Jar Flowers

We planted wildflowers in jars today. We used antique jars from a farm in the early 1900s (we're reusing them) and filled them with soil. Then we put six tiny seeds into each jar. We were surprised at how small and different looking they all were. The seeds were in a wildflower seed mix. Some of the flowers we might be growing are black-eyed-susans, poppies, forget-me-nots, and candy tuft. After we poked in the seeds, we covered them with more soil. We pushed it down and added even more soil on top of that. We watered them. Because the soil was soooo dry, the water stayed on top of the soil or got underneath the soil and floated it. It will soak in eventually. Last, we put them in the sunshine by the window. We will keep a log of what we observe all year. Hopefully we'll have flowers all winter!

Planting Frenzy

Today, we started off planting an avocado seed that had grown roots and little itsy bitsy stems. Soil gives nutrients to the plants in it. That's why it is called black gold. We learned what back filling was, too. You put the soil back in to cover the roots. Then we went outside! We planted the azalea and 2 ground covers. First we un-clumped the soil. Then Mrs. W dug the holes. We took the plants out of the containers. The azalea was a rough job! It took 8 of us to loosen it up and tug it out. Then we all back filled the plants. We newspapered the garden next. We did this to keep the weeds from growing. It blocks out the sun. We put a little bit of soil on top of the newspaper to keep it from flying away. Then we covered everything (except the plants) with lots and lots and lots of mulch; 3 garbage cans full! Finally we gave everything in the garden a nice drink! Our outdoor classroom is looking great!

First Steps into the Outdoor Classroom

Friday, we were able to take our first real steps toward completing the outdoor classroom. Mrs. W. came across an awesome deal on some plants. We had to decide where to place them based on sunlight needs and height requirements. We made sure that the grasses we planted wouldn't cover up the windows of the classrooms. Since we ran out of time, Mrs. W. planted them for us this weekend. They got lots of rain to start off their lives in our new learning space.

Weeds, say your prayers!

This morning we pulled weeds in the hosta garden. We learned how to pull a weed. You dig down to the root and then pull on the top of the root, twisting slowly. It is important that we get the root because if you don’t get the root, it will grow back, again and again and again and again and again . . . . ☺ We learned which plants are good in the garden and which are bad. The bad ones are called weeds. Weeds are anything you don’t want in you garden. They can hurt the plants you want in your garden by taking the water the good plants need. It can steal the nutrients from the soil. It can wrap itself around a plant and “choke” it, which would kill it. We found lots of bugs in the garden, too! There were crickets, daddy-long-legs, pillbugs, ants; lots and lots of ants. They crawled all over Kathleen. Our hosta garden looks much prettier now.