Good Night to the Garden.

The garden has had a busy season and now it is time for it to catch some rest! All of the kale, collards, and swiss chard has been harvested and the soil has been covered with blankets of leaves and hay.

Winter rye has been planted to keep the soil intact during the harsh winter weather. Garlic has also been planted to grow deep into the warm earth during the winter. It will be ready in the spring for harvesting its scapes (the flower of garlic) in the spring and its globe in the summer.

Thanks to the hard work of many King Open classes the garden has been a great success this year. Together we planted an African Garden, and an Italian Garden. We also planted potatoes and peanuts. Finally, the garden rewarded us with a bountiful harvest of tomatoes and eggplant in September, winter squash, peanuts, and potatoes in October, and kale and collards in November.

Thank you garden for all of your delicious produce. Sleep well during the winter. Goodnight!

Welcome Back to School!

The garden this fall is better than ever! It is full of delicious produce thanks to the great work of this summer's interns. If you get a chance please thank the following King Open students who participated in this summer's CitySprouts Internship.

Rakoyan (6th grade), Francisco (6th grade), Ester (6th grade), Tharum (6th grade), Xavier (7th grade), and Corrina (8th grade)

King's 5/6th grade teacher Emily Lyons planted an African garden with her class in the spring and are now harvesting okra, squash, collards, peanuts, millet, and watermelon. Kindergarten teacher, Kristin Bell, brought her class out to the garden for a tour and harvested tomatoes, radishes, and carrots.

September is Childhood Obesity Awareness Month, a time to talk to children about smart food choices, and what a better place to do this than the King Open Garden. Bring your kids out to the garden and show them where good food comes from while harvesting kale, collards, greens, radishes, tomatoes, and eggplants.

It's Summer!

The longest day of the year has come and gone. The tomatoes are standing tall. The garden is full of fresh salad greens. There are three beds of potatoes, a vibrant strawberry patch, and an African Garden. This is a great start to the summer thanks to all of the classes who planted vegetables this spring!

Suzie, Kristen, and Sonia's classes planted beans, sunflowers, and peas in the garden. Suzie's class also planted milkweed for the butterflies. Ariel and Sam's classes planted potatoes, tomatoes, basil, peppers, squash, and cucumbers. KC's class planted flowers and harvested strawberries.

Emily's fifth grade class planted an African Garden including collard greens, watermelon, squash, okra, and peanuts. Together we discussed how these fruits and vegetables originated in Africa and are now some of American's favorite foods.

Students from Lynn Brown's class came down to the garden to grow seedlings for a model of a rooftop garden that they created. The setting of their garden is Casablanca and its purpose is to provide a variety of nutritious affordable food for people living in the city.

The garden is all set for the Summer Youth Program. This year the program will begin in August. Interns will take care of the garden, learn how to cook with vegetables from the garden, and examine local sustainable food systems.

Save the day! The interns will be hosting a Summer Garden Party on August 18. We will be inviting all King Open Families for an afternoon full of food and fun in the garden! Keep your eyes peeled on the ListServe!

Welcome back after almost a year of no activity! I'm handing off the blog and the garden to our new garden coordinator, Liz Anderson. Stay tuned for new posts on internships, classrooms in the garden, and local gardening events!