This Weekend - the Edible Garden Festival @ Fairchild - Fun for the Whole Family!

Click here for the event schedule:

http://www.fairchildgarden.org/Events/?date=2010-09&eventID=455

Tree-lemma Dilemma and More

As part of our plan to eradicate whitefly, the gumbo limbo and palm trees around the playground will be treated today, and the banana trees sprayed with a saltwater solution. Then we will take over their treatment using neem oil. Special thanks to Adrian Hunsberger for diagnosing the type of whitefly and to Katie Manhire for coordinating treatment, and to the ten families who agreed to adopt a banana tree! We'll meet today, Friday, at 3:15 pm.

In other garden news, Jaquelina has been planting with many classes - and many of those seeds have grown into seedlings. This week the second after-school garden class welcomed three more students and the first class is at capacity. The children are busy in the garden and the curricula will evolve as the garden evolves. Now that they have prepared the beds and started seedlings, students will transplant, weed, tend to the plants and explore the garden with Jaqui as their guide. This year we plan to teach more about seed saving, through which children will come to understand the lifecycle and reproduction cycle of plants.

In yet more news, we were happy to welcome Roger Horne back to the garden last week. He brought heirloom squash for the kids to plant, and tended to the mulberry, cherry and guava trees his organization donated to the school last year. The kids loved working with Roger again. Thanks, Roger!

Please visit the garden for a sneak peek of what's to bloom. Good things are happening in the garden.

Calling All Families!

The Smoothie Garden needs YOUR help. We’ve met our opponent and its name is whitefly. We’ve sprayed the trees and cut them back, but they need more attention than we and our gardener can give. Since we’re using an organic solution, it will take diligence to rid the garden of this pest. We’re asking you and your family to ADOPT a banana tree. Taking care of your tree will involve watering and spraying the leaves and trunk each week. We’ll provide the sprayers and soap. Four of the trees have new flowers and fruit, but it will take some effort to save them. Please let us know if you have room in your family for a tree! Thank you!

In the news!

The new garden beds are installed, making our garden look more established than experimental. Thank you to the Garden Club, and many parents and students in our community who put them together and filled them with soil. Students will start planting this week; so, in the next few weeks, look for green shoots :)

The banana trees have been sprayed with an organic soap solution, so we hope that the trees recover completely. We lost some bananas, but the new growth is stronger and healthier.

In the news, we had a great showing at the beach clean up this past weekend! A small group of us ran into local weatherman, Jeff Berardelli, south of Fifth Street. See us at http://cbs4.com/video/?id=101389@wfor.dayport.com Thank you Channel 4 for the shout out! Our kids are making a difference!

What's Up, What's Down

We’re so grateful to have an exceptional group at the school working on environmental issues - so fantastic, dedicated and visionary, we’ve changed our name from the Green Committee to the Environmental Action Team (EAT). Here are some upcoming events:

Raising the Beds

Tuesday, 9/21, 2:00-4:00pm @ South Pointe Elementary

Roll up your sleeves to build garden beds! The Garden Club will lead the activity, but all kids and parents are welcome to come...the more hands, the better!

Weekly Weeders

Every Wednesday, 1:00-4:00pm – Smoothie Garden

Our garden needs a little TLC. Please stop by with the kids to pick up a weed or two. It’s still hot out there, so wear covered shoes, bring a hat and something to drink. Thank you!

Miami Coastal Clean Up Day

Saturday, 9/25, 9:00am – all over

The clean up is up and down Miami Dade County; the site in our neighborhood is the South Pointe Jetty Park, sponsored by ECOMB. Please register you and your child today! In the organization slot, fill in South Pointe Elementary.

Visit: http://www.miamidadecoastalcleanup.org to register

If you’ve stopped by the Smoothie Garden you’ve noticed a few downed trees. We hope to resuscitate them. Also , it seems we have an infestation of some sort of pest that leaves white circles all over the trees. Dumbfounded, we have calls into our banana experts, but if you know a banana guru please let us know!

Welcome Back!

Welcome back to another school year, and the gardens' 2nd year! Thank you to our garden supporters and volunteers who established the gardens last year! The gardens wouldn’t be here without you! And thank you to our volunteers who tended the gardens over the hot summer months, especially the Elliot, Prescott and Weaver families.

This year SPE is a Fairchild Challenge School. This means the gardens will have comprehensive support from Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden! More information on this collaboration will be forthcoming.

The Smoothie Garden blossomed this summer, literally. Two banana trees sprung forth gorgeous, monstrous red and purple flowers and two ripening groups of bananas. Two papaya trees are flowering, growing and ripening papayas. The short tree is a Jamaican variety, and the taller tree is from store seeds, which we believe were cultivated in Belize. The milkweed plant along the wall ballooned and played host to a family of monarch chrysalises and butterflies.

The trees are towering and so are the weeds. To that end, we're starting a Weekly Weeder program every Wednesday from 1:00-4:00 pm. We'll gather in the Smoothie Garden to weed, whack dead leaves and water. Stay for 3 minutes or 3 hours, come one week or every week: whatever help you can give is very much appreciated by us and the plants! Of course, working in the garden is not limited to Wednesdays; you're welcome to pull up weeds any day of the week and bring a friend because company makes it all the more fun!

Regarding the Organic Edible Garden in front of the school, we’ve hired a fantastic gardening teacher, Jaquelina, who will engage teachers and students in the gardens, tend to them and run the after-school garden club on Tuesdays. In September, we will have ONE volunteer day to get the beds in order, and that will be all!

We look forward to another great green year at South Pointe Elementary!

Preparing for Summer: Some Thanks

Thank you to Liz, Steve, Kim, Lisa (and Max) for working in the garden today! Stubborn weeds in the Smoothie Garden were coerced by shovel, hoe and brute strength, but we can now see the trees from the weeds - and it's looking good! One Jamaican papaya tree flowered and fruited, while another boasts tiny buds. The banana trees are gaining inches in height and have sprouted one to four pups each. Surrounded by dry, sandy soil, the banana trees enjoyed a deep watering this morning only to be topped off by afternoon storms.

While parents worked in the Smoothie Garden, SPE students minded the Organic Edible Garden beds. Thank you to our energetic students and their enthusiastic (and very patient) teachers! Ms. Brisuela and Mr. Londono's classes tilled the vegetable beds, pulled many weeds and turned the soil countless times, while Ms. Hendrickson's class finished the job and checked the almost-ready compost. The compost will be used to fertilize the Smoothie Garden before school breaks for summer (next week!).

Last, but not least, thank you to the hose-and-nozzle-fairy family, the Weavers. It was a great surprise yesterday morning to find two extra-long hoses and two brand-new nozzles by the garden shed! Thank you!