We started the Hartford Middle School garden in the spring of 2009.
That year it was just a little "Three Sisters Garden."
It was a 12' diameter circular garden, and it grew pretty well.
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| Breaking Ground |
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| Three Sisters - corn, beans, squash (or pumpkins in this case) |
In the spring of 2010, we expanded the garden with the help of our HSD maintenance department. Some of Mr. Ostler's students and Ms. Dean at HACTC came over and put up a fence all around the new larger space. We got more teachers and students at HMMS involved, too.
Ms. Boeri-Boyce's students planted a Colonial herb garden.
Team Pneuma 6th grade students started corn and bean seedlings in the HHS greenhouse and then brought them back to the classroom right before planting time. We planted Roy's Calais flint corn, a red and yellow cornmeal corn that is harvested in the fall when it is dry. We also planted Littleton beans, a bean that can be eaten at any stage. It's delicious as a fresh shell bean, or as a dry bean it can be used for soups, chili, baked beans, etc.
We planted them out when the weather warmed.
At first they looked a little bedraggled after transplanting.
But then grew into this!
FALL GARDEN LOG 2010
September
The garden is growing pretty well even though the soil does need building up. The flint corn and Littleton dry beans are just about ready to harvest. The Colonial herb garden is flourishing. The millet heads are nodding with ripening seeds. The pumpkins and gourds are plump and glowing.
October 1
The Calais flint corn and Littleton dry beans have been harvested and are drying further in Ms. Fleishman's room. The Colonial herb garden is still growing and even blooming here and there. Some Team Tempest students harvested the millet a couple of weeks ago. The pumpkins and gourds are plump and still glowing and growing. We are due to have frost this weekend.
What we need now is manure and mulch hay or straw for spreading on the garden and for making compost. The soil really needs some building up.
December 1
The garden is pretty much put to bed for the winter. We got a big pile of manure thanks to a couple of helpful families. The beds are dug and manured and mostly mulched with straw. Now we wait for spring.
2011
The garden had a weedy rest during much of the 2011-12 school year.
2012
Spring 2012 - With the help of HHS students and teacher, we weeded, dug beds, and planted tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, herbs, cucumbers, carrots, and flowers.
Students from the Regional Resource Center came with their teachers and built us two beautiful gates for the garden. They also tightened up the fence and added some posts.
Summer 2012 - Campers and counselors in the Ventures Program of Hartford Parks and
Recreation tended and harvested the garden this summer.
Fall 2012- 6th grade students enjoyed salsa, eggplant dip, carrot and cucumber sticks, and cherry tomatoes from the garden, but we forgot to take pictures before it was all eaten!
Cricket Café
Appetizer Menu
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
All appetizers are made with fresh vegetables grown in the Hartford Middle School garden.
Ants on a Log
Cucumber Sticks
Melitzanosalata - Greek Eggplant Dip
Served with chips
Salsa Fresca
Served with chips
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Field Day - June 12, 2013
We dug and pulled weeds all morning. We're making progress! We also harvested a bunch of radishes that we had planted earlier in the spring and which I forgot to take a picture of :(
Now we are going to spread compost and mulch heavily to combat the weeds and build up the soil over the summer. Then we will be ready to plant garlic, winter wheat, and fall greens in September. Here are some pictures from our field day efforts. Big thanks to all the students who helped out!
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We dug and pulled weeds all morning. We're making progress! We also harvested a bunch of radishes that we had planted earlier in the spring and which I forgot to take a picture of :(
Now we are going to spread compost and mulch heavily to combat the weeds and build up the soil over the summer. Then we will be ready to plant garlic, winter wheat, and fall greens in September. Here are some pictures from our field day efforts. Big thanks to all the students who helped out!
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| Finding radishes in a sea of weeds! |
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| Tandem digging |
Spring 2013 - Some Team Eclipse students worked at weeding and digging before planting some peas, spinach, radishes, sunflowers, and runner beans. Then other school work and some rain kept us out of the garden, and the weeds started to gain the upper hand.
Winter 2013 - The garden rested under ice and snow.
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Fall 2013
Garden and Do-It-Yourself Club
This fall we did lots of weeding, planted some garlic, and put the garden to bed under a blanket of mulch. Our first indoor meeting was on November 21. We got some apples drying in Ms. Rice's dehydrator, and we started a little batch of sauerkraut fermenting. We have some herbs from the garden drying that will be ready for students to take home for Thanksgiving.
Here are some pictures from some of our meeting days.
Garden and Do-It-Yourself Club
This fall we did lots of weeding, planted some garlic, and put the garden to bed under a blanket of mulch. Our first indoor meeting was on November 21. We got some apples drying in Ms. Rice's dehydrator, and we started a little batch of sauerkraut fermenting. We have some herbs from the garden drying that will be ready for students to take home for Thanksgiving.
Here are some pictures from some of our meeting days.
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| Sage and thyme from the garden |
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| Tying up the herbs in little bunches for drying |
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| Apples ready for drying in the dehydrator |
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| Getting ready to make sauerkraut |
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| Weighing and cutting the cabbage for sauerkraut |
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