Lasagna anyone?!

We braved the weather forecast and did it! 

There is a new technique of reclaiming sod.  Instead of digging (hard work!) grass layers and composting, you can cover lawn with cardboard, soil, compost, leaves to create a new 'lasagna' layered garden bed.  It disturbs the natural soil less (no worms are hurt in the process...!) and is easier work (well, we will find out).  On Sunday January 8th, Lisa Scott, Dana Kemes, Jen Lum, Shera Paterson and Tamara will experiment with this method in the small area west of the gym.  There is a protected area that has a tree and some shrubs.  We will let the area 'sit' in the winter, knowing we will have a good 'crop' space for classrooms to plant in April and May.  We will add more soil when we purchase a load.

With our new planter boxes thanks to Ms Ingrams class going to Tupper, we will have 6 'crop' areas for classrooms to plant something that they can harvest the first week of school.

Lisa shared this - If anyone is curious about what “lasagnaing” (!) is, here’s an example of one website:

http://organicgardening.about.com/od/startinganorganicgarden/a/lasagnagarden.htm

Update;
We will be attaching our Wolfe Garden Plan to this blog.
We have applied for funding to last a few years of enhancement.
Hopefully we can host some Open Houses this year to get teacher, student, family and community feedback.  The swings and rings will come down by 2013 so we need to plan now for a great space to replace it!

Garden Committee is meeting with Ms Jamieson Monday January 9th at 1pm.

Lasagna and salad... we could grow lettuce and have a lasagna & caesar combo.... or wheat... or sunflowers.... just kidding - crop to be determined when we work with the classrooms!
As always, ideas, comments, assistance always welcome.  generalwolfegardens@gmail.com

Garden Math = Hidden Treasure

Sharpen your pencils!

Q:  What do you get when you add 4 parents, 7 students and 2 hours of work?
Then add 4 loads of free bulbs?!
A:  Surprises are buried in the boulevards - about 200 of them!
Last spring, even in the hail, we put in all kinds of bulbs, free through Green Streets notices.  We have planted a variety of bulbs from Queen Elizabeth Park and City Hall.

The City of Vancouver Green Streets Program has about 500 roundabouts and traffic bulges throughout Vancouver now - and they started 'accidentally' when a bird feeder above a traffic calming bulge dropped seeds that sprouted sunflowers!  It started not far from Wolfe in a nearby catchment about 15 years ago - and is studied around the world.  We have a photo book in our library celebrating Green Streets.

Keep your eyes on those gardens for wee shoots of new growth as the days get longer and we head into spring!

The pencils above are in Mr. Russ Evans' classroom at Tupper, where Ms Ingram's Grade 7's have one more day to complete 4 planter boxes that will become 'crop' beds for students here at Wolfe.


Thanks to May Ke, Andrea Schnarr, Lisa Scott, Dana Kemes & Shera Paterson for planting last spring!
We look forward to the hidden treasures (and mystery of what colour was what!) emerging in the coming months as we head into longer days and warmer temperatures!

Planter Box Project Underway!

As mentioned in the school newsletter, Ms Ingram's Grade 6/7 class has been at the Tupper Woodshop.  Smelling like cedar from the outside of the building, they have been hard at work cutting, drilling, hammering, measuring and, of course, making pencil rockets! The VSB Career Programs Coordinator was also onsite taking photos of the good work in progress.  The students are building 'lego blocks' which will be stacked and assembled using metal pieces (lots of math to calculate how many!!)

With wood they say, measure twice, cut once...  some action photos of mentoring.

Turns out some of the Tupper students were the reading buddies when the Grade 7's were in Kindergarten - now there's some value added community crossover!!  

BONUS - extra planter box!
We also received some free wood from UBC - Mr Russ Evans (the woodshop teacher at Tupper responsible for organizing the students) has toured the Wolfe grounds.  The Wolfe PAC Garden Committee wants to build a small planter box on the east facing wall of the teachers parking lot.  Then everyone will be able to see the plants, its a great location for light and heat, and its a 'ball-free' zone which means the plants will survive (not so for the planter boxes opposite the Sparetime door.

Handy People Wanted!
IF anyone (handy dads?) want to help design this extra box, take measurements, or help build it onsite (spring), just email generalwolfegardens@gmail.com

Dedication to Composting!

Thanks to Salt Spring Coffee, we have this fabulous non-stinky carbon lids so that the compost can be collected Fridays by the Green Team!   We love this photo of the Sparetime garbage can/composter - so you can't miss separating the peels from the plastic!  The Garden Committee will use the compost created to nourish our gardens next spring!  Thanks to Salt Spring and to every student that remembers to compost.

Dedicated Green Team Raking the Snow

          

Shoveling miniature snowballs with the last of the leaves, a very strong Green Team group enjoyed themselves! Nobody wanted to go inside and eat lunch until they had worked up an appetite!

Leaf Trimmings Bins Wanted

Even if you are not a gardener, you can help!

We need some empty green bins to fill with excess leaves.
The Green Team has topped up the composters (the fruit and veggies need some leafy matter to compost), and we have some saved piles of leaves to add throughout the year. However, we need some more empty bins to fill.

The City of Vancouver Green Streets Program hosts over 500 gardens throughout the city that citizens and community groups maintain, and it is a model copied around the world.  At the Green Streets Annual Party in October 2011, the history was shared - the first traffic calming bulge had a bird feeder above it, and the sunflowers fell on the new dirt and sprouted!  So the sunflower planting has come full circle, because that is why the Wolfe PAC took over our 11 Green Street Boulevard gardens, to protect our sunflower plantings in spring 2010!  There is a beautiful photo book from Green Streets that was created for the Olympics, and a copy is in our Wolfe library.

If you want to loan us your bin, wheel it to the school and let the Garden Committee know (via tamaral@telus.net)

Thank you

Tupper Tech Students Ready!

Tupper Students received wood today.  The students are standing in front of a load of 4 inch by 4 inch pieces that will be used to create 'lego block' style construction of planter boxes.  These boxes will be used to grow plants next spring.  It is a similar design to the 'Primary Potato Patch' box that we used last year, which was also built at Tupper.  It is located between the annex and the tennis court area.  We are hoping that a Grade 6/7 class of Wolfe Students will be able to work alongside these skilled students.  We have enough wood for 4 more planter boxes.  For 3 days, they get to go to 'high school'!  Stay tuned to this blog for more details.