The Garden is Prepped and Planted

May has been a busy month at the elementary learning garden. An irrigation system was installed thanks to a grant from FEF and other earnings from the Garden Club and Seed Sale.  Fifth grade Girl Scouts helped spread compost (from Garbage to Garden) and erosion mulch on the lower garden slope. Other 5th grade students spent a recess period spreading mulch in the butterfly garden. All of the raised beds were planted this week by students, teachers and our master gardener, Alora Carrier.
A special thanks is extended to Tom Raatikainen, for handcrafting and installing our twig trellises. 

The raised bed themes are:

• K/5 = Rainbow Garden
• 1st grade= Pizza Garden
• 2nd grade= Dahlia Garden
• 3rd grade= Climbing Garden
• 4th grade = Stew Garden

The pictures below tell the story of our fun and fruitful May prep and planting. Please join us on Sat., May 31 for our Plant Sale which begins at 9 am and our Wellness Festival at 10:30. Funds raised from these events will benefit our school gardens and the elementary playground.

Girl Scouts spreading compost

Master Gardener helps us plant the Rainbow Garden

Planting the Stew Garden

Hard working Girl Scouts

Aerial view of the Learning Garden

5th grade help

5th graders spreading mulch

Trellis Installation 

2nd grade dahlia planting

1st grade plants the pizza garden

A sign of healthy soil!

The Garden is Waking Up

Spring has finally come to Falmouth and our garden is waking up. The daffodils that we planted last fall blossomed beautifully this week. Our first Spring Community Programs After School Garden Club met. Club Kids  cleaned out hay from the Raised Beds and began the design for the permanent garden sign. 

I would like to recognize two people outside of school who are donating generous time and energy to the learning garden. Our master gardener, Alora Carrier helped us develop ideas and plantings for the grade level raised beds. She will be guiding us as we plant each raised bed this spring.  Garden Plans were designed and painted by Deb Train of Coastal Earth and Arts, Culinary Garden Installation. See Deb's beautiful water color garden plans in the photos below. For more information on Coastal Earth and Arts contact Deb at CEAGardens@yahoo.com, 207-214-8500.

Daffodils planted by students last fall

Clean Up Crew

Working hard

Seed starters

Designing the Garden Sign

Garden Plan Drawings by Deb Train of Coastal Earth and Arts

The Falmouth School Gardens are sponsoring a Plant Sale on Sat. May 31 from 9-11 am at the Elementary School Garden. Come support us and purchase plants at the same time. We will have annual flowers,vegetables,herbs,perennials, lilacs and forsythia. Please bring cash or checks. All proceeds benefit your school gardens.

Prior to the sale we are asking for donations of perennials from the following list:
Astilbe, Bee Balm, Black Eyed Susan, Bleeding Heart, Catmint, Coneflower,Coral bells, Coreopsis, Creeping Phlox, Dianthus, Garden Phlox, Hosta, Irises, Lady's Mantle, Lilies, Day-Lilies, Mayapple, Sedum, Shasta Daisy and Roses. These plants should be brought to the elementary school garden before Friday, May 30. Please contact Sue Raatikainen (sraatikainen@falmouthschools.org) or Alora Carrier, Master Gardener (alora.carrier@gmail.com) if you are able to donate plants for our sale.

The Wellness Team and the PTO are also sponsoring a Wellness Festival on Sat. May 31 form 10:30 to 2:30. This event will include a Fun Run, Wellness Village, Rainbow Stew Storywalk, Kids Fitness and Crafts, live music and food trucks. Proceeds will be used to build a natural playspace on the FES playground. Watch for more information on the upcoming facebook page (www.facebook.com/FalmouthWellness).

Mark your calendar for this fun-filled day at FES to promote school grounds and gardening! Check our blog regularly to watch our garden and playground grow.