Diary
February 2020
Posted by Barbra McKenna on 2/19/2020
I spent 2-1/2 hours in the garden today with students coming in during their lunch and recess. They helped me with weeding the pathways, which was and is desperately needed. I was able to water all the beds with the hose today, since we haven't had much rain and the drip irrigation system is not working. I'm hoping to spend about four hours a week in the garden to bring it back to its beautiful self. We have daffodils, calendulas and pansies growing with CA poppies ready to explode. Ground covers include red clover and fava beans. Please enjoy the garden when you visit the school.
January 2020
Posted by Barbra McKenna on 1/23/2020
Posted photos of the bulbs that are blooming in the garden beds. Check it out.
Garden Club will start in April, after Spring Break. Looking forward to see all the budding gardeners.
Thank you for your support,
Summertime and It's HOT!
Posted by Barbra Mc Kenna on 7/1/2017
Our garden is growing like crazy. I was in OR for three weeks visiting my daughter and family, and while I was away, my garden volunteers kept an eye on the garden. When I returned it was 107 degrees, a big difference from Portland. I was shocked to see how much the squash, sweet peas, tomatoes, zinnias (all volunteers), strawberries, sunflowers and pumpkin vines had grown. Also, there were so many weeds!! Bad new is that our garden shed was once again vandalized to a point where they literally tore the door off the frame. What a shame. I have put all the gardening supplies in the school for the summer with the help of our head custodian Jeannie. The good news is that we now have a green house and planting table in the Kinder/Preschool area. I can't wait to use it with the students when it gets cooler. Thank you again to everybody who has been involved with the garden, I really appreciate your help. Come out and harvest some tomatoes, strawberries and squash.
A Long and Wet Winter
Posted by Barbra Mc Kenna on 2/6/2017
Its been awhile since I've posted, but in between all the rain I have been in the garden. The students and I have harvested and eaten broccoli, kale, swiss chard and carrots. Carrots are very popular, so we have planted more! They take 2-1/2 months before you can harvest, so we will continue to plant seeds so we can enjoy them until the end of school.
We have many bulbs coming up; daffodils, tulips, anemones, ranunculas, fressia, even a crocus came up last week. We have planted dozens of violas in and around the bulbs. When the weather warms up, and the sun shines, our Spring garden will be beautiful, and I can't wait.
The good news is that with all this rain, we won't have to worry so much about watering during the summer.
I'm hoping I will be able to start building another raised bed in the Preschool/Kindergarten, as well as assembling a Greenhouse with my Eagle Scout Wyatt Smith and his father, who helped me last year.
Winter Time
Posted by Barbra Mc Kenna on 12/26/2016
It's Christmas break and all is well at the school garden. With the freezing weather the last few nights,
we lost a few plants, but generally all of our carrots, beets, broccoli, kale, swiss chart and sweet peas are doing well.
Some of the bulbs we planted last year are starting to poke up through the soil. I am going to plant
Johnny Jump Ups (violas) in and around the bulbs. When the bulbs are blooming the violas will be
climbing up their stems, and it will be very colorful. We have daffodils, tulips, freesia, anenomes, crocus,
and hyacinths to look forward to come Spring. I hope all of you have a holiday season of peace and joy.
Fall/Winter Planting
Posted by Barbra Mc Kenna on 10/16/2016
The students and I have been pulling up old roots, cultivating the soil with amendments and planting seeds. All of our seeds are sprouting, and with the storm this weekend, and the warm weather, they will be big enough to withstand the winter months. Among the seeds we planted are heirloom beets, Italian red onions, leeks, carrots, broccolini, arugala and spinach. We have sunflowers popping up all over too. The old sunflowers are being enjoyed by the birds, and they will be pulled soon. We enjoyed our last zucchini last week, and have cultivated that bed for more seeds. I am planning to harvest our rosemary, chopping it up and mixing it with himalayan salt, putting in small jars, and giving them to our beloved teachers before Thanksgiving break. I hope you have a chance to come by the garden and see all of our new seedlings. In the preschool/kindergarten, we have planted herbs in one bed consisting of rosemary, oregano, Italian parsley, pineapple sage and a lavender. Also a few mums for color. The students love touching the seedlings and enjoying the wonderful aromas. The other bed has lettuce, radishes, carrots, beets and leeks.
Garden Shed
Posted by Barbra Mc Kenna on 9/11/2016
Dear Garden Guardians,
Today Jessica and her husband Dusty helped me attach two latches on our garden shed. They have padlocks on the latches and I have the key. Unfortunately, I needed to do this because of the vandalism we have experienced in the last few weeks. If you continue to watch over the garden area and notify me if there are any issues, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you.
Garden Transition
Posted by Barbra Mc Kenna on 9/10/2016
The students helped me cut back and pull out the tomatoes, green beans, cantaloupe vines, and some sunflowers. We will supplement the garden beds with compost for the new seedlings that will be planted in about 4-6 weeks.
I visited Soil Born Farms and brought seedlings for the students. We planted spinach, arugula and romaine lettuce seedlings in bed #2. The first graders planted seed tapes of carrots, beets and green onions in bed #3 and they have already started to sprout.
Mrs. Bamberger's class will be planting seeds of Italian broccoli, Italian red onions, and heirloom beets in their classroom. In 4-6 weeks we will plant them in garden bed #1.
We are all enjoying the zinnias and sunflowers, and all the butterflies, dragon flies, humming birds that are buzzing around, not to mention the bees.
I want to thank Eun Nichols and Sudha Shankar for taking their time to help me in the garden during recess time.
We have had a few instances of vandalism in the garden, and because of this I will be putting two latches on our garden shed, and they will have a lock on them. Jessica Cheney is bringing a cordless drill to help me do this on Sunday, and thank you for helping me, Jessica.
I hope you have had time to see all the sunflowers in the preschool/kinder garden. During the summer I planted a few pumpkin seeds and they are starting to grow. However, I haven't seen any pumpkins yet.
Thank you for taking an interest in the children's garden. I really appreciate it.
Gearing up for Fall/Winter planting
Posted by Barbra Mc Kenna on 8/27/2016
This last week the students and I have been digging up old sunflower plants, green beans and cucumber vines. We are getting the beds ready for new seedlings. We will be planting Italian Broccoli, Carrots, Italian Red Onions, Leeks and Heirloom Beets. Next week we will put the seedling in small six packs and I will place them in my Greenhouse for about a month. Then we will transplant them into the garden beds. In fact, the 1st and 2nd graders planted seeds tapes for carrots, green onions and beets on Friday. The warm sun and days will help these seeds sprout in about two weeks.
In the preschool/kinder garden some of Mrs. Young's afternoon class pulled carrots, much to their surprise. They were going to wash them and have them for afternoon snack. What fun.
Please join me in the garden if you can, I am there from 9:30-noon.
Back to School
Posted by Barbra Mc Kenna on 8/15/2016
What an exciting week we had, with everybody returning to school and lots of new faces in the garden.
I spent a lot of time watering this summer and enjoying the fruits of my labor, with strawberries and tomatoes.
The student are harvesting the tomatoes and green beans, and next week we will start to clear them out of the garden beds and prepare the soil for new plantings. Mrs. Bamberger's class will be starting new seeds of broccolini and marigolds.
If you have the time to volunteeer one day a week during recess to help me please contact me at 415-453-3807 or mckenna.bg@gmail.com.
Miss Charlotte has moved on since her son is now attending Sutter Middle School, and I miss her already. She came in every Tuesday and Thursday during recess with lots of great ideas.
See you in the garden.