St. Dennis School Garden

Saturday, July 16th

2011-07-16T16:17:00.003-05:00

Tomato plants (little puny, but hopefully will come around if we keep them watered)

Carrots

Cucumbers and green peppers

New flowers (in the prior pea bed) and radish row in the bottom right corner

Caden's corner with some new flowers

New flowers

Lettuce and green beans

I went to Jung's this morning and bought some of their discounted annuals with my Jung's dollars. Nothing looked very good, but hopefully with some TLC these flowers will go crazy and look beautiful for the festival. :) (Can't hurt to hope.)

You may have noticed that we have many potted plants in the garden. One of our former students started all these plants on his apartment patio and ran out of room. He asked both Fr. Schmitt and I if he could add them into our garden. Please don't weed anything in these pots. Thank you!

PLEASE feel free to stop in and snip some lettuce (plenty!), and pull some green beans and carrots. Between Diane Neal and her son, Payton, and I we reseeded more spinach, beets and radishes. There will be plenty of cucumbers and tomatoes soon! :)

Been a month....

2011-07-11T19:02:00.002-05:00

A huge thanks goes out to those of you who have kept the garden weeded and watered. I drove by tonight (couldn't wait until tomorrow to see it). I added a second level to the cucumber "ladder". As I wandered around I found that all of the spinach had gone to seed and the radishes where the size of beets. The peas are well past harvest, too. I pulled all the radishes and spinach plants and I will harvest all the peas and take them all out of their pods. I hope to get those put in the freezer for the cafeteria to use in the fall. The carrots are looking great.

Thanks again to all those who kept an eye on the garden! :) Kim

ps. Pictures to come...

Lots of radishes! :)

2011-06-07T15:36:00.004-05:00

Hello! Hope that this heat hasn't caused anyone to be sick. It is amazing how quickly the weather went from cold to literally boiling...

Above is the diagram of the garden. Thanks go out to our volunteer families! :)

Garden update June 3, 2011

2011-06-04T18:51:00.003-05:00

Lots and lots of radishes!!!! (They are kind of buried in the bucket.) There is also lettuce and spinach. :)
The chives are adding some pretty purple color to the very GREEN garden. I didn't have a chance to take any other pictures, but there will be more soon!

3rd grade visits the garden (5.19.20)

2011-05-21T16:42:00.009-05:00

Some students looking at Caden's corner. It had the most beautiful tulips bloom. I look forward to seeing the marigolds come up there, too.

Many students helped pick up the millions of rocks that were stirred up to the top when it was rototilled last. One student was so proud, he picked up 50+ rocks! Awesome work, Austin!

Do you see our first bean plant. I am so excited to see some of these coming up. I know that it sounds weird, but the fact that we can grow veggies from seeds just continues to amaze me! :)

Pulling weeds! Very successful job!

Thinning out the radish plants. They really did a great job and didn't go too crazy! :)

Checking out our up and coming pea plants. They were so careful to not step on the little plants!

There are some of our pea plants. We are way behind where we were last year, but the weather has not cooperated very well this season.

More thinning out of radishes.

It was perfect weather and they were wonderful workers! :)

Garden planting continues!

2011-05-04T19:59:00.003-05:00

The 4th graders and I went out right after lunch on this beautiful day! This was THE BEST class I have EVER had with this group!!!! They were awesome! Some planted carrots, some planted radishes and others planted cucumbers. The best part was they also helped me get spots ready for the 1st graders. They dug little troughs and helped mark where the 1st graders would plant.

Beautiful, beautiful tulips!

The 1st graders and I went out for an hour at the end of the school day. It is hard keeping them all focused and happy, but we did it (for the most part). :) They planted green beans and marigolds.

I can't wait to see all of these start coming up!!!! I even got a little sunburned today! :) :) :)

Spring planting began today!

2011-05-03T16:26:00.002-05:00

Today the 2nd graders and I went out and planted peas. Below are the students digging little ditches for the first graders that will go out tomorrow and plant. They also picked up rocks that were around. It was fun to get out there and get our hands dirty! :)

Daffodils are showing their stuff...

