Link to Additional Information Via SBISD News

Mrs. Parker made sure the word was out about the gardens!

http://sbisdsnapshots.blogspot.com/2012/10/woodview-elementary-volunteers-build.html

Early Stages

February 11, 2013 Apple blossum

We are moving along.

Pictures of the First Days

Yesterday we staked out the ground after school, with cinder blocks stacked nearby and soil in a huge pile not far away.

We had wonderful Woodview students and their parents, as well as awesome students from Spring Woods High School helping with some really heavy work! A HUGE THANK YOU TO EVERYONE THAT CAME OUT!! We also appreciate our principal Neda Scanlan for allowing us to set up the gardens and dig holes for fruit trees in the courtyard. 

A Houston Chronicle photographer came out to take photographs. Maybe we will be in the newspaper, again. Oh, take a look at today's front page (Vol. 111, No. 331) has a great article ("Roots grow deep on this short street", by Kyrie O'Connor) about 1960sWoodview students living on Centennial Street who have become extraordinary successful Americans in their careers. Woodview will continue this legacy as the administrators, parents, teachers, students and the community work to strive for the success of this young generation that have the future ahead of them.  

We had wheelbarrows, too! Monday we will be clean and ready for school and a new day to learn. We were so fortunate to have a day that wasn't 100+ degrees outside. There was a breeze, as well. When all was said and done I couldn't even wring sweat out of my bandanna!

Groundbreaking

We are planning to build the gardens on Saturday, September 8th, beginning at 7:30. Bad weather day is the following Saturday, the 15th. There will cold water and snow cones to help fight the heat. We plan to prepare beds for four 12' X 4' raised beds using 16" cinder blocks. A labor of love. Thank you to Cowboy Trucking, Inc. for their generous (http://cowboytopsoilhouston.com/) discount on bed soil and the Lowe's for the discount on tools and cinder blocks. We look forward to seeing volunteers on the 8th at Woodview.

A Link for Other Gardening Methods

CLICK ON THIS LINK:

http://woodviewkenna.blogspot.com/2012/08/indoor-gardening.html

Mr. Kenna created a site with an interesting idea for other types of gardens! Super!

Sample Irrigation

Garden Frontiers

What materials will we use?

On the left are decorative bricks.

On the right is a single layer of landscape timbers.

Feeding and Watering Imaginations

Here are some ideas for an irrigation system made from PVC pipe.

Here is a top down view of the handiwork of a  my brother-in-law's herb garden. The pipes are originally for plumbing projects, but can be adapted in other useful ways. A three dimensional puzzle!

This view is from the bottom up. See the T-fittings?

There are holes in the PVC pipes so watering can occur.

The timing device has a plastic container beneath it so that concentrated fertilizer can be fed in with the regular water. What irrigation system do you think would work for your garden? What tools and materials would you need? 

Starting the Recipe For Success Program at Woodview Elementary School, Houston, Tx

Kate, the after school coordinator, oversees the start up of the Seed-To-Plate program at Woodview Elementary School in Spring Branch ISD. Along with Kate, there are Liberty, Susan and me working together to start a journey in establishing student owned gardens that will help children learn about nutrition, tending a garden and cooking healthy foods from the food grown in the garden. We are very excited! Be on the lookout for upcoming photos and comments. Please feel free to add suggestions, comments, or questions to this blog!