"Fence Pots" Fundraiser: Success

Last winter, Kim Koos' 5th graders started 6 trays of seeds in their classroom. Meanwhile, potters at the Oberlin Pottery Co-op were hard at work making beautiful pots to donate in order to raise money for the garden. In the spring, we matched the kids' plants with a handmade pot and sold the potted plant for $10. Thanks to the hard work and generosity of everyone involved, we were able to raise almost $3,000 dollars for the Learning Garden, more than enough to build this beautiful fence and arbor around our precious vegetables. (Construction by JB Wood & Craft).

summer time and the watermelon is sweet!

after a fruitful summer of tomatoes, cucumbers, greens, beans, and lots and lots of berries. we are finally singing our garden goodnight. but first we have more of our home grown watermelon to eat! yum!

                                         

as october blows the oak leaves in our hair and the cold brings us indoors, we are getting ready to do our annual sheet mulch and clover cover crop. we also will be planting two new fruit trees to accompany our lonely little apple tree!

it sure is fun to play in the garden! see you next time!

november: squash o-lanterns, squash stamps and a whole lotta painting!

After our large and very climactic squash harvest, we celebrated by making our very own squash-o-lanterns which we had a blast carving, stamping and painting. Benny our beloved butternut has yet to be cooked... it is emotional to cook up such a loved friend... in time, in time.

Now, as the air grows colder and our first snows falling, we have been quickly mulching the beds, planting garlic, and doing our annual winter time sheet mulch : a layer of cardboard followed by layers of newspaper, leaf mulch, food scraps, more leaf mulch, and composted soil. Once the beds are tucked in asleep for the winter, we can look forward to some rich healthy soil and a nice crop of garlic come spring!

october, and benny the butternut squash

finally, it has arrived.... squash day!

this october we harvested our butternut squash family!

we named the big one benny...

it was all very exciting

october: the great potato harvest!

Last wednesday we unearthed the underground bounty of potatoes! We had a blast in the autumn sun making potato stamps--- here are some pictures of what we made..

What fun roots can be!!!

back to school, back to the garden: september

After a warm and wet summer, we came back to a jungly and healthy garden! Huge butternut squashes greeted us, alongside raspberries, potatoes, marigolds and a watermelon! what a generous greeting! over the summer we grew a variety of greens, sugar snap peas, turnips, garlic and kale. It was a fruitful summer, and now there are tons of garden tasks for us to do! 

We got much help from the Oberlin College freshman for their day of service the other day, and got straight to work!

the herb spiral was growing like crazy! we harvested many herbs and are now drying them for tea, cooking, and seed saving. Here is a picture of the mint, lavender, oregano and lemon balm:

  we trimmed back the buckthorn -- a prickly invasive plant who loves to grow along our fence

and planted a whole new crop of collards, spinach, arugula, and lettuces!

now let the autumn fun begin!

spring again, soil and sprouts

After a long, drawn out winter, the sun is out and we are back in the dirt! We were greeted by some vivacious garlic plants that had been hibernating under the snow all winter long. 

here are some things we learned about garlic today:

- Allium sativum, is a species in the onion genus, Allium. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive,andrakkyo. 

-Garlic has been used throughout history for both culinary and medicinal purposes. The garlic plant's bulb is the most commonly used part of the plant. With the exception of the single clove types, the bulb is divided into numerous fleshy sections called cloves. The cloves are used for consumption (raw or cooked), or for medicinal purposes, and have a characteristic pungent, spicy flavor that mellows and sweetens considerably with cooking.

-The leaves and flowers (bulbils) on the head (spathe) are also edible, and being milder in flavor than the bulbs,they are most often consumed while immature and still tender.-garlic has been found to have antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal activity. Garlic is also claimed to help prevent heart disease (includingatherosclerosis, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure) and cancer] Garlic is used to prevent certain types of cancer, including stomach and colon cancers. In fact, countries where garlic is consumed in higher amounts, because of traditional cuisine, have been found to have a lower prevalence of cancer 

The herb spiral is green and vibrant, the herbs smell really sweet

 A baby oak tree we found trying to grow in our bed! At the base of the sprout, we found an ambitious little acorn!


Along with garlic and onions, we planted sugar snap peas, lettuce, spinach, and radishes. The peas are coming up quickly, searching for a trellace  to crawl up! Looks like we gotta make a trellace!

 After planting radish seeds last week, we were so excited to see all of the tiny sprouts popping up. It is time to thin out the rows so that each plant has enough space and nutrients from the soil.

 thinning


was


a


lot


of


work!

The radish (Raphanus sativus) is an edible root vegetable of the Brassicaceae family that was domesticated in Europe,in pre-Roman times. They are grown and consumed throughout the world. Radishes have numerous varieties, varying in size, color and duration of required cultivation time. There are some radishes that are grown for their seeds; oilseed radishes are grown, as the name implies, for oil production.

We added the beautiful stepping stones we made in garden arts this past winter. The shells and marbles are the perfect addition to our beds.