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I was pleasantly surprised when I entered my classroom this morning to see the beautiful flowers. I see some additional buds and look forward to seeing how many I end up with.

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Ian Godfrey

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This Week in the Garden ~ December 14, 2020

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This Week in the Garden ~ November 30, 2020

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Saheli's plant 7.5 weeks in.

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Jay and Ryan and their winter amaryllis kits!

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Jay and Ryan and their winter amaryllis kits!

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Looks like my zinnias are enjoying their sunny corner with their fellow plants! Can't wait for them to bloom!

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This Week in the Garden ~ November 16, 2020

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One month in. One is soaking up water at a faster rate than the other and has grown much more.

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The best time to start fall garden cleanup is after the first frost, or in our case SNOW! Prepping the school garden for winter will help us set the stage for success next year. The tomatoes, squashes, peppers, eggplant and beans, as well as our other plants, have browned or died, if not picked and eaten. Here is what we do next!

Keep a garden journal! Taking photos and writing down what grew well and what didn’t, as well as any pests or disease, helps us for next year.

Start a compost pile! While we don't do this at school, you can make one at home with garden scraps and leaves. Compost is teeming with beneficial microbes and organisms that help your garden! Just keep out tomatoes and peppers as they may spread disease.

Clear the garden! Remove all  plants, foliage and debris. If left to sit, rotting fruit and vegetables attract pests and harbor disease. They also may re-plant seeds that become weeds to pick next year.

Plant a Cover Crop! This is the best way to protect your garden until spring. I plant Winter Rye, which not only recharges the soil, suppresses weeds, and prevents erosion but is lovely to look at with its hues of blue! Other options are leaves or straw.

Clean and Disinfect! Sanitize cages, trellises, stakes and supports. Clean your tools and store indoors for the winter.

It is amazing how completing just a few simple garden chores in the fall can set the stage for the best-ever garden next year!

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This Week in the Garden ~ November 2, 2020

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Our gardens are GROWing! Winter kits are here. We will be growing three gorgeous varieties of Amaryllis and learning all about bulbs! While our zinnia gardens continue to bud and bloom, we will be waking up our winter bulbs. These impressive, brightly colored, beautiful flowers will bloom in time for the holidays!

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This is me and my sister Phoebe. We planted our Zinnias last week and they are already growing sprouts!

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Eleanor Herd

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Oh joy! by nan

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Graham Godfrey

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It’s a blessing to see the sprouts come up in the sunshine next to my window. Thanks so much for The Flowery treasure. Hope to send a picture when they bloom😊🌺

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Ian Godfrey

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One time, someone told me that saying kind things to plants helps them grow. Maybe I'll have to try reading them a book to see if that works. :)

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The DeSimone's finally got these planted!  Will keep everyone posted on the results.  Had to label each to see if there are any differences between the gardeners...

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I plant a little seed
In the ground,
Out comes the sun,
Big and round.
Down come the rain drops,
Soft and slow,
Up comes a flower,
Grow, grow, grow!

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Zinnia is named after Johann Gottfried Zinn, the famous German botanist who described this plant. Zinnia is a bushy, herbaceous plant that belongs to the Aster or Sunflower family. There are 20 species and more than 100 cultivars of Zinnia, that differ in size, color and growing habits. Zinnia flowers can be white, yellow, orange, pink, red, lilac, purple or multi-colored. Zinnia produces numerous hairy branches that can reach 4 to 48 inches in height, depending on the cultivar. Zinnia is native to Mexico, South America and southwestern USA. It thrives in areas with a hot climate!

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The elevated wooden boxes in our school garden are called RAISED BEDS. Raised beds make gardening easy to manage in a small space. The structure protects plants from getting damaged from foot traffic. There is better drainage and less weeds, thus better soil and plant growth! Raised beds warm up quickly in the spring, allowing for a longer growing season and better growing conditions. What herbs do you recognize in our school garden? Basil, Rosemary, Parsley, Chives, Tarragon, Sage, Oregano and Thyme! You also may notice Mint growing in pots. The mint rhizomes, which are horizontal underground stems, can be invasive to a garden! This is why mint is planted in separate containers to keep it from spreading in the raised beds.

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This Week in the Garden ~ October 19, 2020

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Grace Coldebella

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That was quick...

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K.Petersen

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This Week in the Garden ~ October 5, 2020

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tiny friends appearing

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Feeding our sprouts!

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Feeding our sprouts!

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While the school garden misses you, it has been lovingly tended by Mrs. Drum. Do you remember the Three Sisters Garden? Based on Native American custom, corn, beans, and squash are three inseparable sisters who only grow and thrive together. The corn provides a natural pole for bean vines to climb. Beans have bacteria living on their roots that help them absorb nitrogen from the air and convert it to a form that the bean plants can use. As the roots of bean plants decompose after the crop is harvested, some of this nitrogen goes back into the soil. Corn, which requires a lot of nitrogen to grow, benefits most from this nitrogen boost. The large, prickly squash leaves shade the soil, preventing weed growth, and deter animal pests. You may also see a fern-like foliage in this garden. This is asparagus, which is a perennial and comes up each spring!

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The first leaves on your zinnia plant are called cotyledons. They are part of the seed and provide photosynthesis as the plant grows. The “true leaves” of the zinnia form later and look very different than the cotyledons!

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Just got my kit today! Will start it tomorrow! So excited!

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Emily Ullrich (and little sister, Elizabeth)

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Emily Ullrich (and little sister, Elizabeth)

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We just fed our plants. Having a lot of fun checking on them each day!

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Oliver P

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Julia & Oliver P

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They are growing!!!

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Daniela Greenman

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Sprouts! Emptying the water and adding plant food!

