Garden Themes
Let your imagination go. Combine a couple themes. Have fun with your garden. Below are some ideas to get you started. A local nursery can be a big help in picking the right plants.
With our school year starting in mid-August and ending in early June, don't wait until spring to plant a garden. Gardens can be created in the garden plots, planters, pots, window boxes, plastic containers such as storage boxes, milk boxes, even directly into a bag of potting soil.
With our school year starting in mid-August and ending in early June, don't wait until spring to plant a garden. Gardens can be created in the garden plots, planters, pots, window boxes, plastic containers such as storage boxes, milk boxes, even directly into a bag of potting soil.
Vegetable Garden - Challenge yourself to try growing and tasting vegetables and herbs new to you.
Winter - Cool Weather
Cool weather loving plants can be planted when weather cools down around September to November. Check the local nursery for best choices for current weather conditions.
Suggestions:
Plants: broccoli, cabbage, brussel sprouts, cool weather tomatoes, leaf lettuce, beets, kale, Swiss chard, spinach, celery, spinach, onions, turnips, ornamental cabbage.
Seeds: Root plants such as beets, radishes, carrots, turnips. Easy to grow and eat is peas (Snap peas - my personal favorite for kids).
Herbs: Anise, arugula, chamomile, chives, cilantro, dill, fennel, garlic chives, lavender, lemon grass, parsley, rosemary, chives, lemon balm. Orange County - Seasonal Guide to Herb Planting: http://www.ocherbsoc.org/seasons.html
Suggestions:
Plants: broccoli, cabbage, brussel sprouts, cool weather tomatoes, leaf lettuce, beets, kale, Swiss chard, spinach, celery, spinach, onions, turnips, ornamental cabbage.
Seeds: Root plants such as beets, radishes, carrots, turnips. Easy to grow and eat is peas (Snap peas - my personal favorite for kids).
Herbs: Anise, arugula, chamomile, chives, cilantro, dill, fennel, garlic chives, lavender, lemon grass, parsley, rosemary, chives, lemon balm. Orange County - Seasonal Guide to Herb Planting: http://www.ocherbsoc.org/seasons.html
Spring - Warm Weather
March - April is a good time to add in warm weather plants for summer vegetables. With school ending in May, get them in early so that you may have an opportunity to harvest before school ends. Check the local nursery for best choices for current weather conditions.
Suggestions:
Plants: artichokes, New Zealand spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, chard, lettuce, strawberries. Early April add peppers, melons, pumpkins, eggplant
Seeds (to harvest before end of school, you may want to start indoors earlier or buy plants): corn, carrots, radishes, beets, turnips, green beans, lima beans, okra, pumpkins.
Herbs: catnip, chamomile, lavender, lemon balm, lemon grass, lemon verbena, marjoram, oregano, rosemary, sage, tarragon, thyme. Orange County - Seasonal Guide to Herb Planting: http://www.ocherbsoc.org/seasons.html
Suggestions:
Plants: artichokes, New Zealand spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, chard, lettuce, strawberries. Early April add peppers, melons, pumpkins, eggplant
Seeds (to harvest before end of school, you may want to start indoors earlier or buy plants): corn, carrots, radishes, beets, turnips, green beans, lima beans, okra, pumpkins.
Herbs: catnip, chamomile, lavender, lemon balm, lemon grass, lemon verbena, marjoram, oregano, rosemary, sage, tarragon, thyme. Orange County - Seasonal Guide to Herb Planting: http://www.ocherbsoc.org/seasons.html
Square Foot Gardening
I had great success with this method. It made gardening manageable and allowed for a variety of vegetables and flowers in a small area. Try using plastic clothesline to make your grid and staple to container sides. For best results, I highly recommend removing a minimum of six inches of soil, laying down weed cloth and adding back in high quality soil. Students can measure out the grid and calculate how much cubic feet of soil will be needed. Learn more in Mel Bartholomew's book, All New Square Foot Gardening Method, (http://www.squarefootgardening.com/books/) (I have a copy in the Computer Lab). Check out this site's Memories for our first attempt at this using this method.