2011-04-14T07:31:00.004-05:00

...or at least some of them are! :) Enjoy the pictures! I cut 4 of them and put them in the faculty room this morning, might cheer up someone on this dreary day!

Spent the morning at the garden! :)

2011-04-09T16:50:00.012-05:00

So, I went this morning and actually got dirty! :) Grandpa Besler came and rototilled the ground up and I trimmed the bushes, moved some leaves and put up some stakes.

I have decided that I am just like my mom in many ways and that is OK! :)

Our winter sowing is beginning to show some growth. We have lettuce and spinach sprouts.

Chives

Row of daffodils just ready to burst!

Of course, I had to have a pic of the cute crocus!

This will be our melon and cucumber growing "fence". Not sure if you can tell, but the bottom is an old spring form that goes in a crib. It is awesome and I would love to find another to go on the top, but the likelihood of that is slim to none; so the plan is to put up a short piece of fencing up on top. It worked great last year, we'll see.

I got Caden's corner set back up.

This is what it looks like laid out as of today. May change, not sure. To the right are the pea tripods.

They just keep springing up!!!

2011-04-06T19:54:00.007-05:00

Northwest corner... purple and pink crocus!

Do you see the little pink ones in there?!

Southwest corner... yellow crocus!

Southeast corner... little white ones that have just a little purple in them.

Can you see the almost ready to bust open daffodils???

Happy Spring!

WOW!!!!

2011-03-28T18:15:00.002-05:00

We have flowers, ladies and gentlemen!!! I am so excited! Looks like some snow might be coming by the end of the week. Not sure if I need to do anything to protect them...

3.18.2011

2011-03-19T08:03:00.003-05:00

I sure do get excited to see signs of spring! I went out yesterday to check out the winter sowing progress (which hasn't happened yet) and almost stepped on the tulips shoots! Then I glanced over and saw these sweet little crocus! Love, Love, Love how God makes everything new!

02.21.11

2011-02-21T12:56:00.002-06:00

My goodness it has been a long time since I last posted... Not much going on out there with the exception of our compost bin is composing and the settling of the leaves we put over the top of the entire area. I can't wait to see little green sprouts coming from the ground in several weeks, when our bulbs begin to come up.

The 7th and 8th graders winter sowed a ton of seeds today. They planted peas, beans, 2 different kinds of lettuce, cantaloupe, spinach, squash, and carrots. I hope that we see some of those come up, too. Thanks to Polly Reott for helping us with the donation of the seeds to get us started. Thanks to Jay Rotter for the dirt he and his family donated. Finally, thanks to Mr. Dave and his group for rinsing and saving all their juice containers for us to use.

This spring I plan to have a Saturday where we get out there, clean up the place and get some new beds established. It is always good to change things up each year so we will be creating some new beds. I am looking for donations for wood chips and time, when the time comes. Please let me know if you would be available.

Thanks much and happy growing!!! :)

10.30.10

2010-10-30T13:48:00.006-05:00

Can't believe it has been over a month since my last update. This will probably be the last one for a while as winter isn't too far off. Below enjoy my little "punny" jokes. :)

And the "BEET" goes on...

"LEAF" it to all the trees to cover us up!

"COM-POST" your thoughts here...

Got nothing for this, but it is what would have been broccoli if it had started growing earlier in the season...

We learned a lot over the last year of this garden. Around late January we will be staring the "winter sowing" process that was so successful this past spring. I will be setting up a date next spring where I will ask for as many families as possible to come and help clean up the garden and get it ready for the next growing season. Let me know if you and your family would be interested in giving up a Saturday in spring.

Many blessings and thanks for all the thoughts, prayers and support this past year! :)

09.15.2010

2010-09-15T07:05:00.002-05:00

Our purple beans... Can you see the long one just to the right of my finger?
Take #1 of the sunflowers...
Take #2 of the sunflowers...

The last few squash are close to being done and I will remove that plant completely. I hope to get in there and loosen up two of the beds sometime soon and have them ready for leaves when they start falling!

