Newspaper Seedling Pots

We had our first Garden Club of the Spring on Monday. Unfortunately, the snow storm kept us inside, but we were still able to have fun and learn about growing plants!  Using recycled newspaper (Happy Earth Day!), we built small seedling pots to grow our very own plants.

This is an easy and fun project for anyone to do.  The steps to create them are below:

1) Cut a newspaper section in half and then in half again to make quarters.

2) Take a small round container, like a spice jar, and roll the newspaper around it.

3) Fold the bottom in, as if wrapping a present and tape it shut. Tape the sides of the newspaper together, as well.

4) Take out the jar. Turning it right side up, fold in the edges all around the top.  Then fold it in again for stability and a shorter pot.

5) Fill with soil and plant your seeds!

Spring is here?

It certainly does not look like it today, but Spring is here!  Underneath all of this snow are seeds growing in the soil.  As the Earth wakes up from its winter slumber, those seeds will grow into plants and before you know it, our garden will be back in bloom!

Garden Club starts up again next Monday and Thursday.  This Spring, we are offering two sessions.  The Monday session is for grades K-2 and the Thursday session is for grades 3-5.  We are excited to get out into the garden and begin planting for this next year.  Stay tuned for pictures and updates to come!

Garden Club!

This fall, we are offering an after school garden club for students at Red Hawk.  We decided to offer it on Thursdays after school and we have 40 participants!   On the first day of Garden Club, students helped weed the garden, plant lettuce and kale, and designed drafts for a large entrance sign to the garden.

The following week, we harvested cherry tomatoes (enough for every kid to take a small bag home...or eat them instantly!), weeded and planted, painted the actual garden sign and made individual garden banners that will hang on the fence for the rest of the year.

Garden club will continue until October 6.  We are looking forward to watching the change of the season in the garden and learning all about cool season crops.

Summer is in Full Bloom!

As the time quickly approaches when students return to Red Hawk, the garden is in full summer bloom!  Now is the time for tomatoes, zucchini and peppers.  The first little eggplants are popping up and the gourds planted by Mrs. Dwyer's class last spring are almost the size of baseball bats!  If you have a garden of your own or visit one of the Boulder County's many farmers market, then you might just happen to have a surplus of zucchini!  Here's a great muffin recipe to try with some of it (I hear Steve the custodian loves Zucchini Muffins!):

ingredients:

1. 2 cups all purpose flour
2. 1 cup cocoa, sifted
3. 1/2 teaspoon salt
4. 2 teaspoon baking soda
5. 1 teaspoon allspice
6. 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
7. 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
8. 1/4 cup melted butter
9. 3/4 cup vegetable oil
10. 3 eggs
11. 1 teaspoon vanilla
12. 1/2 cup buttermilk
13. 2 cups zucchini, washed and dried, ends and stems removed, cut in half lengthwise and seeded,and grated
14. 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 20 muffin cups with muffin liners or spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl whisk together flour, cocoa, salt, baking soda, allspice and cinnamon; set aside.
3. In a medium bowl whisk together the sugar, butter and oil. Beat in eggs, one at a time until combined. Stir in vanilla, buttermilk, zucchini and chocolate chips. Gently stir the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined.
4. Divide batter equally among prepared muffin cups. Bake until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and muffin tops are springy to the touch, 20 to 24 minutes; rotating halfway through baking time. Cool muffins in muffin tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack and cool 5 minutes before serving.

Yields: 20 standard muffins

Source: www.sweetpeaskitchen.com 

Garden Workshop and Open House!

This past weekend we invited students and families to come explore the Red Hawk garden.  After being planted by the students in the late Spring, the garden has really taken off!  It is amazing to see all of the growing plants and to begin tasting the different vegetables that were grown in the classrooms.

On Sunday, July 15th and Monday, July 16th, families were invited to check out how far the garden has come and to participate in some hands-on learning activities.  Students planted a butterfly garden using mostly Colorado native plants which will attract very important pollinators to our garden. We also planted a sensory garden, which is a garden filled with plants that teach us about our five senses. The plants either have an interesting smell, touch, taste, or look.  We will use this garden during the school year to help us make observations about different plants.

In addition to helping plant these gardens, students helped make plant markers for the garden and were able to plant sunflower seeds in pots to take home.  We had a great time hunting for giant zucchinis and tasting fresh lettuce!  Thanks to everyone who came out!