Planting a School Garden in the Rain

HeartBeet Farms offers entertaining, tasty, nutritious and hard working field trips to the farm.  We also will bring the farm and nutrition education to schools.  Some schools have their own school garden, but need guidance and learning about how to effectively plant and maintain and organic garden.

HeartBeet Farms Helps Students Plan their School Garden Beds

Ann and I visited Our Lady of Grace Montessori School in Manhasset in March.  We taught the kids about different vegetables, let them taste test a bunch of veggies, created a plan for their existing school garden beds and planted seeds with the students indoors to help get them started with some greens, beets and carrots.

Maintaining the seedlings indoors became a bit of a challenge in April and May as the seedlings were not getting enough sunlight through the school windows to sustain them. But, although some of the plants did not make it, it demonstrated significant learnings for the students about how the sun is such a critical component to the overall health and growth of our plants and veggies.  The School is intending to construct a small greenhouse for next season!

Students Plant in their School Garden – Rain or Shine

Ann returned to the school after Mother’s Day to help the students plant outdoors. It has been a cooler and rainy spring season and scheduling a day without rain was becoming tough.  So, despite a rainy forecast, Ann went for it!  The students said they were prepared to plant their school garden in the rain!

Early that morning, it was only cloudy.  They forecasted the rain to stop early and return in the afternoon, well after Ann would leave.  But the forecast was a bit off and the morning was met with significant rainfall! However, Ann, the students and teachers were determined to plant anyway.

Bravo to the students at Our Lady of Grace Montessori School!  They braved the elements and planted their multiple gardens.  The images demonstrate their hard work and determination to get it accomplished.  We hope they will be rewarded with scrumptious, organically grown vegetables throughout the season!  Fantastic  job to everyone – especially Ann who braved the elements for the full 2-3 hours while students rotated out to plant in their school garden with her!