09.07.10

2010-09-06T19:43:00.005-05:00

Our beets
purple beans (They have beautiful little purple flowers)
sunflowers
swiss chard, spinach, tomatoes, comos, and corn
Marigolds surrounding sweet baby Caden's memory stone. It was a year ago on 08.28.10.

CORN

2010-08-28T18:20:00.001-05:00

Now that is one absolutely BEAUTIFUL cob of corn! :)

Updated schedule

2010-08-26T07:35:00.001-05:00

Please let me know if you and your family would like to help maintain the garden. Thank you to all the summer volunteers! Kim

Here are those sunflowers

2010-08-16T20:52:00.001-05:00

After trying 2 times to successfully grow sunflowers, it happened! Must have been all those great people coming to weed and water all summer. I was a bit disappointed that the BIG ones don't seem to be as successful, but oh well! :)

Perspective of a kiddo...

2010-08-15T19:09:00.011-05:00

The Pritchard family took care of the garden this past week. I happened to be there on Saturday, while they were there. I had my camera to take a picture of the sunflower. Chewie (the youngest) asked to use my camera and took some. I don't know which ones were taken by whom, but Rauan and Julia also took some! :)

a rose just outside the fencing

purple bean plant

marigold (I like this picture.)

corn

another favorite: chives in bloom

yellow squash

Updating on August 7, 2010

2010-08-07T17:07:00.004-05:00

Thanks to those who have lovingly cared for the garden this summer. It sure shows! :)

Yummy harvest today! This is probably on 1/3 of what I could have picked!

This is the squash (zucchini, yellow and summer) side of the bed.

New spinach and swiss chard were planted a week ago.

Purple pole bean were also planted a week ago. Can't believe they are already this big!

This is going to be our first sunflower. I can't wait to see it!

Tomatoes... they are everywhere!

Check out our very large marigold plant. There are 2 on each side of the garden. Not sure what kind they are.

This is the cucumber side of the bed. Amazed at how these have done. There is actually only 2 plants here.

Corn, it is coming!

This is the NEW compost bin. I am so excited to see how this will work. I put it over the old stump of the tree that used to be in the area.

Cherry tomatoes... sure wished I like these!

I caught a bumble bee on one of the cosmos. I am deathly afraid of them, so I braved it to get the picture.

These are beets that were planted a week ago.

These are the green beans. They have slowed down a bit in their production, but are still providing lots of beans.

2010-07-29T18:14:00.004-05:00

Took some pictures today. Missed out on taking pictures of the carrots! They were beautiful and we ended up being very successful with about a dozen good size, yummy smelling carrots. Mr. Dave's kids will be able to share with you how they tasted, as that is who will be eating them!

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer!!! See you soon!

tomatoes

tomatoes

slowly growing sunflowers

squash and cucumber plants

Anyone know what this is?

marigolds

green beans

cucumber

cucumber

peppers and cosmos

peppers and cosmos

corn

Caden Grajkowski Memorial with marigolds

It finally worked... :)

2010-07-16T22:20:00.006-05:00

In the pictures, I am standing on the roof looking out towards Dempsey Rd. I gave description of some pictures at the beginning of the blog and thought the rest of them were self explanatory. The marigolds are growing like crazy! Thanks goes out to my brother's family and mom who sent seeds from their marigolds last year!

Corn

Tomatoes

Cosmos

Fr. Schmitt's tomatoes (They were a favorite of a squirrel, so he is trying out the garden for protection, seems to be working.)

Right hand side of the garden (while looking out towards Dempsey Rd); cucumbers and squash are in the top bed; tomatoes,lettuce and green beans are in the middle; cosmos and green peppers on bottom

This is the area that had our fantastic peas. I redug most of the ground and added in lots of compost.

This is the left side of the garden (while looking out towards Dempsey Rd; left bed has the rest of the carrots and that is also where the onions grew; middle bed is full of more green beans

Can you see the carrot that was pulled? It is sitting on the stepping stone almost in the middle of the picture.

July 15...Frustrated...........

