Growing sprouts, veggies and herbs in a classroom is not always straightforward. Plants have specific needs and nature’s ecosystems are finely tuned to meet these needs. In our buildings we don’t have pollinators or predatory insects or other checks and balances we find outside. Pests can make an appearance...whether they are tiny thrips, spider mites or aphids.
But sometimes a garden becomes a buffet for larger critters, such as mice.
At Garneau School, the students were very excited about the progress and growth of their veggies until....”when we came back from spring break [we found] that a mouse had eaten our peas, dill, chard, basil, some beans, and lettuce - which were all in little pots. (I had checked them during spring break and they all looked lovely...so disappointing). We [transplanted] a bean, cucumber, tomato, lemon balm, and nasturtium and wrapped our garden in tin foil hoping the little beast(s) would stay out. That seemed to have solved the problem for a while. We had beans, tomato and cucumber blossoms, and our nasturtium was taking off. On Friday, the top of our bean plant started to look wilty - I was thinking we had bugs, but had only spotted one here or there.
When we came to school today, the real problem was discovered. The mouse ate through the main stem close to dirt level so I think that is the end of our beans.... The next day we noticed that cucumber blossoms and mini-cukes were gone and there was some significant tunneling noted in all three boxes. Instead of growing Jack's beanstalk as we were hoping, it looks like we've opted for the Secret World of Og instead, haha. I guess we will have to figure out some further mouse-proofing strategies for next year.”
These challenges can be a bit discouraging but we’re always happy to hear that teachers and students try to find solutions. Gardens not only produce food but also young people that are willing to trouble shoot and persevere.
At Avonmore School, the indoor garden is new to the Grade 4/5 class and they really embrace it. Ms Beer reports: “...our garden is absolutely FLOURISHING!!!!! I love it. We love it. Truly. I am so thankful for this opportunity. We already harvested our nasturtiums. We dried, ground the leaves and mixed it with salt to make a nasturtium seasoning salt. We also propagated some nasturtiums and the students are taking them home as a Mother's Day gift! We are LOVING the L.G.T. program.”
To propagate more nasturtiums, a small branch with leaves is cut and placed in water. After 1-2 weeks, small roots appear and the new seedling can be planted into potting mix.
(Click on photos to enlarge)
Peppers take a long time to germinate and grow. At St. Leo School, Ms Gall and her students have been enjoying a wonderful crop of Gypsy Hybrid Peppers (and also a large number of Persian Baby cucumbers!). The peppers have a unique shape. Ms Gall wrote: “Look at our beautiful peppers. The bigger red one is the size of a small baseball. They are so tasty. We’ve eaten about 3-4 already.” The class also had some tomatoes and the lettuce was harvested twice.
At Norwood School, Ms Rickards received a Little Green Sprouts Kit and her Kindergarten students love seeing the amazing growth of different seeds into edible sprouts. “...we're loving the garden! We had a crop of buckwheat and radish sprouts, the kids loved the flavor difference. Now we've got sunflowers coming in but they won't eat them because only 8 came up and they're calling them "our babies" and talking to them, they won't eat them! I'm going with it. One of them said today "I love nature" so there you go!”
Loving nature is a wonderful outcome of growing plants in the classroom.
Parkallen School has had an indoor garden for many, many years, and it’s always great to hear about their experiments. Ms Agrell-Smith got the kid harvesting, chopping and eating Swiss Chard. “The kids just love the swiss chard, raw and cooked!” What’s not to love about kids eating leafy greens with onions!
And there are more interesting observations: “The Chelsea Prize Cucumber is proving very fruitful again. There are many cucumbers developing. As for our pumpkin plants, they produced a number of male flowers really well for a while, but never produced any female flowers and then the plants died back. We will try again next year just for fun.
We also took cuttings from the lemon balm and basil to grow plants in decorated pots for students to give as mother's day presents.“
Here are some other great photos from other indoor gardens this year.
