We're back!

What a glorious first day in the garden!  An early season is always great and we are out there more than a month earlier than last year.  It means more time to prepare the earth and an opportunity to plant many different waves of crops, season by season.  Right now is a perfect time to put in cooler weather crops that can easily withstand any frost we may still see before the end of May.  

This evening we spread organic compost, mixing in greensand & gypsum to create a comfortable home for some potato and onion sets.  (Favorite first veggies that are now a part of the 3rd annual Children's Rainbow Garden project.  Yea!).  A special thank you to Jill from Robertson Excavating for the donation of a dumptruck-full of organic compost.  Happy earth means happy veggies...

Here are some pictures from this evening:

Potatoes find a happy home

Huge pile o' compost

Glorious sunset

Usual garden shenanigans 

Regular hours in the garden will be starting again this week, so please be welcome to join us on Wednesdays from 6pm to dusk and Saturdays from ~10am to noon.  Kids and their favorite adults welcome! :)

In the meantime, check out these links for more creative ways kids benefit from community gardening:

San Diego school buses will become "Farms on wheels"

"School buses will be turned into "farms on wheels" to teach students in the San Diego Unified School District about nutrition and sustainable agriculture. The buses will travel from school to school and complement the district's Farm-to-School program."

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2012/mar/26/stringers-farms-wheels-program/

Greenhouse supplies vegetables for Minn. high school

"Students in a Minnesota high school are served fresh lettuce grown at a community greenhouse. Students say they can taste the difference between the fresh greens and the bagged lettuce they eat between harvests. So far this year, about 165 pounds of salad greens and other vegetables have been harvested at the greenhouse and served at the school. "We've never had a bad batch," said school nutrition professional Bonnie Nordmeyer. "How lucky are these students, to get lettuce from two blocks away.""

http://www.wctrib.com/event/article/id/91532/group/homepage/

          We have lots of fun things planned for this year's garden,
           so stop back for an updated list of events!
           ~Marykaye