Back to School... Gardens!

By Aiden Crosby

Back to school and back in the gardens! Before school ended, the gardens were still slowly adjusting from the cold start this spring. We planted so many crops with the kids, and didn’t have much to show or eat right away. We assured the kids that there would be cucamelons this September; don't worry. After a dry summer and our persistent watering, the gardens took off, and everything accelerated. 

I want to first highlight Sprucecourt PS because the kids there absolutely love cucamelons, and they always ask about them. In the Peace Garden, we did a Three Sisters project this year, all planted by kindergartners. It has exploded. We have 4 mighty corn stalks, and the squash has spread perfectly, and the bean babies have climbed and climbed! There were so many huge pumpkins, and we couldn't wait to show the kids this year, look what is possible with patience and persistence, but also what is possible with their help; they planted all those seeds themselves. The kids have been so surprised and were shocked to see the huge pumpkins!

We’ve been doing some great re-intros with the classes and eating many cucamelons, swiss chard, tomatoes, dill, marigold, parsley, green onions, fennel, borage, and some plums! Sprucecourt PS garden has been great this season, and September is the best time to get the kids out there. Everything is in full bloom. We have been not only tasting everything but planting and teaching kids about fall crops, getting ready for the cooler weather, and showing them you can still grow things even when it gets cooler! Some crops love it more when it's chillier as well!

Rose Ave PS has been great as well. Zoe, a longtime friend of Green Thumbs, has helped tons with watering and maintenance of the garden there, for which we’re super grateful. At Rose Ave. PS, we are growing cucamelons for the first time in a long time, and we got to show and eat them with the kids, and to nobody's surprise, it's a huge hit. They hadn’t had a chance to learn about them yet, so it's been fun to highlight that as well. We are now starting to plant some fall crops at Rose Ave PS with the kids and teach them about how their school garden doesn’t get full sun, which is great for certain crops. The children there are always very open to trying new things, and we love them and always say If you don’t like it, at least you tried something new!

Eastdale CI

Last but not least, Eastdale CI! Which has had a prolific first full season, and with patience and persistence, Eastdale's rooftop garden has exploded with produce. We have had some huge harvests from there this season, and it is still going very strong! Our biggest crop is the sweet potatoes there, for our whole Slips to Chips project (stay tuned for more on that as we harvest the sweet potato crop!) See photo below, right, for the prolific spread of the sweet potato vines! Rebecca, centre, is pretty proud of that cabbage! And on the left, this is what our farmers' market table looks like, and that's me and Ella managing the market.

Our goal at Eastdale has always been to supply the kitchen with all the produce since the students prep and cook the food for their own lunch program (how cool!). The connection from “farm” to table there, is something we have been highlighting with the students since last year, and going back into school this year. Some of the students have even been asking, “How is my plant I planted growing?” which is amazing to hear, they’re still thinking about it from last year, and they have gained a sense of pride and responsibility from that as well. With the rooftop construction at Eastdale and not being able to take classes up there for the early fall season, we have been putting more focus on getting the crops into the kitchen so the students can at least still have a connection with what they’ve grown. All of this wouldn't be possible without the kids learning and doing, my amazing coworkers over this season, and with the support of the awesome faculty and staff at our partner schools. We’re excited to get into fall gardening with the kids and close out the season soon, including planting fall crops like radish, and garlic for next year.

Now that Canada has a official National School Food Program, we aim to do our part to grow some school food!