Indoor Planting

This past week, we planted seeds indoors with the third graders. Some plants, like the tomatoes, sweet peppers, and eggplants we planted this week, need a head start before outdoor planting occurs. Minnesota has a short growing season, so in order for plants to be ready to eat before the fall frost comes, certain plants need to be put in the ground as seedlings rather than as seeds. 

A great resource we used to find out when seeds should be planted is http://raisedgardenbedmn.com/Vegetable_Planting_Dates_.html. It shows planting dates and growing tips for most of the major plants that are grown in gardens, all specialized for the Minnesota climate. 

The first classroom we visited this week was at St. Dominic. There, the students planted many seeds directly into large tubs of soil and then put them onto the growing station in their classroom. Because we planted inside, we were thankful to be using a tarp to protect the carpet from soil spills. However, the large planting bins caused the planting process to be a bit hectic because there were several students surrounding each bin. Additionally, the large groups of students hindered our ability to keep the class on the same page. 

At Greenvale Park, we took a different strategy. We moved the planting outside so groups of students could be more spread out. The kids also planted the seeds in small pots rather than large bins, so there were teams of two students at each pot rather than five or six. We also did a demonstration of the planting process with the Greenvale students, which helped alleviate some confusion along the way. 

In both classrooms, the kids seemed excited to be growing their very own plants that they will be able to eat at harvest time. They all promised to take good care of their seedlings until we return! Below are 

two pictures of the growing station at Greenvale Park. The top set of pots on the growing station are the tomato, pepper, and eggplant seeds that the third graders planted. Right: a close-up of the pots (9 sections in each pot, each with two seeds planted)

A few tips for future school gardeners:

-Keep the process simple for the kids: do as much organizing and sorting that you can ahead of time

-Do a demonstration of proper planting before the students do it on their own

-Plant outside if possible. This gets messy!

-Keep the kids in small, separate groups. This will allow you to manage the class better.

-Put coffee filters in the bottom of the pots so that soil doesn't spill out

-Old window blinds make great pot markers. Use a sharpie to label plants!

-Designate one helper to be the photographer (that should be their only task during the activity). We were so busy helping with the planting process that we didn't get any pictures of the kids in action.