Transplanting

The seedlings have germinated and are growing beautifully. The tomatoes had gotten so tall that they outgrew the cart and had to be moved to a volunteer's greenhouse. Today is transplanting day. Our master gardener volunteers Chris & Nancy are coming to work with a classroom of 3rd graders to transfer the plants from their 4-cell pack to individual 4" pots.

Again we use the buckets of potting soil and in the excitement, everyone forgets to transfer the labels to the new pots. Now how will we know what we have? We've got trays of "mystery tomatoes" and peppers. Hmmm

Spring is on the Way

After a long dormant winter, we are finally preparing for a new season in the school garden.

Today we planted tomato and green pepper seeds with the help of the 4-H Afterschool members. Our volunteers helped the kids to add water and stir the soil so it was just nice and moist. Each student received a two 4-cell packs and two small packets of seeds. Next stop was the soil station where they filled up with soil under the watchful eyes of our master gardener volunteers. They learned how to "dimple" the soil with a dull pencil and planted both types of seeds. Students carefully labeled the variety on a craft stick and filled out a seed planting journal sheet where they answered the two questions: "What kind of seed did you plant today?" and "I learned..."

Varieties this year include:

Tomato: Celebrity, Goliath, Pilgrim & Applause
Pepper: Chinese Giant

These seedlings will now go into the garden cart under the grow lights to germinate and grow.

Can spring be too far behind?