Mrs. Denham's Extreme Gardening

Hi,

Since Fall 2012, I update 6th grade gardening through the science class page now. This page is no longer updated.

Thanks!

Cathy Denham

Spring Gardening 2012

Week of 3/4

6th grade planted peas (2/28), old and new to do a germination experiment and collards.

3/11

K planted radishes and peas and learned about keeping birdfeeders clean.

1st missed because of portfolio viewing

2nd planted 24 peas and four cabbages

3rd grade planted cabbages and marked their cabbages with stepping stones so we won't get our cabbages mixed up.

2/3 learned about composting vegetables and composted manure

2012

This May, gardening is yielding so many peas right now! We will harvest broccoli, cauliflower, potatoes, onions, garlic and other early spring crops in the next month. We will spend the last week of May harvesting everything we can and we will pot the tomatoes and other high summer crops to take home to care for over the summer.

Thursday 4/26 is SALAD DAY in gardening! We will harvest salad on Wednesday in science and prepare and eat our salad on Thursday. Bring your favorite dressing or croutons to share! You will be able to take the rest of your dressing home after the salad day.

Early Spring News

6th Grade has been busy this past week clearing winter weeds and old veggies. We found a number of treasures including several beautiful beets and turnips, some surviving spinach and arugula, and a number of grubs. The weather was nice for pulling out old plants and we will be adding composted manure next!

A recipe from Claire Naisby, our Davidson College student researcher:

Cooked Apples

1/3 cup butter (melted)

2 tablespoons cinnamon

1/3 cup brown sugar

¼ cup water

Lots of apples sliced thinly with their skins on.

Let simmer for twenty minutes. Watch closely because the sugar can burn.

News Flash and Reminder! November 2011

Students will prepare a dish with their fall veggies at home! This is a required task of the extreme gardening enrichment class, so please support your child in preparing a salad or other simple dish. Please take a photograph of the dish and email it to Mrs. D at cadenham@woodlawnschool.org or print out a picture of the dish. It may be in black and white! Thanks so much for your support!

Fall 2011 Extreme Gardening Information

First we will add composted manure to prepare the fall vegetable beds for planting! We will plant lettuce and other greens as our fall crops. These plants grow well in cool weather. Turnips are available to plant, too! We will care for the vegetable beds by weeding, observing and watering our little seedlings so they will grow, grow, grow! Later still we will harvest our crops! In October and November, look for veggies coming home to be prepared and eaten. Students need to take a picture of the dish they prepare from their garden produce and send it in an email to Mrs. Denham in order to receive a "complete" grade in gardening. Gardening takes a break between Thanksgiving and March so the gardens can hibernate!

Students will be bringing home veggies to prepare. Here are links to recipes students might find fun. The chard recipes can be used for any kind of greens your child might bring home. The recipes below focus on the various greens, since lettuce and salad ingredients are much easier to prepare. Just make a salad of them.

Chard (or any greens) Smoothie - http://www.greenlemonade.com/recipes-juices/golden-chard-pear-green-smoothie/

Chard (or turnip greens or kale or collards or mustard greens) with Parmesan Cheese - http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/sauteed-swiss-chard-with-parmesan-cheese/Detail.aspx

Chard (or any greens) Soup - http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/green-soup-with-ginger-recipe.html

Chard with Raisins - http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/swiss-chard-and-golden-raisins-recipe/index.html