This is a weekly look at what is happening in the school garden to assist teacher educators engage their students in agriculture. It can be used by garden students of all ages however!
CCS GTS Teachers! Keep your eyes open on your email for an email from Lauren Preston to pick your times for end of the season focus group times.
Let’s check out the forecast. It looks pretty good.
It looks like we will have some planting weather going forward! I will provide guidance below in this email.
The weather predictions for the rest of the school year look great for planting, transplanting, and harvesting outdoors.
This is a great prediction for a future harvest from the raised beds.
Outside in the raised beds:
It looks like we have a good window of opportunity to plant outside in the raised beds. I would do my planting any day from Wednesday to Friday this week. If you have leftover seeds from fall here is what you can plant: radishes, peas, cilantro, lettuce, kale, and bok choy. Any cool season vegetable can be planted now. If you have some seeds in your classroom of other varieties let me know and I am happy to provide any recommendations or guidance.
Please Note: Plant your peas in the middle of the raised bed as they will get the tallest. Meaning down the middle in the tallest part of the raised bed.
If you have transplants in the raised bed growing right now, I recommend that you fertilize them every two weeks by mixing the pink Miracle Gro fertilizer in your watering can when you water. If you need seeds or fertilizer contact Katie and she can check to see what she has.
Inside in the Aerogarden:
Tomatoes are growing in the Aerogarden. Follow the instructions for tomato planting carefully. Make sure you are checking water levels and fertilize as needed. Make sure you check water levels each Friday before you leave school so that the water level does not drop too low over the weekend. CLICK HERE for the Aerogarden planting guide.
Make sure to check your water level and fertilize as needed to keep the plants healthy. Keep your lights about 1-2″ from the leaves to avoid leggy plants. Remember If you started two plants in your Aerogardens, you might need to thin to only one plant or they will overwhelm the Aerogarden eventually. You will need to start pollinating your tomato flowers once they appear. Check the Aerogarden site for guidance on pollinating. You will also need to do some pruning of your tomato plants to keep them growing correctly.
All of that is detailed very well in the Aerogarden Tomato Guide –> tomato_planting_guide
Inside under LED lights.
How do your plants look under the LED lights? Make sure you continue to fertilize every two weeks as they grow. The bigger they get the more you will have to water.
Make sure that you fertilize your outside plants every two weeks mixed in water according to the label. Contact Katie if you need more fertilizer. It is the pink crystal one for indoor seed starting and watering plants outside, not the Aerogarden fertilizer. If you have some Shake and Feed from prior years that would be a good choice.
This week in transplanting:
- Tuesday: Keep the raised bed covered to build up heat, start the hardening off process by placing transplants outside for a few hours to acclimate to the outdoor world. Bring them inside before you leave for the day.
- Wednesday: A good day to harden off seedlings for a few hours. A good day to plant under row cover if this is your only option to plant.
- Thursday and Friday: Good planting dates. Be careful about thunderstorms. The predicted rain will be helpful to new transplants.
- Be sure to re-cover your beds after you transplant.
- Use only row cover and not the extra plastic layer so that the plants get watered when it rains.
Check out the transplanting video below to help with the process:
I want to thank the students at Eastmoor Academy. I had a wonderful time planting with them this morning. They named a tomato after me which is much appreciated.
Any questions? Feel free to email me at mcdermott.15@osu.edu