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The FDE Summer Garden Lab volunteers have been busy maintaining the garden lab in the interior of our school and the Native Wildlife Lab in the front of our school building.  Families come each day of the week to water, weed, and harvest.  There are so many ways our families use the space during the summer as they care for our special spaces, like reading together, picnics, and summer wildlife observations.  Many of our students who are in the building for summer school have the opportunity to explore the garden, plant seeds with Mrs. Cunningham, and use the space to relax.

Crops like raspberries, blueberries, potatoes, sweet peas, bush beans, watermelon radishes, kale, and lettuce are harvested throughout the summer.

Thank you to our amazing summer volunteers!  The garden lab continues to look amazing all summer long!

Summer in the garden lab is filled with our amazing FDE summer garden lab volunteers.  Our families have cared for our special space with watering and weeding.  Families have already started to harvest crops ready to cook and eat with their families, including chard, kale, radishes, carrots, herbs, raspberries, blueberries, cabbage, and more.  We are excited about a very special pumpkin plant that Kindergarten planted.  This particular variety of pumpkins could grow as big as 800 + pounds.  Families have enjoyed reading, having picnics, harvesting, and observing nature.

With more COVID restrictions lifted, we are pleased that our FDE Garden Lab Summer volunteer program is in full swing with a wonderful group of families committed to caring for the garden this summer.  June has already provided our families with the harvest of lettuce and kale from the first grade and kindergarten crops, strawberries, and raspberries. Blueberries have arrived at the end of June with raspberries becoming plentiful.  July marks the beginning of the potato and onion harvest with tomatoes appearing on the vines.  Families enjoy caring for the garden, harvesting, having a picnic, or reading a good book.  Birds are busy with their babies and the first Monarch butterfly was spotted flying out from our Monarch waystation.  Bees are busy buzzing in and out of the lavender.  Life is flourishing in our special space!

This summer was the most unusual due to COVID restrictions and the closure of schools.  The life in the garden lab went on despite all that was occurring outside of its walls.  Even without the typical care throughout the summer, the crops grew that had been planted in March. The blueberries, raspberries, sunflowers, zennias, garlic, carrots, fennel, herbs, figs, gourds, turnips, and more all grew and were harvested by the end of the summer and into the new school year. Although a bit on the wild side when our garden lab coordinator, Mrs. Cunningham and Pop returned and were allowed back in. The garden was thriving, bursting with life, and had a large bounty of crops to offer both the staff and the community at large.

Our summer volunteers are busy caring for the garden, planting and harvesting.

The Fallon family created a yummy breakfast with fresh ingredients from the farmers market and the FDE garden lab:  Mushrooms, scapes, squash egg and cheese from the farmers market. 
Kale from our FDES garden.

Rain, Rain, Go Away...come again another day!  We would never have guessed how wet the garden lab would be this summer, but this did not deter our amazing garden lab volunteers from being there to weed and to water when necessary.  The raised bed that the first graders planted with beans, chard, and nasturtiums (edible flowers) was the most successful as far as crop production.

Our cabbage and kale crop was doing great until eaten by a pest, but our spirits stayed high as we replanted for a fall crop with lettuce and carrots.  One brave family braved the rainy weather to plant the crop and harvest some chard to enjoy at home.

There were many discoveries by our volunteers to include our first apple on the espalier apple tree.  I wonder what color it will be:  red, green, or yellow.

Thank you to all of our summer volunteers for taking care of the garden lab!  We hope you enjoyed all the treasures and adventures that the garden has to offer.

Huge harvest crops abound in the garden lab this summer with the help of our amazing and dedicated FDE family volunteers!  Our summer volunteers have reported that they have harvested sweet peas, carrots, squash, lettuce, chard, cucumbers, cilantro, basil, and other herbs.  Families are cooking their favorite dishes and trying new recipes with the harvest.  Watering and weeding becomes magical as plants grow and produce along with the countless discoveries of different insects, birds, and butterflies!

The FDE Garden Lab is having huge success this summer due to another year of dedicated FDE family volunteers who keep the garden watered and weeded each and every day.

Reports from the volunteers have been so positive as they enjoy observing the changes and living things in the garden.  Volunteers have been able to enjoy the "garden to table" experience as they harvest, prepare, and eat a variety of crops.  One of our most popular has been the huge cabbage crop that third - fifth grade planted.  The families that have been coming for lunch this summer and FDE volunteers have enjoyed eating cabbage, beans, lettuce, chard, Russian kale, cucumbers, and tomatoes.  Yummy!

Many of our families are taking the fresh produce and creating traditional dishes, such as the Baptista family who used our cabbage to make Hawaiian Kalua cabbage. 

Our Native garden is flourishing and the herb boxes provide a wide range of herbs, such as oregano, basil, parsley, and more to provide some flavor to the dishes being made at home. 

We have an increased variety of butterflies to include our first sighting of a Monarch at the second grade butterfly garden along with a variety of birds visiting our new birdhouse.  Nature abounds our wonderful garden lab this summer! 

The FDE Garden Lab has been thriving this summer due to the amazing FDE family and staff summer volunteers.  The young FDE gardeners in the picture were extra excited to harvest the cucumbers and plan on learning how to pickle the cucumbers.  The FDE garden volunteers have been harvesting sweet peas, cucumbers, tomatoes, rosemary, lavender, figs, strawberries, mustard leaves, and collards.  There will be squash and beans ready for harvest soon.

Thank you to our FDE Summer Volunteers - the Lamb family, the Foster family, the Pake family, the Settipani family, the Allder family, and the Cox family.  Our garden lab is weeded, watered, and harvested daily due to these wonderful families!  Thank you to Mark Pankau from Guilford Elementary School for helping excavate the new area for the new raised bed and native plant garden.

Mark Pankau from Guilford Elementary School saved the day by helping Mrs. Cunningham excavate for the new native plant garden, pathways, and the area for the new raised bed.