Gardening in Our Communities and Schools

Gardening in Our Communities and Schools

By: Yvonne Savio

Great things happen when a community or school garden gets started. Neighbors and passers-by exclaim joy and relief that "something's finally happening" to a blighted or underused plot of land. Order comes out of chaos. Weeds are displaced by fragrant and rich-brown, newly turned soil. Plots of tiny plants in neat rows or groupings take the place of the jumble of wild things. Colorful flowering vines and roses climb unattractive chain-link fencing.

Camaraderie
From inside the fence, even more wonderful changes are happening. Individual, isolated gardeners share their techniques and concerns and joys, learning from one another. Exhilaration from exercise and fresh air and jokes floating across garden pathways invigorate everyone's spirits. Everyday frustrations evaporate or are worked out subconsciously as the soil is tilled, amendments incorporated, pests hand-plucked, and seedlings nurtured. Harvest parties become potlucks of different cultures and cooking flavors. Excess broccoli or lettuce or zucchini is put to use in a multitude of recipes, literally from appetizer to dessert, all shared.

Lessons Learned
In school gardens, math is used in counting seeds, forming raised beds, and planting seedlings. Science is part of caterpillar-to-butterfly transformation, geography is introduced in microclimates and soil texture. Social sciences and communication are involved in communal decisions about what to plant, where, and dealing with problems. Language is involved in learning different terms for plants and insects. Ethnic interaction results from growing different ethnic crops and preparing and tasting potluck dishes.

Exercise is a benefit of digging and bending and hauling. Art is explored in the scarecrows built and posters painted. Poetry and personal self-expression is explored in the journals written and observations made. People talk, people listen. They observe what's happening in their world, and they participate in its development. They determine its future by creating its present. What better way to "grow" our current and upcoming generations of citizen gardeners!

Growing Bulb Onions

Feed bulb onions with a 10-10-10 fertilizer to encourage bulbing. Sets that send up seed stalks instead of forming large bulbs were perhaps not sufficiently dormant when they were planted, or they were larger than dime-size and going to bolt soon anyway. To delay bolting, snap off the stalk at the base.

Pluck Strawberry Blooms

Pluck off strawberry blossoms through May, or whenever the warm weather has settled in for good, to concentrate the plant's first real burst of fruiting energy into large, sweet berries rather than small tart ones. Unless, of course, you're desperately waiting for that very first berry, even if it is tart.

Start Herbs From Seed

Herbs to start from seed include anise, basil, chervil, chives, cilantro (coriander), dill, fennel, lavender, marjoram, oregano, parsley, and savory. Transplant mint, rosemary, sage, tarragon, and thyme (these don't come true from seed). Herbs make great landscaping plants, as well. Chives add attractive, spear-like foliage among blooming plants. Rosemary and wooly thyme make attractive, drought-tolerant, trouble-free ground covers.

Plant Citrus and Avocado Trees

Citrus and avocado trees do best when they're planted from late this month through May, as the weather warms up. For the best protection from cold weather and frost, choose a southwest exposure that's protected from the wind. Plant them on a mound or in a raised bed so water drains away from the roots. Rub suckers off trunks as they appear. Tape together or remove broken branches. Paint trunks and large limbs with a matte-finish, off-white interior latex paint mixed half and half with water to prevent sunscald.

Plant Summer-Blooming Bulbs

Plant summer-blooming bulbs, corms, and tubers, including acidanthera, agapanthus, tuberous begonias, caladiums, calla lilies, canna lilies, dahlias, gladiolus, hemerocallis, tuberous iris, ixias, tigridias, tuberoses, and watsonias. Repeat plantings through May for continuous bloom through the summer. If you still have some unplanted spring-blooming bulbs that are firm and solid, plant them immediately in rich soil. They'll probably not bloom this year, but they'll develop further and bloom next year. If not planted, they'll shrivel away to nothing. These leftover bulbs also can be potted up for forcing. Place them in the refrigerator for eight to ten weeks, keeping the soil moist but not soggy. They should bloom after another three weeks in a brightly lit area.

Web Finds - Common Ground Garden Program

The University of California Cooperative Extension Los Angeles County Common Ground Garden Program has two online publications to help people develop thriving community and school gardens. Other articles include monthly garden tips.

Books - A Guide for Starting Children's Gardens

Children's Gardens: A Field Guide for Teachers, Parents, and Volunteers is a book that helps teach all the academic subjects through hands-on activities in the garden. It's published by the University of California Cooperative Extension Los Angeles County Common Ground Garden Program, which has 20 years of experience establishing gardens on school campuses. It covers gardening basics, specific instructional activities, and lots of resources to help make school gardening easy, even for the non-gardener. The book costs $12 plus $3.50 shipping. To order, call (323) 260-3348, fax (323) 881-0067, e-mail gjmitche@ucdavis.edu, or visit: http://celosangeles.ucdavis.edu/garden/

Content provided by the National Gardening Association