2010-07-15T20:58:00.004-05:00

Took some AWESOME pictures from the roof of the church today. Unfortunately, I am trying to upload them and have been unsuccessful... :( I will keep trying! Thanks Schwarm family for keeping such a good eye on the watering during this hot week. Wahl family is up for the following week.

Update on July 10th!

2010-07-10T17:46:00.011-05:00

Awesome work, Charnitz/Pugh and Sniadach families! The garden looks wonderful!!!!! I went today and did some "renovating". I pulled the peas all down and redug most of that area. I mixed some of the composting from early spring.

The green beans are producing like crazy!!! Lots and lots of tomatoes and green peppers. I found several zucchini and yellow squash that are quickly ripening. The cosmos and marigolds are offering a bit of color to the garden, too. The corn and sunflowers are growing, slowly, but they are growing! :)

I pulled the rest of the onions. There are still some carrots growing. They are so cute. I also left the lettuce, but it is almost at its end, so stop by and cut some off, if you have a chance.

Here are some pictures to help you see what is going on!

These are all the goods I picked today. There are a ton of green beans at the bottom of this bucket.

This is corn. I believe most of the stocks are "Knee High By the 4th of July"! Hopefully we'll see some sweet corn eventually!

The cosmos are so dainty and add a little color to the green garden.

Not sure if you can tell, but I put up a homemade fence. I bought a bunch of shims and made them stakes and strung string around each one. Looks pretty good. I plan to do this around all the plots so that we can easily identify where they are...

This one shows just how many tomatoes we will have shortly. I am not a tomato lover, so please feel free to stop by and pick them once they turn red!

ps. The Schwarm family is up for weeding and watering this coming week. Thank you for the hard work!

Just a short update...

2010-06-29T10:51:00.003-05:00

I will be away from tomorrow until Friday, July 9th. I know that the garden is in good hands with the Charnitz/Pugh family this week and the Sniadach family next week.

Please stop by and take an onion or two before they go to seed. They are very yummy and I've eaten them raw and sauteed and they are great either way! Also, eat up the lettuce. It is getting pretty big and I want it to continue to produce.

There are several green peppers growing and lots of tomatoes on their way to being ripe! :) I saw lots of blooms on the green beans. Oh, check out the cucumbers and squash, too. They are HUGE!

Have a great week! Take care and thanks to those who are helping out!!! Kim

ps. How could I forget... the pea plants are producing like crazy! I've been giving a lot of them to Mr. Dave's program for lunches!

Frustrated!

2010-06-20T19:30:00.002-05:00

Well, I guess you are going to have to go by and visit the garden! For some reason this blog won't let me upload the pictures! The 2nd set of sunflower seeds are coming along... There is one huge green pepper, that I will wait until it turns red, per the directions. The peas are coming to their end, I believe. Get them while you can! I brought in a bunch of them and gave them to Mr. Dave's kiddos for their cookout.

Murphy/Darga week for weeding and watering! :) Thanks for all the hard work!

New surprises!

2010-06-13T21:37:00.004-05:00

There are tons of peas, onions and lettuce to eat! Feel free to stop by and pick some to make a salad for yourself. Take a look at what I found in the garden this evening...

Do you see it? There is a tomato in there! :) It is so cute! It is kinda sad how very excited I get about such small things...
Yes, ladies and gentlemen!!! Our very first green pepper! Everyone would have laughed at me tonight when I discovered it! I jumped and yelled yippee really loud, I am sure the neighbors were looking at me thinking "what a strange lady"!

(Grajkowski and Bauer families are waterers and weeders this week.)

Here is a drawing of what the garden currently has planted...

2010-06-10T22:23:00.005-05:00

I am amazed at how well the weeds, oh I mean PLANTS, are growing! I pulled some onions and peas and took them to the year end gathering for the teachers. Fr. Schmitt complemented the onions! :) I hope to get in and weed between rain showers this weekend. If you see me out there, honk and wave! :)

summer schedule...

