GRINning

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Retiring the Garden for the Summer

School ends this week. With no one around to tend the raised beds, it's time to retire the plants. There was giant lettuce (yes, those stalky things are lettuce run amok) and an alium looking flower atop what we took to be an onion..... until I remembered that alium are part of the onion family so why wouldn't they share a similar blossom? As with all good retirements, planning was crucial. Grandma Suzi thought that 50 pots would take care of all the plants fit to share; she was off by a factor of 4. There are no 3" or 4" plastic or ceramic pots left in Tucson - unless they cost more than fifty cents a piece. After three days spent cleaning out all the Dollar Stores within a 10 mile radius, I can confidently assert that this is true. Everyone wanted a plant to take home. Scholars who had never set food in the garden before were suddenly bound and determined to be farmers over the summer. Big kids and little kids, they were all interested

Worms, Rakes, Fertilizer and The Hole

The 3,4,5 combo class was finished learning about worms. The teacher wondered if they might find a good home in the garden. I love freebies. I love worms in the garden. I love the teacher. Getting to "YES!" was easy.. After careful and proper examination, interrupted only occasionally by an eeewww or frantic jazz hands waving the creature away, we set to preparing their new abode. We deposited the worms fairly deep, in lines we drew in the soil. ("No, we don't need gloves. It's good to feel the soil on your hands.") Then we covered them gently, to protect them from the sun and predators. Escaping their cover, these squirmers were busy pooping, or so the scholars showed me. Yes, there are small black dots at the back end of the dusty worms. Gardeners call that castings ; the scholars much preferred poop. Later in the day, it was all about the rakes. It's a congenial activity, with lovely piles created slowly an

A Plethora of Parsley... and a Surprise!

When seeds are spread with profligate glee, this is what happens. A plethora of plants. An overwhelming, flowering, gone to seed invasion of parsley. Something had to be done. Thinning: We find the place where the plant meets the soil, grab firmly, and pull straight up. We admire the root we have successfully extracted, and then, since we aren't composting (yet), the plants that no one wants to take home are carted to the trash can in our trusty green barrow. This is a project with an unlimited life span; there were a lot of seeds spread with glee. . And then, nestled deep within her hanging basket, a treasure was discovered. A radish. A small, perfectly formed, red and white radish. It was properly admired while Grandma Suzi found the plastic knife. We shared tiny bits of our own garden grown produce. Very tiny bits, but they were ours.

Watering the Hanging Garden

Once I got the right Universal Key, we could turn on the second hose bib. That meant we could use the hose to water the hanging garden. That meant we had to move the hose. It meant untangling it, unkinking it, unwinding it. It meant cooperation. It meant getting dirty. There were temptations aplenty, once things got straightened out. It was cold enough (notice the gloves on the left) that no one wanted to take an outdoor shower.... but it was tempting. That was then, when school was in session. Today, the school is closed for Spring Break. Grandma's Garden is behind a locked gate and a very high fence. The raised beds and the mandarin orange tree are on the automatic irrigation system. The hanging garden attached to that fence requires human attention. It does not know that the Garden Club is on vacation. It only knows that the sun is out, the breeze is blowing, and watering would be very nice, thank you so much, really, we'll perk right up. I've

Shoelaces and Love - A Snippet

I've been reading Dr. Seuss to the 7 kindergarten classrooms at Prince Elementary School helping with the transition from recess to classwork. I hang out with the kids on the playground before then; there are hugs and there are Hi, Grandma!! 's and there are untied shoelaces. I believe that the Untying Fairy flies over the area and afflicts every other shoe in the vicinity. I used to bend over and tie one and move on. Lately, now that the kindergarteners and I have bonded over Horton hatching that egg, I've had to sit on the ground. There are too many to do in a crouch... even when I could crouch with comfort. And there I was on Friday, looking at untied and too long laces and knotted laces and soaking wet laces and muddy laces when I noticed a pair of grey shoes, laces loosely but securely tied. I watched from the corner of my eye as one shoe, slowly and stealthily, tugged on the longer end of the other shoe's lace, untying it. It took a while, but that lace en

Open House at Grandma's Garden

It was Tuesday and the Scholars were surprised to see me. There was a lot of work to be done to ready the garden for the Open House for donors. Although some were disappointed by the emphasis on work , after a little bit of cheer-leading the empty pots were filled with aloe and random seeds harvested from those spilled on the bench. The hanging garden received a careful hand watering. And there was raking. Lots and lots of rakiing. There was also mischief. The rules are few and simple. 1.Don't climb on and don't fall off the rocks. 2. All tools must stay below your shoulders. Sometimes you just have to stare at Grandma and see how far she'll let you go. Big smiles and giggles go a long way toward mitigating my wrath, specially when my heart is soothed by a kid who found a quiet place to dig with a pint sized trowel. Grandma's Garden is a good place for that. Wednesday was warm and partly cloudy, perfect for