A Snowy Start to Spring

You wouldn't know it from the snow, but the first day of Spring arrived in the Longfellow Garden -- with not a bud in sight. The late March snowstorm brought another foot of the powdery white stuff to Southern Maine, making this winter one of the top 40 snowiest in recorded history.

With snow caking tree limbs and blanketing the ground, it's hard to believe that anything is going to be growing on these grounds anytime soon. But seed orders are in -- carrots, sunflowers, scarlet runner beans, corn and potatoes -- and before you know it, that snow will be melted, and we'll be hard at work cultivating the garden.

To help make sure the soil is healthy, hearty and full of nutrients for our vegetables and flowers, Mr. Johnson's 5th grade class will be testing the dirt in the raised beds to make sure they're ripe for growing.

Here's hoping the soil passes with flying colors.

Winter Birdwatching in the Garden

Spring isn't here yet, but you can still hear the birds tweeting.

And with the Longfellow School Garden's new bird feeders, the little warblers will be a lot happier to stick around.

Currently, there are feeders for several classrooms, with the teacher's names listed on each feeder. Teachers and students should work together to keep the feeders full and inviting. There are a number of birds that everyone should keep an eye out for, including chickadees, titmice, blue jays and robins.

If you get a chance for a winter walk in the garden, be sure to check out the colored paths that will lead you to the feeders--that is, until the next snow covers them up.

According to birdwatching.com's Diane Porter, there are several ways to maximize the number of bird species that visit your feeders, from supplying a wide variety of edibles to offering food at different heights above the ground as well providing plenty of fresh water, which birds need in the winter as much as food.

Because insects are hard to find in the cold weather, most winter-weather birds eat seeds. According to Porter, black oil sunflower seeds are perfect for attracting cardinals, woodpeckers, blue jays, goldfinches, purple finches, chickadees, titmice, and nuthatches.

 

Porter also recommends Safflower, a white seed, slightly smaller than black sunflower seeds, which are a favorite of chickadees, titmice, chickadees, and downy woodpeckers.

Porter's site also warns not to buy bags of mixed birdseed, because they contain a lot of filler, such as red millet, which most birds won't eat.

When starting up a feeding program, be patient. Porter suggests it may take as long as several weeks before the birds discover your feeders, "While you wait," she advises, "be sure to keep the feeders filled."

If you build it, they will come.

Fall Harvest Fun

"Harvest time is here again
In the garden we must dig
Carrots, radishes, onions too
All so fresh and yummy too.
Harvest time is here again
Won't be long till you know when!"

The one thing missing from this poetic ode to the fall harvest is potatoes. At the Longfellow Garden Fall Harvest on Monday, October 15, spuds were everywhere: white ones, red ones; skinny ones, fat ones; tiny ones; big ones.

Dozens of children took part in the digging, using gardening forks, shovels and gloves to excavate the soil. It was almost like looking for treasure. While the potato plots were being harvested, the rest of the garden's carrots were also gathered.

After collecting the potatoes and carrots--and a few prize white onions--all of the vegetables were gathered and washed in large tubs, and then laid out to dry.

In all, 150 pounds of potatoes were harvested this year. Speaking of treasure, that's about the weight of five and half gold bars.

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.