2010-05-28T12:08:00.000-05:00

This is the best I can do for now in getting a calendar up and running. Please check out to see if your name is listed, if so let me know if it works. If not and you want to be added, let me know! :) Kim

Must remember!

2010-05-26T21:19:00.003-05:00

The 4th graders and I went out and picked the SECOND batch of snow peas. I will remember my camera on the next visit I make with a group.

The latest is...

*newly planted green beans coming up
*lettuce will be harvested soon
*corn is coming up
*tomato plant has a bloom on it
*sunflowers also coming up

Hope everyone is good! Please feel free to stop and pull weeds, I am trying to get out there, but just haven't had too much opportunity with rain timing. You can stop by and pull off a snow pea or a piece of lettuce, too! :)

More pictures!

2010-05-21T07:28:00.007-05:00

My parents were here last weekend and they purchased 40 marigold plants for the garden. My mom and I planted them around the inside edge of the garden. They add a little color to the garden.

These are a few of the stepping stones that the 7th and 8th graders mosaic-ed (not sure if that is a real word or not) the tops of these concrete stones. They all did a great job of completing this project. The first two are flowers and the last one resembles Earth.

5th grade farmers

2010-05-21T07:18:00.006-05:00

The 5th graders and I, with the help of Mrs. Bauer and Mrs. Masters, planted like crazy on Wednesday. They planted green pepper and tomato plants, more green bean seeds, corn and sunflowers seeds. They had a great time getting their fingers all dirty! I was very proud of how responsible they were! :)

Tomato (above), green peppers and cosmos (below)

We will have "gigantic" sunflowers in the back of this row and smaller ones in the front of the row. Can't wait to see these!

This is where our corn will hopefully grow!

Latest happenings!

2010-05-21T07:02:00.009-05:00

The kids and I have been watering away! Guess that watering has paid off! Below you will see all types of plants that are growing and beginning to produce some tasty treats.

These are squash. Didn't realize how rocky the ground was until I looked closely at this picture!

Pea #1 above and Pea #2 below! There are tons of tiny pea pods all over the plants we have out there!

Onions, onions everywhere! :) They are getting closer to "eating" size!

The lettuce is coming up great! Couple more weeks, and we should have enough to put a small bowl out on the salad bar.

The chives are a favorite of the 3rd grade. They actually have their flowers now.
These are carrots that are slowly growing. We have a few that we winter sowed and they are a bit ahead of these.

We ate radishes!

2010-05-20T07:27:00.005-05:00

Brandon was so excited to get in there an pull out a radish! He came up with quite a few all in one clump.

The boys jumped right in and did a great job of pulling out the radishes. Some found a BIG prize at the bottom of their plant, some found a cute little gem!

The girls were much more gentle when they uprooted their radishes. They were so excited to see the end result!

Most of the students ate a bit of a radish and actually enjoyed it. I was so happy to see so many of them willing to try something they weren't sure of initially. The extras I asked Mrs. Kiefer if we could add to the salad bar. They were a HUGE success! :)

HELLO

2010-05-18T06:17:00.004-05:00

I will be posting more pictures very soon! The 5th graders and I will be planting all kinds of seeds and plants tomorrow, Wednesday, if anyone would like to join. We'll be out there around 1:30.

Brief Update...

2010-05-05T21:17:00.001-05:00

Drum roll, please....

Ladies and gentlemen, we have MANY sweet pea blossoms AND our green beans have popped up through the ground! Please stop by and check it all out!!! God is amazing!

Real Progress!

2010-05-03T13:55:00.009-05:00

I will transplant them very soon. They are thriving and I just don't want to mess them up!
The lettuce and broccoli will be ready before you know it!
Our onions are getting bigger and bigger!
Radishes in foreground and turnips in back. They are really doing well!

And finally, we have the best of all! Our 1st blossom on one of our sweet pea plants! :)

weeds...

