The Garden ... a failure !

Fall is fast approaching along with the start of school on September 6, 2011. With that the garden has reached the peak of it’s growing season.  As many things become ready for harvest we begin to see what worked and what didn’t in this year’s garden. One of the most difficult things for gardeners is having waited all summer long only to have failed crops. The Longfellow Garden is no exception. As much as we try to tend each and every plant over the summer with weeding and watering some of our work produced stunted or diseased vegetables and flowers.  As the students return to the garden they will find some of the squash stunted or rotten.  Several of the sunflowers nearly grown were snapped in half. The Hopi corn in the seed saving bed was completely blown over and had to be strung up in hopes of recovery. This was compliments of the strong wind from Hurricane Irene which hit most of New England on August 28^th. This year we are making note of some of the best and worst practices and plants so that next year we can avoid some disappointments.  Several of the spoiled plants  have been left in the garden  so that student gardeners can see failure as a opportunity for  knowledge, adjustment, and future success.

     One of the garden's successes was the first Longfellow Learning Garden Movie Night.  On Tuesday August 30^th the garden was opened in the evening for an outdoor screening of the Shaggy Dog (1959).  
Families gathered on blankets and enjoyed popcorn as the garden became a community movie theater. On that Thursday the garden was open for the Annual Back to School Bar-B-Q.  We hope to find more ways to make the garden a public gathering space for Longfellow families throughout the year