Lots more progress on the Wheeler Community Garden these past two weeks and a few setbacks as well.  The rain caused two classes to cancel their transplanting events.  Most disappointing was that the Nursery class had to cancel their garden visit on Friday.  They had been taking good care of their bean plants and had been looking forward to transplanting them.  Speaking of beans, we discovered this week that bean seed fly larvae have wreaked havoc on our bean seeds, killing them off before they’ve even had a chance to sprout!  Luckily, our transplants are doing okay, but the plants we started directly from seed are goners!  Despite these setbacks, we’ve still made progress. Most of the 8 faculty family plots have now been planted, the fourth graders transplanted their tomatoes and marigolds and we’ve also put in pumpkins and peppers.  We also began working on a perennial border along the stone wall that edges 2 sides of the garden area.  The clean edge of the soil and compost is already  a visual improvement over the pricker plants and weeds that were growing there, and we have yet to put in any plants!  Finally, our 6th grade students are piloting a composting program, bringing the coffee grounds and filters from our school cafe out to the garden and adding them to our compost bin every morning.

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How refreshing to move from bed building to planting!  I didn’t think I could look at another rock or move another hunk of sod.  Then suddenly spring arrived and the kids started transplanting their seedlings.  Our first gardeners were the 2nd graders who transplanted their corn plants and planted beans and gourds in their “Three Sisters” garden.  Next, our Kindergarten and Transition students came out and transplanted beans along with many parent volunteers.  They were excited to see all the roots sneaking out of the bottom of the newspaper pots and did an excellent job being gentle with the plants.  Our faculty plots are also starting to take shape as families began planting their own beds.  We’ve now moved a LOT of compost and soil and have built up the majority of the beds about 9 inches. Hopefully this cold and wet New England weather will not interfere with all the other transplanting plans for this week.  In other exciting news, our school provided up with a shed for all of our wonderful Fiskars tools!   It’s invigorating to see green sprouts poking up throughout the garden.  So many changes day to day…

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