School Garden Day!

So I'm really excited about School Garden Day tomorrow! We've ordered all the compost and I've picked up all the plants, seeds, and seedlings. I've got all my tools charged, packed up and ready to go for tomorrow. It feels like I'm getting ready for the first day of school... I actually had a hard time sleeping last night because I was running through everything in my head. Keep your fingers crossed that the weather holds out for us!

I've picked up some serviceberry, black-eyed susans, and a can butterfly seed mix for the flower bed out front the school. With all these beauties and some weeding the flower bed should look great, plus I'll be picking up some milkweed on Sunday courtesy of our school community purchased through the David Suzuki Foundation & #gotmilkweed. I really want to transform the flower bed out front the school from decorative flowers (which sadly no longer bloom) into a pollinator garden so classes will be able to observe more wildlife.

For the garden beds I picked up some asparagus, basil, pumpkin, corn, and scotch bonnets in addition to the garlic, kale, and herbs that we already have growing. I hope that we can have a small three sisters section to our garden with some pole bean seeds that I have from last year. I also took a trip to the local lumber yard and got some new cedar boards to expand on our three and a half planting beds by adding two more.

My dream is to have a bountiful harvest in the fall of this year, have a pumpkin for each class, and be able to make pesto and hot sauces with students to raise funds for next year's crops.

I'd really like to thank Fiesta Gardens for giving us a discount on plants & tools and the Metro Green Apple Grant for the funds that have helped to make all this possible.

Seed Exchange

After getting at taste of the warm weather over the March break I can't help but think of getting seeds started and getting my hand dirty in the garden with the students. 

I managed to save several seeds from what we grew last year, but I also can't wait to get my hands on some new fun and interesting plants. I know that potatoes did well last year and garlic has done well every year as well as the kale, we've had difficulty growing most root veggies. My dream is have pumpkins so each class can have at least one, maybe this will be our year!

I usually get seeds from one of the many seed exchanges going on around the city. There are still a few left, so don't fret if you missed Seedy Saturday/Sunday at the Brickworks. Here is a link to some seed exchange events coming up in the future. For me gardening is about helping to build community, whether it's a community working together to grow food or you sharing from what you've grown in your own garden. You can always collect your own seeds and set up a seed/bulb exchange with fellow gardeners in your area or just trade with friends. 

Please feel free to contact me through twitter or the blog if you'd like to exchange some seeds with me. 

Been Missing You

Wow, I'm so sorry. I can't believe that I let two months go by without a post. There has been a lot of activity the last little while around school and the garden so I haven't been finding the time to update all of you.

Just quickly I should let you know that compost day at our school is May 13th. Yes, that's a Friday *insert scary sound.
We are so lucky to have Joe Mihevc as the councilor for our area. He's always up to something that supports the environment.

The school garden is coming along nicely these days. The garlic continues to grow and we now have 3 planting beds that no one has vandalized, yah!!!! I'm thinking of building a fourth bed, so I'll have to get more wood and soil. The students have also really enjoyed being part of the building process... it's starting to spread to other students as well. It would be great if one day we could have a planting bed for each class.

Now we planted some seeds indoors last week, but only a couple have sprouted so I'm starting to worry. We've got some money left in the budget so I may just have to go and buy some seedlings from a garden centre. Our planting day will be May 19th, but more to come on that.

Seedy Sunday pt2

[ just a taste of how busy it was ]

I can't tell you what a great time I had today at Seedy Sunday. I really wanted to stay there all afternoon and not come home. It was great to see and talk with a lot of familiar faces. I was also able to make some good contacts today regarding field trips for the garden/eco club and for volunteers in the garden. Dare I say that I'm becoming part of the urban agriculture community?

First things first. I got an awesome haul of seeds today. I would have gotten more, but thankfully I ran into a fellow teacher, who is also a parent at the school, and she let me in on some deals from Urban Harvest if I order through the school. Her and I are going to be in touch and put an order together and share some seeds and save some money too!

[ crappy photo = awesome haul ]

One of the faces that I always love to run into is Garden Jane. She's totally awesome and put on great workshops for community gardeners and anyone else who wants to learn about permeculture. She gave me some free bean seeds and some great ideas for activities to do with them. I felt bad taking all this stuff and knowledge without giving her anything in return, so I bought a seed ball kit from her. I'm planning on giving it away as a prize for some sort of event at the school.

[ seed ball kit ]

If you don't know what a seed ball/bomb is you need to go look that up. I think that we'll do something for International Sunflower Guerrilla Gardening Day (May 1st 2011). I don't know if we'll do sunflowers, but we'll definetly do some kind of hardy, flowering, native plant.

In talking with people today I realized that there are a lot of people who want to volunteer in our little school garden to help the students grow food. There are also a lot of people who want community garden space and aren't able to get it. I know that I'd have to clear this with the administration, but I was thinking this could be an awesome trade off for some help watering in the summer and getting some people with more know-how than myself to really get our garden going. Volunteers may have to get a police check (more than likely they would) but it would be a small price to pay for some space to grow some veggies of their own.

For those of you interested in volunteering please email me or leave a comment with your email address (don't worry all comments need to be approved before they're posted so I'll copy and delete your email address so you don't get any random spam).

Seedy Sunday (Today)

Sorry for getting this info out so late, but today is Seedy Sunday at Heart House UoT. From 12:30-6pm you can bring seeds from trading or you can just buy some yummy heirlooms for you garden.

If you can't make it out today don't worry there will be another Seedy Sunday in March 27th @ Lawrence Heights Community Centre (1-5pm). AND not to worry my Scarborough friends on March 12th @ Heron Park Community Centre (12-4pm) is where your Seedy Sunday will be.

I'll be at UoT today so if you want to meet up leave a comment and let me know that you're coming so I can keep an eye out for you. I may also try to get out to the Lawrence Heights event as well.

This year Seedy Sunday is a joint venture between Food Share, Toronto Public Health, Green Thumbs Growing Kids