Gesu Gardens
From GLGI
FIESTA PARTY
On Monday, October 22nd, Gesu celebrated the harvest with a feast from the garden: pasta with tomato sauce, salsa and chips, sweet potato pie, carrot cake, corned beef and cabbage, among other things. Here are a few pictures from the day. Click on them to enlarge.
 Ms. Balsam and the sweet potatoes |
 choosing what to eat! |
 serving up some corned beef and cabbage |
 a party patron |
 serving up some good food |
 getting some sweet potato pie |
 the crowd |
FIELD TRIP
Part of the garden club met at the Kensington Farm Center at 9:00 AM, toured the farm from 9:15 – 10:00 AM and then took a hayride from about 10:00 – 10:45AM. From there we traveled south (5 minutes down the road) to Erwin Orchards to pick raspberries.
 talking about kids |
 The difference between hens & chickens |
 petting the goat |
 raspberries |
Last Session of Garden Club
As summer ends & school begins, we held our last day of garden club! We did enough work to hold it over until the 4th/5th/6th graders can take over. What is the difference between a squash [3] and a pumpkin [4]?
 The sunflower is starting to bloom. |
 Blooming sunflower with bee & Ms. Balsam's nails look good. |
 Wildflowers in a recycled "vase". |
 A moldy cabbage has to go. |
 It wasn't an easy task removing the moldy cabbage, it is a head of cabbage with legs. |
 Off to the compost heap. |
 Our first squash. |
 Find the pumpkins or is it a squash? |
 He is determined to get the ripe tomato. |
 Normal size slug. |
 A super-sized slug [1] found in the 11 pound cabbage. |
 11 pound cabbage- Ms.Schick weighed it. |
 A familiar face came to visit the Gesu Garden. |
 Wildflower[2]. |
We are planning to go pick berries on the 16th.
JULY 31st
 Look the carrots are growing! |
 The corn stalks. |
 Mom said these tomatoes are out of this world. |
 We will harvest the seeds, dry them, & use them to replant next year. |
July 19
JULY 17
We received a lot of rain today, which is good for the garden. As you can see everything is growing! The garden attracts bees, but repels the workers. The garden also attracts people that think it is fun to break our hand print stones. The students are proud of their work & we showed them we are too, by creating a wall of fame, which is being destroyed one stone at a time. Any suggestions on how we can stop this from happening anymore? Write your suggestions here.
 Andrew is concentrating on the weed. |
 I am out of here as soon as I see a bee! |
 destruction of property |
JULY 10th
It was 90 degrees today, so we didn't work too hard today.
The scarecrow always makes for a great Kodak moment!!
GESU SCHOOL Check out our school website
July 3-the veggies are growing
It seems that weeding the garden will never end, we are starting to see the vegetables grow. The tomatilloes we planted last year came back and so did the mustard greens. The Gesu Garden also has pumpkins, squash, tomatoes (many varieties), onions, carrots, potatoes(many varieties),sweet potatoes, cabbage, cucumbers, corn, sunflowers, beans, peppers (many varieties), and some surprises that we do not remember we planted!!
 hot peppers are starting to grow |
 will they be ready for Halloween? |
 fried green tomatoes |
 garden club is hard at work! |
 pumpkins, squash, & gourds |
June 28-scarecrow building
Mr. Mike said the garden looks great. Garden club built a scarecrow today, because every garden needs one.
 making a Gesu scarecrow |
 digging the hole |
 the scarecrow |
 this is a native Michigan bee, that we are happy to see pollinating our flowers! |
June 22
Here is the 'recipe' for lasagna gardens, for those interested (from Peggy Brennan):
- It's called lasagna gardening because you are layering material inside a box that you grow the plants in.
- First you build a box on top of your grass or soil.
- Next, you lay down a few layers of wet newspaper.
- Then come the layers (these can come in any order):
- chopped or regular leaves
- grass clippings
- peat moss
- compost
- soil
- kitchen scraps
- rock dust (such as Adzsum Plus)
- bark mulch
- On top, you put some sort of mulch, such as straw
Day 2- June 19th
Things we planted today: Beans Carrots Tomatoes Sunflower seeds
Why we planted the seeds?
We planted the beans so when the corn grows the beans will support the corn. We will be able to pick and eat our own corn that we planted in the garden. We planted the carrots so that we can have a good amount of vegtables because all of us need healthy bodies and they are very tasty. The last two on the list are tomatoes and sunflower seeds. We planted the tomatoes because a lot of people like tomatoes and we need them to make salsa. The sunflower seeds we planted because they make a border & we get to roast the seeds. Even though we were outside it was raining for a long time. But we had fun outside pulling weeds and planting.
 cabbage in the lasagna box |
 this is the cabbage not in the lasagna box |
 Joey working hard to plant carrot seeds |
Day 1- Garden Club
We weeded & watered
Friday, June 8- Summer Garden Club
Garden club starts on Thursday, June 14th.
- Tuesday & Thursday
- 8:00-10:00AM
- Rain or Shine
- Need to fill out sign up sheet
- gloves (optional) & water bottle
- schedule will be given
Wednesday, May 23 Using the Rain Barrel
This time we were able to actually use our new rain barrel to water our plants. First, we learned a little about why we need rain barrels (so we can reuse water, and so this water coming from the roof can be useful rather than pour into our storm sewers). Then we went over to see our new barrel. Then we split up into groups. One group pounded nails into coffee cans that would serve as our watering cans. Another group built poles for us to use to carry the buckets of water from the barrel to the gardens. Take a look at the pictures below (click on pictures to enlarge) to see how things went!
 First, Tom introduced the kids to the barrel |
 Making the poles used to carry the water |
 Making watering cans |
 Carrying water to the gardens |
 Watering the plants |
Friday, May 11 Building the Lasagna Gardens
On Friday, we had the great fun of teaching the 5th and 6th graders at Gesu School how to build their own lasagna gardens. Tom, Helen, Mike, Don and Martha headed down early to get everything ready for the kids. We drilled the pre-cut logs that would be used to build the garden boxes and brought with us bags of leaves and grass clippings along with a trailer full of rich, black compost. The students helped us with every aspect of assembling the gardens and built their own "teepees" for their green beans to climb. They brought with them table scraps from home that were also added to the gardens. They learned how the layers of organic matter that they added would not only help to feed their vegetable plants, but would also retain moisture so that they would not have to water their gardens often. The kids seemed to have a lot of fun getting their hands dirty and their creativity was certainly evident in their teepee designs! Can't wait to see what grows! On our next visit (May 23), we will be installing a rain barrel on the garage, so stay with us!
 First, the logs for the boxes are drilled. |
 Students helped to build the boxes. |
 The boxes are lined with newspaper. |
 Next comes a layer of dried leaves. |
 Students add table scraps from home. |
 Adding the compost. |
 The teepee crew! |
 Cutting branches for the teepee. |
 We need string to tie the teepee branches together. |
 Putting in a cabbage plant. |
 Planting seeds for green beans. |
 The finished gardens. |
