At today's 4th Grade Garden Meeting we received a handout and we learned about Fibonacci numbers: and the importance of angles.
 
0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144 and so on.  Each number is obtained from the sum of the two before it. These numbers are important in nature. 
 
The head of a sunflower is made up of small seeds, which are produced at the center.  They migrate towards the outside to fill all the space.  Each seed is angled in relation to the one before it. The angle of the seeds to each other is 137.5 degrees.  With this angle, the optimal filling up of seeds with the same spacing occurs.
 
The number of petals is often one of these numbers.

We were also given a few sunflower seeds to plant at home.

Ms. Silvia helped us plant donated bulbs were planted during today's 4th Grade Garden Club.  They were planted in hidden spots and we hope they will pop up, bloom, and bring smiles to those that find them.

It has been a week since we planted our spring vegetable garden.  Today we loosened the soil around the plants and watered.  Weeds were pulled in the plots and creeping, somewhat invasive, Morning Glory vines were pulled out.  More stepping stones were painted.  Just being in the garden brings us such pleasure.

The school was closed for the past two Mondays due to Spring Break and Cesar Chavez Day.  This Monday we were very busy doing catch up and planting our spring garden.  Bell pepper, watermelon, zucchini, corn, lettuce, strawberries, spinach, chard plants were planted. Thanks to Ms. Lisa for helping out classrooms in getting their plots planted.  Thanks also to Ms. Silvia for being adventurous and helping us plant pumpkin plants in some empty dirt spots.  We are hoping to see some spring showers to help keep our plants watered.  It seems that our irrigation system is acting flaky and not always coming on like it should.  We are learning how important water is to the successful growth of our garden.

The stepping stones we are painting were worked on too.  We look forward to seeing them lined up spelling Vintage Gardens!  We love seeing more and more students and staff taking a detour to walk through the garden. We also managed to take a minute or two to enjoy the beautiful spring Sweet Peas and Irises blooming cheerfully in our Vintage Gardens.

A big thank you also to Mrs. Castro who bid on and won a garden basket which she donated to our garden program.  We know have plenty of gloves for all our workers as well as many other useful tools and garden goodies.