Harvest for all!

On a beautiful September afternoon, students and parents helped to harvest 90 lbs of carrots that were in the kids lunch as carrot coins with hummus! We also harvested 30lbs or potatoes that will make it into a Longfellow lunch later this month. Thank you to everyone for helping us dig and wash!

MARK YOUR CALENDARS PLEASE!

We'd love to see some new faces for this Saturday event

There will be a Fall garden clean up party on Saturday, November 1^st from 9am to Noon. Black Cat Coffee and Holy Donuts will be a reward! We will be raking, pruning, preparing the greenhouse, pulling the pond pump…etc.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST, CAN YOU HELP US WITH THE BLOG?

Would YOU like to help us with our garden blog? We need someone to update photos and add a bit of poetic wisdom. Great way to help the garden without getting your hands too dirty!:)

Welcome back to school and the Poet's Hideaway!

Welcome back to school! Along with the long shadows of fall, we snapped some photos of the picnic and wanted to share with you how great it is to return to a lush place with food and flowers. New garden signs and attentive care were part of the summer work by committee members. If you are a parent who would love to get involved be sure to see my post from earlier this week! Enjoy!

Volunteers needed for the garden committee, you'll have the most fun of all!!!

Hello all!
Bees are working, seeds and plants are growing, gathering the sun for us to harvest as energy. Help us along by volunteering to be a drone from time to time, helping to weed, water or mow. Feel free to email our fearless leader Amy Bell Segal to get on the list! Amy Bell Segal

Thank you worker bees!

Learning from flowers, eye candy!

Some photos from a few gardens nearby.

Saying our good-byes to Dawn Carrigan, celebrating her time at our school, & saying hello to Mr Dragonfly

I was only able to stay for the first part of this lovely evening celebration, so I will share with you some photos and the poem that Emily Segal read. Enjoy.

The end of school the start of summer - so much to catch up on!

Since the last post here back on May 30th, so so very much has occurred.
Signs are up, beds are planted, new benches and seating are in place, the wild garden is established and gardeners are working hard with weeding and watering, and please feel free to join in this summer, we actually have a good time doing it, because it is such a beautiful spot!

New signage completed by Keith Fitzgerald, Ellis'  dad. 

I am the new blogger in town, and I apologize for my tardiness. We wish Anthony well on his move to Chicago and thank him for getting this blog off to a good start. Here's to an exciting year of garden club and all kinds of continued Poet's Hideaway uses!

Since the end of May Peonies, Azelea's, Lupines, asparagus and wild ramps and strawberries have all come and gone.  As I look through my photos I see that beach walks, bike rides, swimming, camps, kayaking and vacations with hammocks have also come and gone (oh yes and some work too). Thankfully it is just mid way through our summer season of 'fun in the sun' and the fun of the harvest is just about to begin! Joy!

The next post will feature more images from the dedication and the send off for Dawn Carrigan!

The new benches glow with a colorful presence as the kids enjoy the pond for finding insects and hopefully frogs too.

Carrot Sowing and Rock Painting

Just think... By the time the next school year rolls around, this fertile dirt bed you see below will be filled with carrots. 

A big thanks to Longfellow's third-graders, who planted rows of Bolero carrot seeds in the soil during the last days of May. 

A bright orange variety, the Bolero grows to one-and-a-half inches across. According to growers, it's one of the heaviest yielding carrots and maintains its sweet flavor even after long term storage. Last year, we dug up 140 pounds of the root veggies. Will this fall's harvest surpass our previous record?

Meanwhile, the Garden Club has been busy. Here they are planting a Flowering Crabapple Tree.

They also painted rocks to give a little color to the garden.

The next time you are in the Learning Garden, consider challenging yourself to a treasure hunt: Can you find the rocks below? In three minutes or less?

Leaping into Spring with the Longfellow Garden

Finally.

The Longfellow Garden is blooming--and bustling with energy and life.

The Longfellow gardeners have been busy. And there's more activity going on in our school's backyard in the next couple weeks, as well. Kindergarteners are starting seedlings; 3rd graders are planting carrots; 4th graders are planting potatoes, and look out for The Garden Club's handiwork at the Spring Fair Plant Sale, with plenty of saplings available for purchase.

At the Spring Work Day, kids and parents worked together hard to make all of this happen.

Weeds were pulled.

Debris was gathered and wheelbarrowed over to the new compost bins.

And new decorative signs were added to brighten up the beds.

Four new colorful benches were also built by Keith Fitzgerald and three new 'buddy benches' were also purchased.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Holmes' class is helping to maintain the pond. 

Can you find the tadpoles? A special thanks to Boysenberry Payne for diligently tending to the pond these past months to keep it sustainable.

Fifth graders have also been doing yardscaping research, testing soil in the plots, adding lime to increase the pH level of the soil, putting in milky spores to reduce pesky grubs, and then adding compost, loam and grass seed.

The Garden Club has also planted a Flowering Crabapple tree near the playground and the early greens bed. We should also thank the United Way Day of Caring volunteers for helping to weed and add mulch to all of our beds.

All of that hard work requires energy, of course. Thanks to Holy Donuts and Black Cat's coffee for keeping us all going until the summer!