The School Garden is a Go for Monday!

How absolutely exciting!  Nature Club started this week, I've got two groups of kids divided between Tuesdays and Thursdays and they're all pumped about nature.  We were given a grow kit from Dig In Manitoba that was stocked by Sage Garden Herbs .  The Tuesday group helped me plant seeds into egg cartons and we'll be transplanting most of our seedlings when the school garden is ready.   Monday night a group of volunteers will be constructing a garden bed using the Lasagna Method and soil will be delivered next week for us to use to top it off.  The plan is to grow a "three sisters" garden where corn, beans, and squash are planted together.  We were given squash, tomato, and mustard green seeds.   I think the tomato and mustard greens will help form a border along with the other herb seeds I've kicked in from my own seed stock.   I'll also be adding my own heirloom popcorn seeds and climbing beans to the garden.  I can't possibly use everything for my own garden, can I?  I've never planted a "three sisters" garden before but there's synergistic value in doing it since the beans fix nitrogen, corn needs nitrogen, and squash can just ramble along and fill in the gaps and hopefully trap some moisture so we don't have to commit to putting our lives on hold to water the garden.   If everything goes well,  by September Siloam Mission is going to have a glut of Spaghetti squash, the kids will sample the popcorn, and herb seeds will be collected for next year.  I think the tomatoes and beans will disappear mysteriously over Summer and the Mustard greens might make it to June.

I like sharing seeds when I can, especially if I know someone who loves to grow things as much as I do.  Don't you?

Glass Bottle Cutting Goes Bust and a Seed Swap

Well that sucked.  If you remember the post I made about the pic a pop bottle cutting I was going to do to get some self watering containers, it didn't work out.  I went to cut another bottle and it cracked all along the cut, so I attempted a second bottle, a third and then a fourth and they all did the same thing so I gave up.  I'm still planning on what to do with the bottles. If anyone has any neat ideas, please share. Pitching them into the recycle box is not an option.

Sheryl Gallant from http://sherylgallant.blogspot.ca/ lives in Muncho Lake, BC and is only looking for Stinging nettle and Valiant grape seeds.  She is a former resident of Ontario (moved just last year) and has a variety of heirloom tomatoes, squash seeds, lemon cucumber, tobacco and a few kinds of flowers that she grew in Ontario available to offer in trade.  Take some time and check out her blog.  She's got some absolutely gorgeous wildlife paintings displayed on her site that some of you might appreciate.  If you're able to help her out just click on email the artist on the blog site and send her a message.

That's it for now.  Nature Club is starting on Thursday and I'll fill you all in on the plans for the club after that.