Today was a really busy day. We started the morning off with a 5th grade class who helped us move the manure pile away from the entrance to the garden so that it's not in the way. Some of us also took a group of kids and mixed some of the manure with sand and soil and covered the empty beds with the mixture to give the soil already in them a little nutrient boost.
The rest of us also took groups and spread out around the garden and weeded. The grass is really starting to come up through the mulch so we tried to get that under control as much as possible today. The kids were a huge help and they also got to see how much everything has grown since the last time they came out. Now that they see progress week to week, they're getting even more excited about the garden. After the 5th graders left, we had a 3rd grade class who hadn't been out to visit the garden yet. We split them up into small groups and introduced them to the garden. We also weeded the grass out of the mulched areas for a little while with them too.
During the second shift we took the recycling truck from campus and got a few loads of mulch to spread around the garden. We're hoping that by continuing to spread the mulch over the growing grass, it will eventually stop growing there. A second grade class came out as well and they continued to help us weed. The wind really picked up as the day continued, so we decided not to spread mulch with the kids since the wind would get dirt in everyone's eyes. The second graders had a lot of fun seeing the progress of the garden. While we worked, we discussed the theme of the week - observation - and made observations about the weeding and other parts of the garden. They practiced using all five senses to observe things in the garden. We continued to spread more mulch through the garden after they left and had a first grade class come out to visit as well. All in all, it was a very productive day. We got a lot accomplished in the garden and worked with 4 classes who all learned a lot.
Dig an exploratory hole where the grass grows freely and see what the rhizome area looks like. Then dig a hole in the mulched area to see if the rhizome area is doing something different. Are they sending up more or fewer shoots along the rhizome?
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