Garden Closing Down for the Winter

This past chilly Sunday, a brave Hannah P. '13, Mandy H. '15, Jaycee Y '15, and Zia O '13 went out to the HEAT garden to close things down for the winter. We started out by harvesting a couple pounds worth of baby rainbow carrots. The color of the carrots were sweet surprises as we pulled up orange, white, and purple carrots out of the ground. Although the carrots were still very small, members of the club happily savored them at our club meeting on Tuesday.

We then pulled up the remaining elephant-ear-like leaves of the already harvested red cabbages. Then, we spread lime stone around the garden. Why lime? The fine powder will make the soil less acidic; which will contribute to the productivity of the garden next summer. In addition to adding lime to the soil, we spread both dry and wet manure across the soil. The main goal of the manure is to add nutrients and organic matter to the soil so that it can reach its growing potential.

After raking both the lime and the manure into the ground, we finished up by spreading winter rye across the large garden. The rye acts as a cover crop to prevent erosion. In the spring, the rye will be tilled into the soil adding even more enriching organic matter.
Besides the few brussels sprout plants that are still in the ground, the garden has basically been put to bed for the winter.
H.E.A.T. looks forward to a winter full of club meetings that will consist of discussions about environmental issues, planning for school-wide events, and screenings of movies. We meet on select Tuesdays during 25-minute lunch in the dining hall. Hannah and I look forward to seeing you soon!

November 4, 2012

HEAT Garden Update

As MHS students begin to prepare themselves for the months of winter ahead, the H.E.A.T. Garden must do the same. On October 18th, the ninth grade class joined Ms. Basdekis out at the garden during Horizons. Starting in the greenhouse, they prepared flower bulbs and garlic to be later planted in the soil. They then trekked out behind the soccer fields where they met the garden for the first time. Eager to cover their hands in the dirt, they started out by planting flower bulbs in the plot once set out for squash. The flowers will bloom in the spring when snow clears and MHS students go outside once again. Leeks were also pulled out of the ground and brought to the kitchen. Additionally, the ninth graders planted garlic bulbs to be harvested next summer. Garlic was the first vegetable planted in the H.E.A.T. Garden two years ago, and it will continue to be the first in the years to come.

Come spring, the ninth graders will work on generating a plan for the garden that would involve growing vegetables that would subsequently donated to a local food shelter. Ms. Basdekis had generated this idea as a way for dealing with the produce that is ready to be harvested when school is not in session during the summer months. This plan would not infringe on the produce brought into the school’s kitchen, rather it would give more direction and purpose to the garden as a whole.