Thursday, May 24, 2012

Spring 2012 is here ! The Longfellow Learning Garden is in full swing. With a head start from a rash of warm weather and the use of our new greenhouse, kindergarten classes were able to get seedlings going early. The first planting curriculum was the three sisters garden. With the help of Cultivating Community http://www.cultivatingcommunity.org kindergarten classes learned about how traditional three sisters gardens forms an ecosystem by creating a community of plants. This system first used by Native Americans creates a beneficial relationship between the three plants – corn, squash, and beans - each plant helps the others grow. This is a form of companion planting and introduces the idea of ecosystems. They also had a chance to document plant growth from seed to seedling and in the fall ...food. More school garden lessons are planned for this spring including a stone soup garden by the multi-age classes and  potato planting for Maine Harvest Lunch by the 4th grade.