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Planting Activity

Per the recommendation of our "Rising Star" mentor, this year we are enhancing the program by switching to vegetables that should bear fruit prior to the summer break. Radishes and Bush Beans were chosen for the children's experience. On February 28, 2024, the 3-year-olds chose radishes while the older children got bush bean seeds. In addition, two pots of Chinese long beans were planted.

In addition to the teacher's showing a film on planting vegetables a Master Gardener volunteer for the Botanical Gardens, Ron Muñoz, gave a short explanation and as group the children were able to answer his questions pertaining to the requirements for growing vegetables. For the project we brought several empty pots and a large bag of potting soil. The children wrote their names on the pots which were then filled with dirt. Ron gave them instructions on how deep and how many seeds to place in each pot. The children planted their seeds and watered them. Each day they were given time to water their pots.


By March 4 some sprouts were already evident.


On March 7th we built a raised bed garden in order to transfer their pots. On the 8th the children moved their pots to the garden. We planted the Chinese long beans against the fence since they need to climb on something. Sr Guadalupe had the 3-year-olds label which radish was whose so that they could water their own plants and see them mature. The bush beans of Sr Amor's children were left in the pots, but the pots were placed in the garden soil. Their pots were labeled to identify which student was responsible for which pot.


Since there was so much space left in the garden, we planted a row of Sugar Peas and a pair of tomato plants. Sr Fe moved her two pots of bush beans to the end of the garden. Over the next couple weeks, the children watered their plants and watched them grow. The bush beans did really well and some were ready for their first harvest on April 29th. The older children were instructed on how to harvest the beans. All the mature beans were then harvested and prepared to be included with their lunch that day. Most of the radishes weren't ready for harvesting yet, but Ryu's was close so it was harvested. At lunch that day the 3-5-year-olds were served the beans with their lunch. They were boiled and coated in butter.