Seeds, Compost, Growing Food and Using It!

On Oct.19th Ms. Garrod and I attended a plant workshop.  I can't believe how little I knew about plants.  I learned so much at this workshop and wanted to share the knowledge.  

Here is a resource that was recommended for growing a garden at school. 

When I am in Vancouver I am definitely going to visit West Coast Seeds.  This place sounds amazing.  We were given one of the catalogues but not this one shown below.  I am hoping to go in there and pick their brain about gardening.

 

We visited Queen Alexandra Elementary.  At the school they have this amazing school garden.  I learned all about cold frames and how to make them.  This garden was really inspiring.

Ms. Garrod and I planted garlic.  I had no idea that the garlic bulb is broken into cloves then planted with the tear drop side facing up.  I also learned to plant a seed in the ground double the size of the seed.  The size of the seed = the energy of the seed.  If you plant a small seed too deep it won't have enough energy to reach the surface.

These beans were HUGE!  They will almost fill a whole child's palm.  In the jar is a moist paper towel and scattered around the jar were beans.  If you put too much water it will create mold.  This method is great for students to actually visually see the roots and stem breaking through the seed. 

It was great to pass the bean around and feel the fuzz.  

Afterwards we were given a box of various stages of nasturtium.  This time of year is great to grab all the different stages of the life cycle.  It had a huge effect on me, being able to physically touch the plant and sort them in order.  This picture is incorrect however we put our plant in a line instead of a circle.  

Finally, seeds!  I learned so much about seeds.  This was a cool game of matching the seed to the name.  I was thinking of doing this same thing but adding maybe the end result plant picture with the words.

I learned 1000 times what I have written here but I hope to use ALL things I learned in practice.  I am so excited to get planting!!

Are you a gardener?  If you have some free time I would love to learn anything and everything from someone who knows things about plants.