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Growing Minds: Garden-based learning course for educators
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This professional development course uses hands-on, inquiry-based instruction that emphasizes the garden as a teaching tool for K-12 teachers and community educators throughout Wisconsin. Held in Community GroundWorks' award-winning Troy Kids' Garden, there is room to be inspired, generate ideas, and gather resources for your own youth garden.
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Everyone needs a little spring right now
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As soon as February hits, I start feeling that wintertime drag - and start scanning the horizon for spring. The sun is setting later, the birds are singing earlier, and surely my garlic has survived the chill. February also brings the exciting prospect of not just thinking about gardens, but planting the very seeds that will grow there, once our northerly latitudes tilt to the sun again.
Seed starting is one of the most exciting ways to bring gardening into the classroom, and one of the most practical. Students learn about seed germination, nutrient needs, and plant development. Because these sprouts represent the first green of the garden, they are bound to receive special attention and care.
Much like any other school garden activity, you can begin starting seeds at whatever scale fits your needs. It could be a few seedlings tucked under a light in the corner of your classroom, or an entire greenhouse full of vegetables and herbs.
If you're starting small, the materials you'll need are fairly cheap and easy to come by. Visit your local garden store (they'll welcome your company this time of year) for a simple seed tray, or use up-scaled containers of your own. You can use compost and a soil mix recipe to make your own potting soil, or buy it in a bag. Normal florescent lights will allow seedlings to photosynthesize, and lights can be mounted on a light stand - many science departments already have simple light set-ups - or, fit an old shelving unit with hooks to hang your lights. (I even visited one school recently that was starting seeds on the tops of bookshelves in the library - getting seedlings up close and personal with lights that were already there!)
While we're still buried in winter (literally) here in Wisconsin, starting seeds in schools (or anywhere!) is one of the best ways to count down to spring!
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Many thanks to Onalaska School District for the above photos
...make sure to read their school garden success story below!
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Microfarm Manual: Here's a how-to guide for building your own "microfarm" - a cart with lights that can travel from classroom to classroom, showing off seedlings (or micro-greens) as they grow!
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Soil Mix Recipe: For a great lesson about plant nutrients, minerals, and/or compost, try making your own seed-starting soil mix. This recipe works well, and is much cheaper than buying bagged potting soil if you are planning to start more than a few trays of seeds. You can also turn this into a great lesson about sustainability by discussing the benefits and drawbacks of different ingredients - i.e. peat makes wonderful soil mix, but what is the environmental impact? Is there a better alternative?
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Indoor Seed Starting Rack Building Instructions: This online tutorial will teach you how to build your own seed starting rack. The plans are simple, and total cost is under $70. (Less if you have some spare fluorescent lights or scrap lumber!)
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Re-purposed seed starting containers:
This blog post takes you through eight different ideas - with photos - for using (or rather, reusing) what you've got on hand to start seeds. Great ways to save money and teach about up-cycling. Have students come up with ideas to add to the list!
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Seed Starting Q&A:
Kidsgardening.org has another great resource to offer here. This page offers answer to common seed starting questions from classrooms - everything from temperature to lesson extensions.
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Indoor Seed Starting Schedule:
When do you start your seeds indoors? Different seeds require different planting dates. Planting dates also vary by geographic location - Wisconsin includes a number of different plant hardiness zones. This resource from Johnny's Seeds allows you to put in your spring frost-free date, and produces a chart with planting dates for seeds commonly started indoors. Also tells you the best time to set transplants outside!
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