Herb Garden
Herbs are a great way to introduce students to gardening. Many can be grown indoors in a window that gets 6 hours of light as well as outdoors. Rosemary and chives are good choices to grow from seeds. Students will learn how what they grow can enhance their food. They will enjoy many of the pungent scents of the many herbs. Read more about herb gardens at Monterey Bay Spice Company web site. Orange County - Seasonal Guide to Herb Planting: http://www.ocherbsoc.org/seasons.html
Spring Flower Bulbs
Don't you love the beautiful spring bulb flowers such as Irises, daffodils, ranunculus, freesia (my favorite for fragrance), and anemones. Add them in pots outside your room. Plant in fall you'll be rewarded come spring. Check a local nursery for bulbs or the internet at the beginning of school for best selection. More information at links below:
Which bulbs do well in Southern California?
Learn2grow - So Cal Falling for Bulbs
Which bulbs do well in Southern California?
Learn2grow - So Cal Falling for Bulbs
Cut Flower Garden
If you want to grow flowers from seeds, try these cool weather loving flowers: sweet peas (another favorite of mine), snapdragons, calendulas, Iceland poppies, foxglove, statice, but you should plant them starting in August through December or get them as plants. Bulb flowers (see above) mixed in with these would make a beautiful bouquet. Roses are lovely but the thorns aren't a good mix with kids. Although there are some thornless roses detailed at this website - Rose Gardening Made Easy. Plant bareroot roses in winter.
Warm weather flowers, can be planted either from seed or plants from February through April. Consider tall zinnias, tall marigolds, rudbeckias, asters, Echinacea (coneflowers), cosmos, sunflowers, and zinnias.
Warm weather flowers, can be planted either from seed or plants from February through April. Consider tall zinnias, tall marigolds, rudbeckias, asters, Echinacea (coneflowers), cosmos, sunflowers, and zinnias.
Edible Flower Garden
Not only are many plants lovely to look at, they can also be added to a meal to brighten and/or add flavor. Consider nasturtiums, violets, or jonnie-jump-ups. For a good article (be sure to read the safety hints), see 42 flowers you can eat by Care2.com.
Nasturtiums are easy to grow and do great in containers and make a lovely salad addition as described in this article from the Kitchen - Container Garden Inspiration: Edible Nasturtiums. Interestingly, also don't like fertilized soil (you'll get more leaves than flowers). Plant after danger of frost.
Nasturtiums are easy to grow and do great in containers and make a lovely salad addition as described in this article from the Kitchen - Container Garden Inspiration: Edible Nasturtiums. Interestingly, also don't like fertilized soil (you'll get more leaves than flowers). Plant after danger of frost.
Three Sisters Garden
It involves the inter-planting of corn, beans, and squash together as done by native peoples or Northern America. The corn serves as a pole for the beans to grow up. Squash covers and shades the ground helping to keep out weeds. Cute idea although plants involved are most likely to really take off after school is out. Click below for a PDF of a simple, fun play to go along with this theme called The Three Sisters.
Kid's Gardening - Creating a Three Sisters Garden - http://www.kidsgardening.org/node/12033
Celebrating the Three Sisters: Corn, Beans, and Squash by guest author Alice Formiga at Renee's Garden
Kid's Gardening - Creating a Three Sisters Garden - http://www.kidsgardening.org/node/12033
Celebrating the Three Sisters: Corn, Beans, and Squash by guest author Alice Formiga at Renee's Garden
| three_sisters_play.pdf |
Hummingbird Garden
Encourage hummingbirds to visit your garden by adding a Hummingbird feeder and tubular flowers (especially red flowers) with nectar such as anise hyssop, salvias, red-hot poker, Indian paintbrush, Cardinal flower, Trumpet Flower, Cape Honeysuckle.
