It's been cold and it's been long. Signs of change, though, they are 'a coming. Everything from the first seedlings to sprout up indoors to the NJ Flower Show in Edison, NJ, which I will go to today.
For now: my back and side yard views, yesterday. This is color film, but the grayness is the real thing, inside and out.The very large oak tree, with a deck built around it, is straining with the snow. The side yard is festooned with freshly dug snow banks---all of which got covered with several inches more six hours later.
But-look---it's happening--signs of spring!
The Greenhouse Committee of the Garden Club of Teaneck is getting ready for its annul flock of students from March 17 to about April 10. Students in the school will visit the Greenhouse and lean about gardening from four Greenhouse members. This annual migration started over twnty years ago.
Garbage Gardening shows children the surprising plants that come from pits, stems, roots and other parts of the plant we think of as garbage. There is a pineapple on display that is growing from another pineapple---the parent pineapple was a cut top, about to be tossed. There is a coffee tree, lemon, orange, and mango plants, and ways to do that.
Herbs are useful plants, indeed--dyes, food seasonings, medicine, perfume
---there are a few of each kind to see. Lesson involves learning about herbs from different cultures, especially Native American. Kids will get to make a herbal teabag and sniff some wonderful scents (Smellies).
So how do you GROW these plants? Kids will be surprised to see how many ways a plant can be grown. Propagation can be from seed, from cuttings, from division...
And for the youngest kids, here is a new course this year-Seeds. They don't all give you the same plant, and they do look different from each other.But what makes them grow? (Have to be a first grader to find out.)
Next: The Childrens Gardening Program at The Boys and Girls Club of Hackensack
