After school on Field Day last June, a crew of students came out to the garden for some final planting before summer vacation. They proudly showed off their face and hand paintings. Marigolds were planted around the garden border and a few kitchen garden seeds (carrots, beets and beans) were planted for the summer camp in two weeks.

Summer camp runs everyday from today, July 8th, for six weeks. there will be many opportunities for garden exploration for our 70 or so summer students.

A row of basil, started from seed by students in the After School Program was also transplanted into the garden. At this point, three weeks later, I am already pinching back the top two leaves of the basil plants to allow the plant to branch out. Garlic plants from last fall have sent out their flower buds (scapes). These can be cut back as well and put into a blender with olive oil and salt to make a very spicy pesto. In the fall we’ll make basil pesto with our own garlic. Pesto can be frozen to use on pizza or with pasta. Throughout the winter we’ll be able to taste memories of our garden.

Basil pinched back

Garlic scapes (flower buds)

Here are some rare strawberries from a very wet and dismal strawberry season….and what became of them!

The third grade lettuce investigators came out to the garden to harvest their early crop just as school was ending. Some had happily been recording changes in plant growth for four weeks. Others lost their adopted lettuce plants during the experiment and theorized about what had happened. Everyone joined in to harvest, wash and spin the lettuce dry. We have a giant lettuce spinner. It stopped working mid spin, but one of the class members is a great mechanics “trouble shooter.” This provided a nice opportunity to highlight an individual student’s strength. He had the spinner gears humming in no time.

There was more than enough for a salad party!

Two sixth grade boys worked hard yesterday to weed some of the invasive lamb’s quarters from our garden. We will miss sixth graders, Dan and Zach as they move on to middle school. They’ve worked hard in the garden. Below, Dan shows Zach how to recognize a weed from a garden plant.

In the background you can see mini flags flying from the tomato stakes. Each sixth grader made a flag describing one memory of playing learning and working in our all school garden. They were posted as a leave-taking gift to the school. Come and read some if you have a chance this summer.

Yesterday a group of fourth graders used  their recess time to plant two flowering  rose bushes under our school sign. They raised the money for the roses by selling marigolds and basil plants, a project started from seed in conjunction with the After School Program. Fourth graders recycled milk cartons at lunch  to use as planting containers and volunteered their recess time  last spring to transplant and sell seedlings to students at school. Their teacher, Nancy Bladyka helped them buy the bushes. The rose bushes needed composted manure for their transplanting. I knew where to find that…at Goodell farm, just down the road from school. (The same farm that donated the baling twine last summer.) I drove down there and arrived just as the family was having a meeting (all seven of them) in the barn. They were happy to give me as many bags of manure as I needed. This is the great and generous spirit of the town of Westminster.

In addition to the roses, our school sign was given a facelift by Laurie Bolotin, teacher and perennial grower. She saw a need to renew the garden under the school sign and she donated healthy hardy perennials to its beautification. Many thanks, Laurie! Laurie’s perennials can be found at Rockingham and Brattleboro farmers’ markets in the summer. Look for “Morningstar Perennials,” OR go to http://www.morningstarflowers.com!

Our After School students have been very active in the garden this spring. Last week a team of them planted two 75 foot long rows of sweet pepper plants. They worked together to plant each tiny seedling about a foot from its neighbor. The peppers will be ready to harvest during the last part of summer camp and into the fall. These hard working students also dug holes for the rest of the tomato stakes (63 in all) that we needed to support our newly planted tomatoes.

Did you know that Indiana’s state plant is mint? Neither did I. Did you know, if you’re making mint brownies for a project about Indiana and you don’t have mint extract, that finely diced mint leaves work just as well as extract?

Neither did I, but I’m always willing to try something new, so when Abby asked me to help her with her fifth grade presentation, I was flattered and happy to experiment with mint leaf brownies. These brownies were delicious! We substituted about 2 tablespoons of finely diced fresh  spearmint leaves for one teaspoon of extract. A small mint leaf was placed upon each brownie served to Abby’s class after her Indiana report was given!

A number of years ago, we had a very warm and nurturing Kindergarten teacher named Vicky. She was inspired to create a garden world with her class in the courtyard outside our hallway and library. Vicky has since left us to teach in Wyoming, but her legacy remains, complete with a small pond. Unfortunately the weeds had taken over much of the little garden. The pond fountain was down and much attention was needed to bring the garden back. This longterm project was taken on by fourth grader, Annaleeza, who noticed the neglect. Annaleeza is a natural gardener. As the spring flowers began to arrive, the weeds did as well, cluttering the paths and the flowers. During many of her recess times this spring, Annaleeza and I herded the strawberries into one bed. We divided perennials; they love being divided when they’re mature!

Our terrific custodian, Jeff, found the missing pieces to the fountain and reattached them to make it work again. A few days ago, Annalezza tasted her first ripe strawberry! The courtyard garden has come a long way in her care.