2010-04-26T06:26:00.002-05:00

The kids and I are trying to keep up with the weed population, but if you ever feel the urge to pull some weeds... feel free to stop and pull away! Just make a pile on the pine needles near the wall and I will clean them up. The extra hands sure would be helpful. No need to ask, just start pulling. Opportunities... 1. kids are going wild in the evening, bring them and come pull weeds; 2. you need some peace and quiet, come pull weeds; 3. the kids are "bored", bring them and come pull weeds; 4. bad day at work and need to let out some frustration, come pull weeds; 5. free time on the weekend (yea right) come pull weeds! :) Just some ideas of opportune times! Feel free to give me a call if you have any questions or concerns, this is just as much your child's garden (and yours too) as it is mine! :)

Growth as of 04.26.10

2010-04-26T06:15:00.009-05:00

These aren't the best pictures, but they will give you an idea that the garden is truly growing. I took the pictures yesterday with my cell phone. I will try to get better quality ones up soon.

Lettuce (below)
Sweet peas (above) and chives and sweet basil (below)

Squash from seed (above) and squash from winter sowing (below)

Onion (above) and radish (below)

Happy Earth Day to all!

2010-04-22T10:52:00.010-05:00

Lizzy and Maria digging up the grass that has started to seep into the garden border.

Patrick mixing in the leaves with the "rocky" soil

Hannah pulling weeds from the sweet pea area.

Mary and Abby pulling weeds from the onion "territory".

Shannon, Allie and Adam pulling weeds.

The 7th graders and I went out and pulled weeds this morning. We also worked some leaves into an area of dirt that doesn't appear very "healthy". I plan to plant corn and green peppers in there, so we need to add some "good stuff" to the soil. I saw some lettuce coming up this morning and some of the onions are starting to show up, too. Fr. Schmitt complimented us on the sweet peas! A friend of mine who currently works at Schenk mentioned that our garden has been the talk of the place! Fun stuff! I will be putting up more pictures soon. Enjoy!

Let the planting begin!

2010-04-12T14:03:00.016-05:00

In memory of Caden Grajkowski:
son of Kurt and Michelle
brother to Kara and Creighton
Some of Caden's memorial fund was donated to help with gardening expenses.
Thank you, Grajkowski Family for your thoughtfulness!

The 6th graders helped transplant the radishes (foreground) and turnips (background) this morning. Hopefully they will perk up a bit soon!

The 7th graders did a great job of transplanting out peas! Didn't they do a "sweet" job?

This "beautiful" apparatus will hopefully hold up some of the cucumbers that we plant.

These beautiful tulips are coming up everywhere!

More pics!

2010-04-02T17:54:00.004-05:00

I know you all are probably tired of pictures, but I am having a hay day seeing them grow. Just can't pass it up! :)

Do you see the pretty pink tips of that pretty new flower?

Just too pretty to pass up!

Our very first daffodil!

We are on the move!

2010-04-01T18:19:00.002-05:00

The fencing is up, so it is time to get some of our seedlings in the ground. Hopefully when the students get back we will have the opportunity to get them in the ground. So far, we have radishes, turnips, cucumbers, sweet peas and carrots coming up. I have a need for some parental help during the following classes:
1st grade: we meet on Wednesday from 2:10 until 3:10
2nd grade: we meet on Tuesday from 12:50 until 1:50
3rd grade: we meet on Thursday from 12:50 until 1:50
4th grade: we meet on Wednesday from 12:40 until 1:40 and Thursday from 1:50 until 2:30
5th grade: we meet on Wednesday from 1:40 until 1:20 and Friday from 12:40 until 1:20

I need at least one parent to come and help the students plant these little plants. If ANYONE is interested, please contact me at kmaxson1@tds.net asap. Thank you for volunteering your time! :)

Kim

2010-03-31T18:56:00.004-05:00

Today, I spent the day putting up the fencing around the garden. It looks pretty good, I think. The other pictures are the crocus that are still blooming. Not sure what's up with the daffodil and tulips, trying to be patient! :) Happy Easter and may God bless each of your family members!

Directions for the gardening group...

2010-03-25T13:17:00.001-05:00

I will be sending each of you a copy of this (with a few other guidelines, soon!) Kim

Garden summer schedule

2010-03-24T10:57:00.003-05:00

Nervous...

