Big Birtha!

Olivia harvests a Big Birtha cucumber over winter break.

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Garden Clubbers Harvest

A few Garden Clubbers harvest green beans during the busy midterm exam week! Thanks!


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More Gifts from the Garden

You'll find these delicious greens, radishes, and green beans in the cafeteria Tuesday or Wednesday--fresh from the community garden. Leo and Nick came by to help with the harvest. Thanks guys!

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First of the Green Beans Goes to Table

- Posted by Scott

Garden Club Photo (2011-2012)

Annie P. did a great job making our first annual Garden Club photo collage!

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First lettuce harvest!

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Caterpillar Invasion!

Just when we started to feel euphoric about how beautifully our garden was coming along, the aliens arrived...




These great horned caterpillars showed up late last week and quickly spread to all the beds and started chowing on our tomato and pepper plants. Luckily, many faculty gardeners helped find and remove the pests, and hopefully we can get them under control before they cause a lot of damage.

We are also experimenting with organic pesticides, though they don't seem to phase the green monsters.



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First harvest!

This is a picture of Alicia's first harvest! It is also the first harvest from the community garden.

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Monarch Butterfly Caterpillars

. . . In Mr. Hayes' Garden







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Students Staking Tomato Plants

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Giancarlo on Square-Foot Gardening

Giancarlo's knowledge about and enthusiasm for square-foot gardening shines through in this video filmed spontaneously in the Community Garden.

Garden Club Meeting

Isaac and Patrick plant some Romain lettuce.








Jenna plants some chocolate mint.




Andrea waters the newly planted seeds and plants.

Gardens Growing!

Jessies' Garden. This is how they do it in Ohio.




Yvonne's garden is going vertical.




Peggy and Gary show us how it's done!

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Ms. Pasqualin's Garden Bed

Ms. Pasqualin and her 7th grade students working in their garden space... They combine gardening with the study of early American crops and are growing what the Colonists grew in their first settlements. Such "hands on" learning helps make traditional, text-based learning relevant and fun.

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Garden Club Girls Planting

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Student Planting Day (video)

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Garden Club Begins Planting

Sasha and Annie planting tomato and bell pepper plants.




Nick and Giancarlo consult over garden strategy.




Greg dons the gardening hat and gloves.




Zack shows up after school to plant his taters.




Olivia, Annie, Sasha, and Madison prep another garden bed for planting.

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Students Building Garden Beds

Here the LAS II students are building the wooden grids that give square foot gardens their distinctive look.

Photos by Zach

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Irrigation System Overview - How it Works

This video provides a description of the irrigation system in the community garden--something all faculty/staff and student gardeners should become familiar with.

Students Begin Planting!

Leo maxing out his square foot garden.

Jordan planting some beautiful tomato vines.

Giancarlo planting tomato vines he started from heirloom seeds.

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Community Garden "Before" Video

Here is a short video showing the community garden in the first phases of planting.

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Faculty Planting Begins!

Planting in the MCDS Community Garden officially kicked off today! Students will begin planting Monday through the end of October!

Alecia beats the crowd and plants her garden first!

Jesse plants his famous Stokes heirloom seeds.

Yvonne begins her great tomato experiment.

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Gravel Paths Started and Soil Enriched!

Kings of the Gravel Hill: Zack, Jordan, Leo, and Zach! 

Giancarlo and Greg working on the gravel pathway

Alec spreads the gravel skillfully with the hoe!

Leo hands off a sack of Organic Choice.

Yep, that's a 40 pound sack of soil . . .

We'll mix this organic compost in to enrich our soil.

Leo says: "Master the wheelbarrow; don't let the wheelbarrow master you!"

This load is child's play for Zack.

Garden Beds Filled with Soil!

The students in my LAS II are busy finishing up a research paper on square foot gardening, so I thought I'd write this week's post since so much has happened in the community garden this week.

The infrastructure for the irrigation is in place.  We'll use a drip system (as apposed to a sprinkler system), which will allow us to use up to 80% less water since none will be sprayed into the air or on the plant leaves, where it merely evaporates.  As you know, water shortages are becoming a serious issue in South Florida, and so we've consciously tried to factor in water conservation into our community garden plans.  In this photo, you can see an empty garden bed with the weed liner and the PVC pipe that will eventually connect to a soaker hose.


Our soil mix (an 18 yard truckload) was delivered last Thursday.  We purchased it from A1A Soil, Sand, and Sod in Homestead.  It is an organic mix consisting of 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 vermiculite, and 1/3 cow manure/vegetable compost.  It's really light and friable soil based on the mix developed the inventor of square foot gardening, Mel Bartholomew.

Given the South Florida growing season is pretty much ready to commence, I felt the need to get the soil into the beds ASAP.  We are aiming for an October 15 planting date, and the soil must be in the beds before the irrigation system can be fully installed next week.  Dr. Davies and Dr. Bernstein helped me fill the beds Saturday morning.  We had a great time sweating and getting dirty and drinking loads of Gatorade.   

Here's a photo of the garden beds filled with soil!  It was a load off my mind (pardon the pun) knowing this task was complete.  Next week, the students will mix more organic compost into the soil beds then build and install the wooden lath grids that give square foot garden beds their distinct look.

4' x 4' Raised Garden Bed with Soil

A Shot of the Community Garden (Phase 1) - Raised Beds Filled with Soil

Scott Brennan, Community Garden Coordinator

"Let's Put the Country Back in Miami Country Day School!"