Rain Rain Go Away

It has rained every Friday in the past 3 weeks.  Finally, we got through a Friday morning without rain and my 3rd grade classes were able to go out to the garden.  We worked for about 80 minutes and cleared out most of the clover that was growing.  We had a terrible time clearing out runners from Bermuda grass last year but apparently we did a good job of it since there was very little to be found growing this year.

Besides getting the garden mostly weed free, tons of learning took place.  The 3rd graders did a great job working carefully with their tools and clearing their patch of the garden.  They worked to spread the different types of soil that they found so there would be a healthy combination.  One area seemed to have more clay than the rest, so they worked to spread that around.


They learned how to shake the weeds low to the ground so we could remove the weed while saving the soil.  Just when they thought their patch was clear of weeds, someone would point out roots that could lead to new weed growth.

I was really impressed with their endurance and enthusiasm.
We found an onion set and were able to plant four of the cabbage plants.

The garden wagon was full of weeds by the time they finished and we hauled those straight over to the compost pile.  Wouldn't you know it... some potatoes had started growing in the compost pile so we brought those back over to the garden and planted them in the potato planter nearby.

This entire experience is one I hope will stay with the students throughout their life.  Most of them have never had the chance to work in a garden before.