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I have sprouts after 2 days! Feeding them the plant food and water mixture!

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Pride of place in the Savla south window

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Pride of place in the Savla south window

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The middle schooler enjoyed reconnecting with Chickering (and me) putting these together last night. Undoubtedly, the 5th grader will reclaim his once it sprouts. ;)

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The boys enjoyed this beautiful project. Thank you.

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1. WATER QUALITY MATTERS. Use filtered or distilled water vs tap due to hard minerals.
2. Do you have a SUNNY SPOT? Zinnias need full sun to germinate. They prefer 6+ hours a day of direct sunlight. If not, consider using a grow lamp!
3. KEEP COCO PITH MOIST. You can spray - not soak - with filtered water if needed.
4. ADD NUTRIENTS once your seeds sprout. Follow the instructions that came with the jar.
5. HAVE FUN and be patient! Zinnias can take 2-5 days to sprout.
HAPPY GROWING!

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Day 3 for our 2 kits. Along with the kids, Skyler the betta fish is enjoying observing the daily growth!

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Planted ours today! Messed up one (not pictured) by not removing the coco disc first before adding the grow medium. Tried to correct our mistake. Will see how each grows and if we managed to save the one!

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We are so excited to be part of Chickering GROWS and had a blast planting our Zinnias today! We can’t wait to watch them grow! So fun learning about hydroponic growing!!

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YAY our zinnias sprouted

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Thank you MODERN SPROUT for creating these incredible garden kits! Check out this super cool boutique shop that has mastered the art of indoor gardening. Remember, your garden kits are REUSABLE! Check out their website for refill kits and other fun gardening projects!

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We're you. Modern Sprout was founded by two regular thumb-colored people inside our Chicago home. We create thoughtfully crafted products to simplify plants and indoor gardening, so you feel good.

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Hydroponic systems work by allowing control over environmental conditions like temperature, pH balance and exposure to nutrients and water. Systems are characterized as Active or Passive. Active means that water and nutrients are moved through the system by a pump. Passive relies on a wick to deliver nutrients to the plant roots. Another way to characterize them is by Recovery or Non-Recovery. Recovery means the nutrient solution will be reused into the system. Non-recovery means the nutrient solution is applied to the growing media and vanishes.

Can you guess if the self-watering bell jar garden is a passive or active hydroponic system? Is it recovery or non-recovery?

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Hydroponics is the art of gardening without soil. Hydroponics comes from the Latin word “hydro,” meaning water, and “ponos,” meaning labor. In other words, "water working". In the absence of soil, water goes to work providing nutrients, hydration, and oxygen to plant life. Hydroponics operates under a very simple principle: provide plants exactly what they need when they need it!

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FUN FACT: Hydroponics has been around for centuries! 

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FUN FACT: Hydroponics has been around for centuries! 

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The history of hydroponics dates back to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The Euphrates River was diverted into channels that cascaded down the lavish garden walls. In the 13th century, Marco Polo wrote about witnessing floating gardens in China. Hydroponics continues to be a timeless and dynamic method of water conservation and crop production.

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FUN FACT: You can raise fish and plants in the same system! 

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FUN FACT: You can raise fish and plants in the same system! 

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Aquaponics is a variation of hydroponics, where fish and plants are cultivated within the same system. The waste that the fish produce provides the nutrients that the plants need to grow. The plants and beneficial bacteria within the system purify the water, ensuring a healthy environment for the fish.

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NASA grew aeroponic bean seedlings in zero gravity aboard a space station in the early 90's, opening up the possibility of sustainable agriculture in space. NASA continues to experiment with hydroponics because it is ideally suited for astronauts to grow nutritious food for future space missions.

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NASA.gov brings you the latest images, videos and news from America's space agency. Get the latest updates on NASA missions, watch NASA TV live, and learn about our quest to reveal the unknown and benefit all humankind.

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QUESTION: Why is water quality so important in hydroponics? 

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QUESTION: Why is water quality so important in hydroponics? 

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A HUGE shout-out to families who donated kits! Thanks to you the Dover PTO is able to provide every teacher at Chickering with a Fall garden kit to grow in their classroom!

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A HUGE shout-out to families who donated kits! Thanks to you the Dover PTO is able to provide every teacher at Chickering with a Fall garden kit to grow in their classroom!

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Intergenerational Garden Program

Chickering GROWS welcomes Council On Aging (COA) members! Our shared goal is for students and seniors to experience increased wellness from the therapeutic qualities of gardening as well as create lasting and meaningful connections with one another! We look forward to seeing COA members post photos and comments on the Chickering GROWS Padlet!

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We are growing ZINNIAS in a self-watering bell jar garden. Did you know that every flower carries its own special meaning and symbolism. The meaning of the ZINNIA flower is endurance. It is also symbolic of an absent friend, affection and remembrance. During a time we cannot all be together, it is nice to share the beauty of these symbolic flowers in our homes and classrooms.

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Modern Sprout's Garden Jar Herb Kit - Setup Video

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The Self-Watering Bell Jar Garden: How It Works! 

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The Self-Watering Bell Jar Garden: How It Works! 

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Together, we will explore hydroponics and discover how and why plants are able to grow without soil!

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QUESTION: How do hydroponic systems replace the functions that soil normally serves? 

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QUESTION: How do hydroponic systems replace the functions that soil normally serves? 

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QUESTION: What do you think your plant needs to help it grow? 

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QUESTION: What do you think your plant needs to help it grow? 

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Fall garden kits are IN! Once you receive your kit, you’ll find instructions inside the jar. We can't wait to GROW with you!

Post Photos, Pose Questions, Make Comments!