2010-03-18T21:19:00.002-05:00

Everyone keeps telling me that these sweet little new crocus and daffodil will be just fine during our ridiculous threat of a winter storm this weekend. If I had my own kids, can you imagine how my nerves would be?! :) The winter sowing containers are going wild and they too are supposed to be just fine. It sure is hard to believe these little bitty light green sprouts, etc... can withstand this incoming crummy weather! I will keep everyone posted!

I know I am being silly...

2010-03-17T15:32:00.002-05:00

... but this is so fun! (I am sure my mom is so happy that I am enjoying this gardening process as this is one of her favorite pass times!)

So, I took the 1st graders out today to look at our blooming crocus, and low and behold, there are more. They are little white ones and are in the southeast corner. I am so excited! The tulips will be up very soon!

ALSO, the winter sowing containers have some sprouts in them. It would be hard to take pictures of them, but I will try. :)

Many blessings!

DO YOU SEE THEM???

2010-03-16T19:15:00.003-05:00

Check out our very first flowers! They are really little yellow and purple crocus. They are so cute! I found them on the northeast corner of the garden. Please stop by and check them out if you have a chance! :)

Spring is in the air and bulbs are popping up through the ground!!! :)

2010-03-12T09:17:00.006-06:00

Here are some pictures I took this morning of our bulbs that are coming up. I am so excited! I went through the school this morning announcing to anyone who would listen that this was happening.

The containers have moved outside!

2010-03-06T10:23:00.007-06:00

I managed to get all of the 1st through 6th graders in the room at some point this week. We planted like crazy. You should ask your child what they planted in their container. It was fun to watch them get their hands dirty and we weren't even out in the garden, yet! Here are a few of the move from inside to their new home!

North counter in the classroom. It took up the enter wall of counter space.

Same north wall from another angle. Just wanted everyone to see how many containers we really have!

Emma and Robin are two of the 6th graders who helped me move the containers from the classroom out to their new temporary home.

Tyler and Noah also showed their strength by carrying these trays outside by themselves!

Home sweet (temporary) home! I am sure those seeds are wondering what in the world happened to their new cozy WARM old home. It is supposed to rain some this weekend, so I wanted them to be outside to start getting acclimated as soon as possible.

The next set of pictures should be getting the outline of the garden set using some of the tree stumps from the trees we cut down in the fall, adding wood chips for a walking path and most anxiously awaiting the arrival of some buds from our bulbs. :)

2010-03-03T19:08:00.004-06:00

Today we started out winter sowing! I started with the 4th graders. They really did a fantastic job of following directions and planting both cosmos and baby's breath seeds. I was very proud of them!

The 5th graders prepared their marigold and red poppy seeds. They, also, helped me prepare the 1st graders containers. The first graders came in and planted marigolds, red poppy's and cosmos. I was sad that I didn't have enough hands to take pictures of the first graders.

A huge thanks go out to Robert's dad for collecting most of these containers and Ms. Polly for helping provide the special potting soil we used. I sure appreciate all the contributions!

Second, Third and Sixth graders will need to plant theirs and we will take the trays outside to let them "do their thing". I keep reminding the students this is an EXPERIMENT and if it succeeds awesome, if not that is ok, too.

If anyone knows of how I could get a hold of some plain stepping stones, I sure could use the help. I have sought donations, but have been unsuccessful.

Thank you, GOD for the beautiful sunshine this week! We look forward to seeing our bulbs start poking up through the soil outside, soon! :)

Winter Sowing

2010-01-31T12:32:00.002-06:00

The 6th graders and I are currently preparing all the containers for our winter sowing experience. Each of the 1st-5th graders will have a container they will nurture in the coming weeks. The 6th graders will be "in charge" of the containers and making sure that they are cared for properly. Winter sowing is a process that is supposed to help to strengthen the seeds as they acclimate themselves to the wonderful Wisconsin coldness. Old milk jugs are filled with potting soil and the seeds, then taped shut with the top left off. These jugs are left outside from around the end of February until they germinate in their own time, sometime during the spring months. I am anxious to see if this process will be successful. We are conducting a true experiment that the whole school will watch in anticipation. Wish us luck!