Attracting Hummingbirds - http://www.hummingbirds.net/attract.html
Track hummingbird migration as a citizen scientist - http://www.learner.org/jnorth/humm/index.html
Attracting Hummingbirds - http://www.hummingbirds.net/attract.html
Track hummingbird migration as a citizen scientist - http://www.learner.org/jnorth/humm/index.html
Butterfly Garden
You will need two types of plants for a butterfly garden. One for the larva to grow on and eat up and another for nectar for butterflies to feed. Anise Hyssop is an easy to grow plant. A good list of plants for both host and nectar can be found at The Butterfly Site - http://www.thebutterflysite.com/gardening.shtml.
Create a Monarch Butterfly waystation - Monarch Watch at http://www.monarchwatch.org/index.html has tons of information on the sunny Monarch Butterfly. Learn about Monarchs, their journeys, and help track them as a citizen scientists on the Journey North website.
The following lovely web site will help you identify butterflies in our area and also suggests some plants to get: Obsession with Butterflies - http://www.obsessionwithbutterflies.com/socalbutterflies.html.
Share the butterfly and moths you sight at http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/.
Create a Monarch Butterfly waystation - Monarch Watch at http://www.monarchwatch.org/index.html has tons of information on the sunny Monarch Butterfly. Learn about Monarchs, their journeys, and help track them as a citizen scientists on the Journey North website.
The following lovely web site will help you identify butterflies in our area and also suggests some plants to get: Obsession with Butterflies - http://www.obsessionwithbutterflies.com/socalbutterflies.html.
Share the butterfly and moths you sight at http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/.
Dinosaur Garden
Ellen Zachos in her book Down & Dirty has a great idea for a kids' garden. Create an age-old garden using ferns (such as Japanese painted fern, Christmas fern, cinnamon fern, rabbit's-foot fern), mosses, and cycads which are ancient plants. Add horesetails for a jungle. Leave room for plastic dinosaurs to populate your Dinosaur Garden.
Salsa Garden
This garden can be planted when the chance of a freeze is over (around March), plant tomatoes, tomatillos, onions, garlic, peppers, chilies, and cilantro. Check out Bonnie Plants link for simple to follow guide.
Pizza Garden
Similar to the Salsa Garden idea. Plant when the chance of freeze is over. A few suggestions for your pizza garden are tomatoes, basil, bell pepper, jalapeno pepper, oregano, and onion.
Senses Garden
A favorite stop of mine as a child at the Los Angeles Arboretum was the senses garden. This type of garden encourages sight, smell, taste and touch. You can even include hearing with a plant called Pigsqueak (Heartleaf Bergenia) that squeaks like a pig when rubbed between your fingers. Plants enjoyable to our gaze such as nasturtiums can even a be eaten. Smell these plants, lemon balm, mint, chocolate mint, society garlic, as they release their essential oils when rubbed between fingers. Consider these touchable plants with interesting textures suggested by Ellen Zachos in her book Down & Dirty: clary sage, lamb's ear, solanum and stonecrop. She also suggests for aromatic plants: Lavender, Rosemary, Santolina, scented geraniums (comes in dozens of scents like lemon, chocolate, nutmeg).
California Native Garden
Better Holmes and Gardens presents a nice slide show with details about top California native plants to grow. The California poppy is sure to brighten a spot in the garden. The advantage to choosing these plants are that they are better suited to the soil, climate and water conditions of our state.
Alphabet Garden
If you have enough room in your garden, select a plant to match each letter of the alphabet. Consider the Latin name as well as the familiar common names in your search. Place a marker with the letter of the alphabet and the name of the plant.
Click here is an alphabetical list of plants to consider.
Click here is an alphabetical list of plants to consider.
Heritage Garden
Encourage students to talk about their heritage. Plant plants from the student's heritage countries - either a plant from the country of their heritage and/or one commonly used in cooking from that country. An online search may help you find uncommon plants and seeds.
