Gardening with Children
Last night on my walk I heard a chorus of scores of voices, the chorus of frogs in a marsh, reminding us that spring is coming! It was such a reassuring sound, as are the other signs of springs, the trill of the redwing blackbird, the crocuses blooming, and the garlic sprouts pushing their way up through the mulch in the school garden. In this time of uncertainty and crisis, it is vital that we find tangible ways to bring hope and reassurance to our children--gardening is a wonderful way to bring that message. I will offer gardening tips as a regular feature in the Trellis.
In the third grade classroom, I water daily the trays of seedlings planted by the third graders just before we implemented distance learning. I wish the children were here to watch the sprouts emerge and unfurl their second leaves. Since the children cannot witness this growth at school, I urge you to have your children plant seeds indoors, while we wait for the earth to warm up enough to plant outside.
Some of you are already gardeners, but here are a few simple directions for those of you who are not:
You can create planting trays with supplies you have at home. Cut paper milk carton or soup boxes to create plant containers or use paper cups. Fill with soil from you yard or potting soil and place on a cookie sheet or other tray that will make for easy transport into a sunny window
Plant one to two seeds per container (I plant two seeds if the package of seeds is a year old or more). Do not plant squash or cucumbers or beans yet. They grow very quickly and need to be put outside within three weeks of germinating, so wait to plant those at the beginning of May or directly outside once we are past the danger of frost. It is fine to plant indoors tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, any of the cabbage family, parsley, basil, and flowers now.
Do not bury the seeds deeply. In fact, for tiny seeds, just lay them on top. Once all the seeds are planted, lay a piece of dark plastic over the top for two – three days to keep the moisture in until the seeds germinate.
Once the first sprouts are pulling themselves out of the soil, remove the plastic and set the tray in a sunny window. You may need to move the tray from one sunny window to another as the sun shifts from one side of the house to the other during the course of the day.
Watering the plants and moving them to follow the sunlight can be a daily task for the children. If you end up with more than one seed per container, help them to carefully pull out the extra plants.
After spring break, I will have seeds available for the children if you do not have any. Here are some sources for seeds if you want to order biodynamic seed:
https://turtletreeseed.org/ or https://www.meadowlarkhearth.org/
Let me know what you want any seeds, and I can have some small seed packets with the school packets that you pick up on Monday, April 13. If you or your children have gardening questions, please contact me via email (jmccallan@sandpointwaldorf.org) or phone at the school, 208-265-2683.