Thinking outside the garden!
Bean Teepee
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Bean cabin
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Whatever will grow on Teepee
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No reason for our vegetables to stay inside the vegetable plot: There is a whole world of space out there..... Lets take our vegetables into the playground. Be prepared for our Spring Family Workday!
Let's decorate our fence
Birdboxes! - brightly colored and set on the fence. Get the bird box kits from here: Oriental Trading company
or Michaels 
Wood Bird houses from the Oriental Trading Company
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Marbles! - Can't be difficult can it?
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A fun project for Kinder-gardeners?
For the more advanced artist
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Child friendly watering system - a modern day 'thumb' pot.
Reuse a plastic milk carton! Pierce the bottom with plenty of holes with a push pin.
Fill with water and tighten lid. Un screw lid to control water released. The original 'thumb' waterers. |
Tighten the lid and the water releases slowly - great drip system next to a sensitive plant
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Release the lid and the water pours out
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Used by the Ancient Greeks, thumbs removed from the hole on top, release the vacuum created and release the water
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101 Uses for Plastic Bottles
Greenhouses
Shingles
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windmills
Purse
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Scoops
Brushes
Flowers
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Pinwheels
Carrier bags
Candlesticks
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Put new life into those old sweaters.
Save those moth eaten, shrunken and pulled sweaters and create a simple hanging plant pot to decorate your fence or our trellis.
see this link for instructions:
http://www.larkcrafts.com/needlearts/free-project-felt-plant-pouches/
see this link for instructions:
http://www.larkcrafts.com/needlearts/free-project-felt-plant-pouches/
Grow Mushrooms
Outside
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Or in the classroom.
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contact:
Mark Jones, Sharondale Farm.
434 296 3301
www.sharondalefarm.com
for supplies or advice
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Make a cold frame
Hoop houses are a way of winterizing your garden. They create a nice little microclimate, that is warm and bug free to extend your growing season. The hoops are covered with a 'frost blanket' a fleecy material that holds off snow and lets light and water in. Hoop houses are easily purchased and just as easily made with a little ingenuity.
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We are created ours in the garden by simply using stock fencing. These sheets come in 3' or 4' wide by 16 feet long panels for about $25. Ask for it to be clipped in half.
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Bend each piece over your bed, tucking in and securing to the box - be careful they don't 'ping' in anyones face, and this obviously works better with raised planters, but can be staked in someway for in-ground beds. The frames are then covered with gardening fleece and clipped to the wire.
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Don't forget to plant your beds!
Get clever and use what you can recycle. Ms. Martin is going to use broken hola hoops! frost blankets 
Inside - a few weeks later
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Make a Bird's Nest Gourd into a bird's nest.
Name those greens!
Labeling your vegetables is really helpful, it's very easy to mix up what is what between the seedling stage and the full grown plant. At the same time plant labels can be expensive to buy; you don't get many and they are usually too small.
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Easy and cheap substitutes are paint stirrers. The are usually free, though you'll find the staff become less obliging the more you ask. An ideal ready-shaped label are cedar wood shims you can buy in packs from a builders merchant - 48 for $6.00!
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Labelled easily with a marker, and ideally wedge shaped to push into the dirt. Get creative and dip the ends in white paint, to make a matching set. Or decorate them with shells or polished stones. Popsicle sticks make ideal small labels for seed trays.
Let the children's artistic talent shine!
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Hey Presto - cheap and cheerful for the whole season.
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How to make a grow light.
This article shows a simple way to build a grow light. It looks easy, but please beware! PVC is an accepted environmentally hazardous material, both in it's production and usage. We have included this article so maybe you can apply the construction methods to another material such as copper piping or wood. NOTE: google the dangers of PVC:
http://www.acereport.org/pvc2.
htmlhttp://blog.greendepot.com/environment/danger-its-pvc-plastic-number-3/
http://www.acereport.org/pvc2.
htmlhttp://blog.greendepot.com/environment/danger-its-pvc-plastic-number-3/
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Silver Bells and Cockle Shells.
We need to decorate our gardens. The final plant bed needs painting and the beds need to be named! Naming the beds helps us in the crop rotation (see schedules). make wooden signs with the bed names on them, or paint the names on the beds.
Anyone want to paint a mural on the rain barrel?
Anyone want to paint a mural on the rain barrel?
Using egg cartons as seed trays
Save some card biodegradable egg cartons.
Remove the lids and fill pockets with potting compost. Arrange a few together within a plastic seed tray for easy handling and keeping moist
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Sew seeds in each pocket, 1 or 4 depending upon size of seed. Cover with sheet of glass while waiting to germinate, and keep moist with water spray. Keep on windowsill or under grow light
Remember to label your seeds! 
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Ready to transplant! Each cup can be cut apart and seedling can be planted together with cup for minimum root disturbance.
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Planted out in the garden, plant about 3-6 beans around the base of each bean pole.
Plastic salad containers also convert well to seedling boxes - come complete with lids to create the moist microclimate
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