First Signs of Summer

The garden continues to move toward summer! Come visit the garden to see the beautiful flowers in bloom and check out what's been recently planted. 

Columbine is blooming in the garden -- in many different colors

A foxglove flower greets guests as they enter the outdoor kitchen

This past week First and Second graders planted tomatoes in the garden. Have you seen heirloom varieties of tomatoes at farmers' markets or the supermarket -- or grown them yourself? Well, come July or August, the EPACS garden will have some beautiful green, purple, orange and yellow tomatoes thanks to our 1st and 2nd graders hard work. These varieties have interesting names that give us a clue as to their colors -- Pineapple, Cherokee Purple, Black from Tula, German Green, and Sungold. We'll be planting over 20 varieties of tomatoes in the EPACS garden this month!

As we plant summer veggies, we are also finishing up with spring plants. Garden Club students harvested and shelled the remaining crop of peas. And they made a few yummy batches of Kale Chips from our bountiful spring kale.

Kale Chips are easy to make: Heat your oven to 350 degrees. Remove the ribs from the kale, break each leaf into bite-sized pieces. Toss the kale pieces in a drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of salt or a sprinkle of parmesan cheese. Bake on a cookie sheet for about 15 minutes, or until the kale pieces are crisp. Enjoy!

First graders in Garden Class finished up their insect explorations by making and painting their own clay arthropods. Students used what they learned about insects, arachnids, other arthropods...as well as their wild imaginations to craft these creative critters! 

Third and Fifth graders learned about the amazing power of seeds. They dissected seeds, planted seeds, read about seeds, and ate seeds! The grand finale included making some no-bake seed cookies in the outdoor kitchen. Here's the recipe that got two thumbs up all around:

Back from Spring Break!

A belated welcome back from Spring Break, everyone! I hope it was a great first week back. The garden enjoyed the rain -- did you? Come see the wisteria in bloom over the green dome -- it looks & smells magical! And stay tuned, we are getting new redwood stumps for seating in the green dome and we'll be transitioning the pond area into a seating area as well. Our current redwood seats are turning back into soil. They've lasted over 6 years, though! Untreated redwood is a great choice if you are planning to build a raised garden bed at your home -- it holds up well against pests and weather.

The green dome covered with blooming wisteria.

wisteria blooms

This week our students had the opportunity to try out all the different types of citrus growing in the garden. They made observations about the appearance and taste of eight different types of citrus and learned some cool facts. Did you know that the demand for lemons and their scurvy-preventing properties hit a peak during the California Gold Rush? Miners paid top dollar for citrus. As a result, an abundance of lemon trees and other citrus were planted throughout California.

Our garden has a variety of citrus: navel and valencia oranges, Bearss limes, Meyer and Eureka lemons, Oro Blanco grapefruit, Dancy tangerines, mandarins, and more! Citrus are frost sensitive, and we're lucky to live in a climate where they flourish. Come try some from the garden before they are gone for this season.

In other news, first and second graders joined Garden Club this week. They started out with a rainbow stir fry, which featured onions, kale and peas from the garden. They liked the kale in the stir fry so much, they decided to harvest some to bring home to their families! Success.

Kale growing in the EPACS garden

Spring in the Garden

Apple blossoms about to bloom

apple blossoms

The garden is in Spring mode! The wisteria and calendula are blooming, California poppies dot the garden, the apricot, plum and pear trees are sending out green leaves, and the nectarine trees are dropping the last of their beautiful pink flowers. The apple blossoms are just opening. It's pretty glorious!

Wisteria flowers: Wisteria is beautiful but it's seeds are poisonous! A good reason why we have a 'pick only with permission' rule in our garden. Some things look nice, but can hurt us. Want to pick something? Just ask!

What's there to munch on in the garden? Winter veggies have shot up -- kale, collards, onions, arugula and peas are lush. Mint, lemon balm, thyme and chamomile are bountiful. Calendula flowers and nasturtium flowers are both edible -- add some to your salads! And citrus fruits are still on the trees -- lemons, limes, oranges and grapefruit. And, believe it or not -- we have macadamia nuts! Our garden has three small but mighty macadamia trees that have produced many pounds of hard-shelled nuts this season.

Calendula flower -- a wonderful edible and medicinal plant. Use the petals of the flower to brighten up a salad!

What's to come? The rhubarb is pushing out, multi-colored potato plants that Garden Club planted are leafy, and the giant fava beans that kindergarten, third grade and Garden Club planted are sprouting. Strawberries are starting to ripen. Next up: summer vegetables! In April we'll start baby tomatoes, beans, basil, peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, melons, pumpkins and zucchini in the ground! Do you plan to garden at home this summer? Now's the time to plant!

Strawberry blossom!

What have students been doing in the garden? First grade went on a compost safari and got lots of inspiration for making their own clay arthropods. Third and Fifth grade discussed classifications of garden critters and drew pictures of their findings. Garden Club has been working on weaving small tapestries and a willow garden fort. They learned about the work of author and illustrator Eric Carle and started their own garden art projects inspired by his work. They also had the opportunity to learn about native plant restoration with local non-profit, Acterra and take a trip out to the Baylands!

 

What do you love about the garden? What would you like to learn or do in our garden? What do you plan to grow in your own garden? Take a walk through our garden to get some inspiration!