Perhaps no one has as much faith that great things can grow from tiny seeds as small-time gardeners. At the Vegetable Project, this faith includes a firm belief that small contributions can really add up.
Thus, we ask you to keep an eye out for Boxtops for Education labels, which you can find on scores of Continue reading
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Posted in School garden, Teaching
Our garden initiative is built to a significant extent on the idea that some of the most important teaching and learning occurs rather casually, when we make connections and then build on those connections. That’s a big reason we placed a grow light and a tray of plants in the library at Albany High School.
With scores of students and staff members passing the display all day long, we Continue reading
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Posted in School garden, Teaching
School gardeners are often asked, especially at this time of year, “So what are you going to do in th
e winter?”
Without a doubt, Upstate New York winter narrows our options. But choosing the right plants and providing them with a measure of protection can stretch the growing season into pretty chilly months. Thus, the Garden Club at Albany High School ought to be able to get one more harvest of leafy greens in tomorrow, even after temperatures in the mid-20s the past couple of nights. Continue reading
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Posted in Four-season growing, School garden
Albany High Garden Club members picked perhaps a hundred apples from the old apple tree near the teachers’ parking lot on Monday. With the right tools now in hand, the take will probably be several times that next year. And wouldn’t it be great to get another tree or two in the ground in the spring?
Club members took apples home. They’ll share a bucket with food sciences teacher Eleanor Sicluna. And they’ll offer apple slices in the school in the days ahead as a vehicle for talking up joining the club and taking an interest in our plant endeavors.
—Bill Stoneman
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Posted in School garden
Thinking about sprucing up your home with spring flowers from fall-planted bulbs? We have just what you are looking for with our Flower Power Fundraising bulb sale. And when you make a purchase, the Vegetable Project receives half of the sales price, which supports our effort to put more grow lights in classrooms and build more hoop houses and generally create more hands-on learning opportunities for Albany students. Please take a look at the offering.
—Bill Stoneman
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Posted in School garden, Uncategorized
The school leaders at Saint Anne Institute have kindly offered use of a beautiful heated greenhouse on its campus to Albany High School and Abrookin Career and Technical Center. And as slightly captured in the accompanying photo, we have begun exploring how to put this great opportunity to use.
With as much as 1,000 square feet of heated and sun-lit space about 10 minutes Continue reading
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Posted in Four-season growing, Greenhouses, Planting, School garden, Teaching
A big thanks to our friend, retired Albany school district teacher George Benson, for a link to a television report about a school garden initiative in Kansas City, Mo. Please take a look.
Quite hearteningly, educators talk about many of the same reasons that we offer for growing plants, and especially edible plants. It can foster eating healthier Continue reading
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Posted in School garden, Teaching, Uncategorized
Our garden at Myers Middle School is fairly hidden behind the school building. The new garden at Albany High School, however, is about as visible as can be. It’s just inside the school property from North Main Avenue. It’s just across the interior road from soccer fields, where hundreds and hundreds of families gather Saturday mornings in the spring and fall. We’re in full view of passers-by on Main. And most of the high school faculty and staff drive right by the six raised Continue reading
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Posted in School garden, Teaching
What in the world are those straw cylinders in the accompanying pictures? In simplest terms, they’re our latest experiment at the garden at Myers Middle School. They’re potato towers. And the leaves beginning to poke out the sides are from potato plants within.
Cremilda Dias, who spurs us to give many unfamiliar approaches a try, says she didn’t invent this. And indeed, a quick Google search for “potato tower” yields 13 million results. Still, chances are this is new to most of us.
Construction is simple. A piece of wire fencing is pulled into a cylinder and Continue reading
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Posted in Compost, School garden
The new garden at Albany High is in quite an exposed location. That is to say that, among other things, that trouble-makers must see it all the time. Presumably people who damage things that don’t belong to them drive and bike and walk up and down North Main Avenue. So what were the organizers of this garden thinking? And is it going to be safe without a fence around it?
The first question is easy to answer. In addition to lots of sun, the site is near Continue reading
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Posted in School garden, Science
Strut your stuff in a stylish Vegetable Project T-shirt for $15. It's a great way to show you support creating hands-on learning opportunities for Albany kids.