Last week with summer camp was a harvest hit! Yet, bittersweet...

Well, due to thunderstorms, field trips and heat advisories, we were kept off the playground for most of the week.  Finally, last Friday morning we made it outside.  I was pretty concerned that many of the plants in the squash family would be done.  Because of the weather, and outright chaos of a drastic increase in students and my assistant leaving, I barely had a chance to breath, let alone spray pesticides.

As I counted heads passing through the door, my dedicated little gardeners ran ahead to see the garden.  They were back before I finished counting!  "OMG, Ms. Caitlin!  You gotta come see!"  I was in awe of how much had grown in such a few days, and everything looked healthy!

This my absolute favorite picture so far!  I love how these 3 are stacked up over each other, discovering 3 cantaloupes!  I was concerned about the cantaloupes as (after planted of course) I read that it is not recommended to plant them that time of year.  I guess it depends on how long they takes to ripen, but we have a good 2 months, at least...based on the average October 15th frost.  The other thing I love about this pic is the boy in the background, standing straight and tall, gazing up at the corn...too cute!

Speaking of corn, the kids had an ah-ha moment, so excited to spot the tassels (hairs) in the stalks!

It's hard to see from the picture, but M is pointing at the 'hairs.'  It hit me that this was an 'ah-ha' moment for many of the kids.  The corn was now showing something a few of them had seen on corn-on-the-cob.  Finally this plant called corn was producing something they could relate too.  WE have also learned how corn pollinates.  The top part of the stalk produces flecks of 'pollen' (don't know technical term) that fall down into the baby cobs, causing them to pollinate, planting the corn in blocks rather than a single row greatly enhances the chances of pollination, with the help of wind. We planted 3 rows with 3 seeds in each row...a lesson in multiplication!  :)





The cucumbers were also a hit as we found 4 ripe.  Yay! We have enough to make pickles!  We also dug deep into our green bean bushes to find a handful for harvesting.

  

Having the garden along the chain link fence has proven to allow easy access as well as additional trellising for our vining plants.

The cantaloupes have really taken to growing on the fence.  We will have to keep an eye on the stems to be sure the weight of the cantaloupes don't cause them harm.  Nylon hose "hammocks" may be in order in their near future!  :)

One cantaloupe can be seen peeking from behind the bottom right leaf.

Finally, we had a red tomato!  I read online that tomatoes will stay green when temps don't get below 70, well that's been very true of the extreme heat we have been having.  This particular tomato was hidden under other toms and much foliage.  This turned into an on-the-spot discussion about why that particular tomato ripened first.  The kids picked up quickly on the fact this it was more shaded and therefore cooler.  We expanded more on this once inside as I explained that my tomatoes at home have been ripening throughout the summer.  I drew a picture of how my garden backs up to a privacy fence built in a north-south direction.  I drew a east-west line over the fence/garden, showing how the sun rises and sets across the garden, getting half as much sunlight.  The kids that were still paying attention by this point understood very well, lol.

This marked my last day with these kids, as pre-k planning has now begun.  Time to transition towards some fall garden items as well.  I really hope that whomever the after-school teacher will be, will continue to use the garden as a tool for learning, as she will have many of the same kids I had this summer.  They may leave her with no choice, as their excitement grows with each new veggie in our garden! :)

It has been a hectic past couple of weeks, when I get a chance I will also be adding posts about our pickling experience, the corn stalk graph, as well as graphing the growth of our watermelon verses cantaloupe through measuring their circumferences.  Stay tuned!

Garden, end of July, 2011