Today was the first day back after our week long spring break. The kids were excited to be back out in the garden. Between Eckerd's Spring Break and FCAT Testing it has been a while since many of the elementary schoolers have been out into the garden. It is really amazing to see how much the plants have grown and developed over the past weeks. The kids cant believe how much things have changed. Many plants are showing new signs of flowers and buds. The garden is buzzing with life. Plants are shooting up the trellises. The lady beetle eggs that we found before break seem to have hatched and new eggs have been laid on the sunflowers. The new flowers and vegetable sprouts have added a lot of color to the edible peace patch. It is great to finally see our goal turn into a reality. Today we started the daunting task of weeding the walk ways of the garden. We systematically went though uncovering mulch and pulling up the weeds that we found underneath. This task will take time and a lot of hard work. The mulch has helped to retain moisture in the soil, which has aided the growth of the weeds.

Todays second grade class was happier than ever to be out in the garden. They all seemed interested in what new things were growing in the garden since their last visit. It is a lot easier to teach the children about the garden now that they can actually visually see the plants. The second graders discussed parts of a plant in small groups. Then they drew their own plants from the garden, and they labeled the different parts of the plants in their drawings.