garden History - Hiram Young

Hiram Young was born a slave in Tennessee in the early 1800s.  After purchasing his freedom as young man, he became famous as a wagon builder during the early trail days and westward expansion…After the Civil War he returned to Independence, MO and started his business again.  During this time frame he built a school to educate African American school children in the Independence area.

First Young School 1874-1934, Independence, MO.

Click link above for more on the history of Hiram Young.

10 School Garden Activities for September

Week 1 - Welcome back everyone. Hope you all enjoyed your summer.

For those without a school garden who would like to know how to get started please read: How to Start and Maintain a School Garden.

For those returning to an existing garden there is much to do. Preparing the beds for seed sowing is probably the hardest job physically we will have all year. Organizing a garden day with other parents, teachers, students or volunteers is something you might want to consider.

The following 10 School Garden Activities for September should be done (more or less) in order:
1) First and foremost discuss garden rules and tool safety. For those unfamiliar with garden rules these are the basics: a) No running in the garden; b) No walking in the beds; c) No running with tools; d) Do not carry or swing tools on your back; e) Do not bring hands tools over your shoulder; f) Walk with the tool by your side, blade down; g) Return all tools to their proper place immediately after use; h) Do not leave tools in the garden; i) Anyone not following these rules does not get to work in the garden.

2) Search for dried flower heads and seed pods in which to save seed (i.e. cosmos, sunflowers, marigolds, lettuce, cilantro, beans, etc).

3) Clear beds of everything other than perennials (i.e. herbs and strawberries).

4) Collect all organic refuse and compost it. For more information on composting see: Compost page at Wikipedia, the Compost Guide from compostguide.com, and the Guide to Home Composting from the Los Angeles Department of Public Works.

5) Add amendments (i.e. organic compost, aged manure) to existing soil, mix well and turn soil (top to bottom, bottom to top).

6) Review Vegetable Family Chart. At this time of year we will be planting cool-weather crops. As you will see there’s actually more to choose from now than there is in the spring.

7) Read seed packets for specific information regarding height and row spacing. (Taller plants go in the rear so as not to cast shadows on smaller plants.)

8) Plan and design garden space.

9) Lay out rows. (Ideally, rows should be perpendicular to the arc of the sun.)

10) Sow seeds and/or transplant seedlings.