Notes from the Lincoln Garden Tour

[Avanti/Madison Garden Communication]

Bonnie took some excellent notes from the Lincoln garden tour. They
are also uploaded as a document but I thought I would post them in
here in case anyone had anything they wanted to add. Thanks to all of
you that were able to make it on Friday. And a huge thank you to
Karen Ray for taking time to show us the impressive and beautiful
garden at Lincoln! It was inspirational to see! Here are Bonnie's
notes:

Some notes from the Lincoln Garden Tour Dec. 4, 2009

Welcome to the garden by Karen Ray, the volunteer coordinator.

Volunteer garden coordinator a big job.

Karen gave a copy of the garden's strategic plan that will guide what
happens in the garden for the next few years to Mike Velazquez. We
should look at that plan for some information on how the Lincoln
garden is progressing, and what the families at Lincoln think is
important for their school garden. Mike also has a copy of the garden
design plan.

Other information available:
Basic garden info like the size and crops planted. This information
was pulled together for a grant application.
Information on work schedules over the year, the number of volunteers
needed at different times of year... Karen has been pulling this
together for next year when she will no longer be the volunteer garden
coordinator.

There is a great bulletin board outside the office that shows
information about the garden, volunteers needed, winners of the
pumpkin raffle, who to contact if you want to help, and the garden's
strategic plan.

The Madison/Avanti garden model could be different if we include
neighborhood members. If the Madison/Avanti garden includes neighbors
then it is no longer just a school garden.

Lincoln supports the garden:
educational philosophy at the school supports hands-on learning,
encouraging kids to get outside, and emphasis on the natural
environment, and families are expected to volunteer a lot of time at
the school to support the Lincoln alternative education model.

The Lincoln Garden is a very big garden with many components.
There is a large central garden that is in the ground, not in raised
beds.
There is a 30'x60' plastic hoop greenhouse.
There is a chicken coop.
There is an area where ducks are raised as well.
There is a compost area. But they do not use the compost in their
garden because they have not been able to put the work into it to make
sure weed seeds are killed. No food is put in compost, only plant
remains. (keeps rat problem down)
There is a worm bin for digesting lunchroom fruit and vegetable
scraps. And any food waste from the garden too.
There is a section of the garden that is not planted, it has been
reserved as classroom space. A teacher even put up tarps for
protection from the rain so class could be held out in the garden for
the first couple months of school, this kept the class out of the
rain.
There is a large grape arbor.
There are 4 raised beds created to grow food for the food bank.

Each class has two planting areas: There are hand painted signs
labeling each class's bed in the greenhouse.
Each class plants a salad garden with quick growing salad crops in the
greenhouse in early April. This garden plot is harvested all spring
as the kids work in the greenhouse. Late each spring each teacher and
class hold a salad party, enjoying the food from their greenhouse
plot. They make sure to plant a lot of peas because the peas would be
done early by the time school lets out.
Then later each class plants their adopted crops in the large outdoor
garden that will be harvested in the fall for the annual Harvest
Festival or over the summer for the foodbank or for families taking
care of the garden in the summer. Students choose from a short list of
seeds for their salad garden. And the adopted garden crops are
assigned to each class - every year a classroom plants the same crop.

Some teachers are more involved than others. Some teachers do very
little with the garden.

Who works in the garden?
Parents.
The garden coordinator.
Students.
And several interns from the Evergreen State College. (It takes work
to have the Evergreen interns - the coordinator has to train them and
build up their knowlege - they are well trained by the end of their 10
week internship but then they leave and the process has to start all
over again.
What do the interns do?
Prepare garden beds in the spring for planting, work with small groups
of students to plant the beds, supervise the garden at recess times so
students can go into the garden during recess.

Crops recommended for a beginning garden:
quick growing salad crops like lettuce, radish, edible flowers, peas.
Also sunflowers and pumpkins of many varieties, and fruits of all
kinds. Fruits are the most popular. Strawberries come ripe the last
couple weeks of school and act as the best incentive to get kids out
working in the garden. Other fruits: grapes are harvested at the
beginning of school in Sept. Raspberries and apples were also
recommended.
Kids plant cover crops in the fall.

Other advice:
Get rid of all the grass that would be near garden beds. Keeping
grass out of the garden beds is too much work.
Lincoln has put down two layers of cardboard and several inches of
woodchips between garden beds.
Creating clear pathways is important to show the children where they
can walk - this keeps them from trampling the garden beds. Raised
beds were put in an area to make it clear to the children where they
could walk.
Make magical spaces for the kids to play in and give them a chance to
use their imaginations. This is a children's garden. Don't focus on
maximizing production, focus on making the garden a fun place to be.
Create beauty.
Create different types of spaces and different areas of the garden for
kids to explore.
Set up irrigation (they recommend 1/4" tubes) to make summer watering
easier.
Set up a hand-washing and produce washing area. Go look at GRUB for
how they do it. Make sure the washing area is over gravel and has
good drainage. Muddy feet are a problem for teachers.

Where do they get their seeds?
GRUB has a seed sorting party in February. After GRUB chooses what
they need, Lincoln gardeners pick out seeds they can use for the
Lincoln garden. Lincoln has also had to purchase seed.

Cycles:
Monthly work parties Sept, Oct, Nov, Feb, March, April, May, June and
once during the summer.
February. Start seeds for warm weather crops in Lincoln offices and
classrooms that face south. Plant peas.
Parents and interns and students get beds ready for spring.
April. Start planting in the greenhouse- salad beds.
Summer watering critical. Need two families each week (one new, one
experienced to help train new families what can be harvesed, which
plants are weeds, etc.) to check the garden daily in the hot summer.
Fall Harvest Celebration
Fall garden bed clean-up and cover crop planting.
Summer: little garden maintenance is done during the summer - this
work has to be done in the fall.



.