As the state of Washington comes together to take care of each other and get the vaccine–making it safer for students to return to school–Nicole and the students haen able to get back out into the garden.
Some of the most recent lessons that the students have been working on involve learning about pollinators! Nicole and the students are not only learning about the functions and form of pollinators, but they are also designing their own. Engineering pollinators from materials is a great way that students can practice Next Generation Science Standards that keep them on track for science and environmental literacy.
In the school learning garden, students get an opportunity to search for real live pollinators and observe what colors of flowers they are attracted to. The pollinator color investigation reinforces the importance of pollinators in our garden and gives students the chance to come up with ways to encourage more pollinators to visit our school garden.
Since Spring is here, learning about the pollinators is a great transition back into the garden after a year and a half away. As we welcome your students back to the on campus gardens, they will notice changes that they or their peers have helped participate in during one of our many work parties.
During the work parties, we have added a few new beds, including a garden bed style from another culture. The newest bed, called “Hügelkultur”, is a form of German mound gardening. The unique hill shape allows for the sun to hit it in different ways so that more sun-loving plants can grow on one side, and more shade tolerant ones on the other. It also allows for more plants to grow since there is more surface area in the bed than if it were on a flat surface. Finally, it is made out of logs, which will decompose over time, adding rich compost to the soil.
During the work parties, we have added a few new beds, including a garden bed style from another culture. The newest bed, called “Hügelkultur”, is a form of German mound gardening. The unique hill shape allows for the sun to hit it in different ways so that more sun-loving plants can grow on one side, and more shade tolerant ones on the other. It also allows for more plants to grow since there is more surface area in the bed than if it were on a flat surface. Finally, it is made out of logs, which will decompose over time, adding rich compost to the soil.
If you can, join us for our final garden party this Sunday, June 6th! We will be further beatifying our already gorgeous Cascadia Learning Garden.
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