Welcome to Guilford County Cooperative Extension School Garden Network team blog! We hope this can be a space for everyone involved in school gardening in Guilford County to share their experiences. Lets let each other know about what works, and troubleshoot what doesn't!

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Greenhouse space for school gardeners

Heather Sparks, Community Gardener Coordinator at Keeley Park wants to partner with interested School Garden teachers and parents. They have a greenhouse where you can grow seedlings during the winter to transfer to your school garden in the spring. Space is limited so contact her soon if you are interested!

heather.sparks@greensboro-nc.gov

4100 Keeley Rd.  McLeansville NC 27301



Monday, November 21, 2016

GCS High School Service-Learning Ambassador Training was held Saturday November 19th at Dudley High School




What a wonderful opportunity for groups like ours to network with junior and senior GCS High School students interested in service-learning! As Service Learning Ambassadors they will take the information back to share with their fellow students. We got to talk to 150 students as they rotated to our tables over a three hour period.
See below a list of High Schools whose representatives signed up with interest in doing service learning with our k-8 school gardens. We can send you contact info if you are interested in working with students from one of these schools.


Northwest HS   Northern Guilford HS       
STEM Early College@ NCA&T
Ragsdale HS             Dudley HS                 
Early College@Guilford College
Page HS                    Andrews HS                
Middle College@Bennett
Eastern Guilford HS  EMC@GTCC               
Middle College@UNCG  The Academy@Smith



**A special thank you to Yvonne Eason Coordinator, Character Development & Service-Learning and her team for sponsoring this GCS event!

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Irving Park Elementary Create or Revive a School Garden

Our School Garden Workshop at Irving Park Elementary October 20th was a lot of fun and very informative. Sarah Crawford from Caldcleugh Multicultural Arts Center shared her strategies for teaching in the garden.





Karen Neill, Director of Coop Extension, Quina Weber-Shirk, and Noah McDonald FoodCorps service members, also shared their experience and enthusiasm! Saydie Payne 4-H agent provided activities for the children. What a beautiful afternoon to learn about school gardens! 



Sunday, October 9, 2016

Students at High School Ahead Academy Clean-up Herb Garden!

The campus is coming right along, new gardeners this year in the Middle School weeding our herbs that have done 
fantastic!!!! Thank you NC unit Herb Society!
 High School Ahead Academy!
Greensboro, NC




School Garden Workshop just for you!


Monday, July 11, 2016

Hampton Gardening Update
The gardening event on Saturday June 4 was a TERRIFIC success, as evidence in the attached photos:·         4 raised beds installed in new area to the west (notice – no sun in that area until about 9 AM, but I am thinking that we will get 6 hours starting around mid-day)·         3 new raised beds, including one creative triangle!, in the existing gardening area·         Cardboard under the beds should retard grass through the summer·         Soil in the new beds contains fertilizer; we will need to provide some supplemental nutrients for the other beds·         Plantings, current area: tomatoes, peppers, bush beans and sweet potatoes·         Plantings, new area: cucumbers, squash and one tomato

TO DO:Monday June 13 – clear the two beds of pansies and daffodils, save daffodil bulbs; add supplemental soil;  separate transplants that are too crowded and spread them into these beds.Monday July 18 (tentative) – interactive day with students as follow up to their reading assignments; need produce from farmers market to show what the vegetables will look like at time of harvest
Harvest – around August 4, we should have the first green beans, squash, cucumbers, and early tomatoes.Harvest of these plants should continue for 3 to 4 weeks, if they are cared for and harvested regularly
Sweet potatoes should be harvested right after Labor Day, and must be cured in a dark place for six weeks before eating.

Suggestions for the use of additional grant money – we need analytical instruments to measure soil temperature, moisture, pH AND weather station to measure rainfall and temperature.
It would be nice to have an outdoor classroom sitting area – perhaps benches on the opposite side of the walkway facing the gardens.