Garden Update

And the latest garden news is...
The gardens are unsightly, but fine, but the deer covers are in bad shape from excessive snow. The great news is that our official “Critter Cage” prototype from the Square Foot Gardening Foundation emerged unscathed! The secret was the fact that it was held together with twine. Unfortunately, the chicken wire cages that my classes built last year are ruined. We must either re-build them or start from scratch. As has always been the case, something will work out.

We will be growing a themed garden this spring; a "salad garden." With that in mind, students are suggesting, researching, and selecting vegetables that can be grown in the number of days until our end-of-year salad party, which will happen the week of May 24th. That was 88 days from yesterday! We have found some interesting plants, such as "Deer Tongue Lettuce," an heirloom variety dating back to the 1700's! Stay tuned for our selections...

February Garden Update

Our Email to Victoria Boudman with the Spare Foot Garden Foundation:
Critter Cage Update:

The Critter Cage arrived late last fall, and we did not get it together until after exams were concluded and time permitted. I required the students to re-write your assembly directions, and the group with the "best" directions got to be the assemblers. I'll attach the revised directions that also contains our pictures. Since that time the gardens have been overwhelmed with snow. First, the snow plow driver made our SFG Critter Cage his target, then he made sure that during every subsequent visit he piled on more snow. I'm sad to include the latest picture of the poor cage.

The good news will probably be that the critter cage will survive. Before the snow got piled deeper, it was obvious that the strings holding it together broke, saving the wooden panels. For that reason, we think using string to hold it together was a good idea. We have great hopes that it will be OK. Prior to the snow we were still growing fall/winter vegetables, with a cabbage harvest on January 7! After the first snows we could see the deer and rabbit tracks coming up to the gardens to see if we had left them unguarded.

We will send more information after the spring thaw!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Sellers' Sixth Grade Science Classes