WOW!!!!

2009-11-18T10:42:00.003-06:00

I have been overwhelmed by the number of people who have brought in dirt and empty plastic clear bottles. Thank you so much for remembering to bring them in! If you happen to look around your garage and want to get rid of your half full bag of potting soil OR would like to donate a new bag, feel free to drop it by the science lab anytime. I am also collecting clear or translucent large plastic bottles. (empty juice bottles, milk cartons, water/pop bottles, spaghetti containers, etc...) Please be sure that they are clean when you send them in (yes, I know I am being picky). :) Thank you so much for your kindness and generosity! Kim

Happy Veteran's Day

2009-11-11T20:14:00.003-06:00

Just wanted to say thanks so much to those who dedicate themselves to serve our country! We, at St. Dennis, truly love each and everyone of you!!!

Winter Sowing!

2009-10-30T18:43:00.002-05:00

Not sewing, sOwing! :) Our school is going to attempt to winter sow some seeds. In order to do this, I need translucent or transparent plastic containers. I think that spaghetti sauce plastic jars, milk jugs, etc... will work great. I am also collecting pop bottles, I think they will work for the little kiddos. I am also in need of potting soil. If you have any partial bags or full bags that you don't feel like storing this winter, we could gladly make use of them. Feel free to send in any of these. Thanks much!

Oh, Scott and Clay put a layer of leaves on the garden. It looks like a warm blanket! :) Thanks, GUYS!

More soon!

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

2009-10-23T18:33:00.000-05:00

I went out and planted chives that were donated from the Stadtmueller family. There are two different types and they made the room smell really yummy! Thank you, Stadtmuellers!

October 10, 2009

2009-10-23T18:31:00.000-05:00

Today, I was able to take my mom (who lives in Oklahoma and is a mega gardener) by our garden. We also planted some more bulbs that had been donated after the ground breaking weekend. She said she would come back in the spring and give some more advice, I sure hope so! :)

October 3, 2009

2009-10-23T18:25:00.000-05:00

Striking a pose are Nikala, Nikki, Lara and Chloe...

Polly and Mr. Dave were great helps that morning, too.

Caught Stefanie off guard, I think! :)

October 3, 2009

2009-10-23T18:18:00.000-05:00

Diggin' in! Thanks for the help, Janet!

October 3, 2009

2009-10-23T18:09:00.000-05:00

Roll, Chloe, roll!
Look at all those muscles working in that wonderful dirt!
Sam and Collin worked really well together. They made our lives easier because they did a lot of hard work!
Treylor and Maddie stopped for a quick picture.
Laurel, Chloe and Cuinn planted many of the bulbs donated by the Wilson family.

There is Sam again helping Nikki haul a heavy roll of sod.

Cuinn carried his own weight in sod, some of the time!
Collin helped out so much!

October 3, 2009

2009-10-23T18:08:00.000-05:00

Scott is busy cutting the sod so that we can begin moving out the grass.

Look at those hard workers! Thanks Mr. Dave, Maddie and Laurel!
Sam and Grandpa Besler both worked very hard this morning.
Part of our hard working crew! Big thanks go out to Stefanie, Janet, Peggy, Alaina and Nicole!!!

The beginning of it all!

2009-10-23T17:58:00.000-05:00

Here Sam and Grandpa Besler start rolling the sod. Notice how much bigger Fr. Schmitt let us expand than what was planned (the red spray painted lines).

October 3, 2009

2009-10-23T17:55:00.000-05:00

Today was a very wet and chilly morning. There were many families that joined me in breaking ground in front of St. Dennis. Thanks to Scott who went with me and rented a sod cutter and then used it to cut the sod for us. Lots of heavy rolling and loading of the sod into the trailer. Then, Grandpa Besler and Polly Reott brought out their rototillers and chomped up all the dirt. Julie Rozwadowski and a few others helped to plant all the bulbs in each corner of the garden.

The pictures show all of the hard workers! Thanks everyone!