Tag Archives: garden

ICS Grade 2 Students Bring Plants for Butterflies

Posted on by rhondacarrier

Last Friday the amazing grade 2 students at ICS each brought in a plant for the butterfly garden. Ms. McLane had suggested a list of plants that are good for the butterflies in Florida. The students followed the recommendations and brought in salvia, pentas, lantana, firebush, and petunias.

ICS Students hold their plants for the butterfly garden.

ICS Students hold their plants for the butterfly garden.

They were eager to put their flowers in the garden for the butterflies. The Town N Country Garden Circle ladies were in the garden waiting for them. As soon as they got there, students were arranged in groups, so all the salvia plants were together, all of the pentas together, etc. Next the plants were placed on the ground in the garden. We wanted similar plants together, but also had to plan so each plant had enough room to reach its full size.

The women had a knife to cut through the newspaper and mulch placed in the garden last week. Holes were dug for each plant, while students worked to get their plants out of the pots. As each student planted the flower that he or she brought, the roots were spread apart slightly. Then students tapped and pressed the soil around each plant to set it in place. It was a busy time but within 30 minute, all plants were in the ground. What a miracle.

A monarch butterfly was fluttering around the milkweed plant that had been placed in the garden last week. The students were delighted to see the butterfly and happy that their plants were already working to feed the butterflies. As the students went back to school to get cleaned up and ready for the Friday Stations of the Cross, the women watered the plants to help give them a good start.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Spring Renewal – Starting with the Soil

Posted on by rhondacarrier

We have the grade 5 section of the school student garden ready for planting again and with a lot of help from students. It never fails to amaze me that when I step outside with garden tools, students coming running to see what they can do. Three weeks ago after school, I entered the garden area with shovels and a bag of compost. Students in the school aftercare program were on the nearby playing field but I had 4 volunteers leave their game to help before I even started to work. The grade 5 science classes had removed the weeds the day before, so the aftercare group turned over the soil to loosen it, mixed in the compost and turned it again. They also added mulch to the walking paths between the rows.

Early this week at recess, I went out to work and again instantly had students volunteering to help, this time leaving their recess games to work. We have a new pile of soil beside the garden that the students used to build up the rows where we will plant. The garden was rained on since then, has had time to settle, and is ready for planting.

Tomorrow students will plant their seeds – the seeds that they gave me during Catholic Schools week. We have tomato, pepper, radishes, carrots and lima bean seeds. They are anxious to get started and anxious to see the first seed leaves poking through the soil.

Grade 5 section of the garden is ready for planting.

School Garden

Posted on by rhondacarrier

During the last school year, I watched the development of a new garden at school. On 2/1/2011 Father Jose George blessed the garden that the grade 8 students had planned and planted. Younger students got involved learning how to weed and helped to harvest some of the young carrots. (View their slideshow!) What a wonderful hands-on education about health, nutrition, and Florida ecosystems. I wasn’t involved in the initial development of the garden, but this school year, starting in August 2011, three science teachers will share the responsibility of  developing the garden with our middle school science students. I am one of those teachers and I’m delighted to be part of the project. We will also get younger students involved with this garden and other projects.

Solarizing the Garden Soil

Posted on by rhondacarrier

Last June after the close of the school year, we decided to solarize the garden for the summer. We removed weeds, then borrowed a rototiller to loosen the soil. Next we added several bags of compost from a nearby farm. The final steps were to wet the soil, and then to cover the soil with a clear plastic. The purpose of the plastic was to solarize the soil:

Soil solarization is a practice used to manage weeds, nematodes, diseases, and insects in soil. The soil surface is covered with clear plastic, which allows sunlight to pass through and heat up the soil to temperatures that are lethal to many of these pests. If effective, solarization can reduce population levels of these pests for 3-4 months, sometimes longer.(Read Introduction to solarization on ifas website)

We weighted the edges of the clear plastic with soil, boards and cement blocks to seal the edges as best as possible to retain the heat under the plastic. In the first photo, the lower layer is solarized with the plastic, but the upper layer of the garden is still a mass of weeds. The second photo shows both layers of the garden covered with the plastic. Then we left it to the Florida summer heat to do the work.

solarizing

solarizing

Growing Camellias

Posted on by rhondacarrier

We moved from Kobe, Japan to Tampa, FL last June. Gardens in Japan are designed to highlight each season. Spring was my favorite season with its waves of camellias, cherry blossoms, azaleas and hydrangeas. I’m starting to plan a garden in Tampa and I’m looking for knowledge and inspiration to help me convert a lot full of weeds to a garden beautiful throughout the year. When I realized the Master Gardener topic at the Charles Fendig Library was on camellias, I joined the group to learn how to grow them in my Tampa garden.

Eileen Hart, Master Gardener and presenter, had a table covered with beautiful blooms to highlight her discussion of camellia history, use, insects and diseases, plus propagation of the plant. The cluster of stamen at the center of a camellia is a key characteristic, although there are variations. The formal double flowers, for instance, have a tight center of petals that hide the cluster of stamen. Camellia flower sizes vary, and colors range from white to pink to red.

The camellia is a short day plant, blooming when there is less than 12 hours of sunshine each day. When purchasing a camellia plant, Eileen advised determining when it will bloom, since different species bloom from November to March. It grows best in the understory of other plants, so provide another plant to shade it during the hottest part of the day. Eileen suggested fertilizing camellias with 2/10/10 fertilizer between Feb. – Mar and 12/4/8 in June to stimulate growth and blooms. An encouraging fact for those of us that lost plants to the freezing temperatures in Florida recently, is that the camellia can tolerate freezing temperatures for short periods. Some of the leaves and blooms may be lost due to frost, but if the plant is well established, the roots and stem should recover. Another environmental consideration is its water requirements. The plant can survive a drought, but it needs at least an inch of water each week to bloom. It does not tolerate having “wet feet”; that is it does not grow in waterlogged and poorly drained soil conditions.

I was reminded today that the camellia is not just beautiful, it also has economic importance.  Camellia sinensis is the basis for most types of tea with a history stretching back over 5,000 years. Green tea has significance to us since my husband and I took tea ceremony lessons while in Japan. I will think of Eileen’s presentation, and enjoy sipping Camellia sinensis, the next time my husband makes me a bowl of tea.

I will carefully tend the seedling that I received from Eileen today. Hopefully it will develop into a full blooming camellia bush in my garden in a few years.