The warm summer temperatures introduce a new kind of pest to the garden. The Tomato Hornworm starts to show itself mid- to late-summer and for 3 to 4 weeks they feed on your tomato, eggplant and pepper plants. The fruit eventually drops off the plant and burrows itself into the soil to pupate and become […]
Learning About Insects in the Garden: Harmful vs. Helpful
Students at Educare Early Learning Center in Kansas City, KS were excited to finally get outside in their gardens after almost six straight days of rain! I met the students for a quick lesson on helpful insects and pests. We started by looking at pictures of praying mantis, bees, wasps and ground beetles, reviewing each […]
How to Use Row Cover to Speed Up Your Schoolyard Garden Veggies
Despite the unpredictable temperatures of the midwest, and the short school calendar, your students could be eating broccoli, cabbage, collards and kale from their schoolyard garden before the end of the school year! But how? Row cover is a friend to the schoolyard garden. It not only insulates your veggies when temperatures drop, but it also keeps […]
How to Prevent Cabbage Loopers in Your Schoolyard Garden this Spring
The cabbage looper is a common pest found in schoolyard gardens. The larva is a smooth pale greenish 1-1½ inch caterpillar with thin white stripes on its back and sides. They get their name from the unique way they inch along forming a small loop with their bodies. The adults are a mostly nocturnal gray […]
Why Schoolyard Gardens Need Winter
In the dead of winter, the cold can seem endless for teachers and students alike. Those warm, sunny days, like what we’ll experience this week, are often treasured during the bleak months of January and February, but as gardeners, we should be thankful for the cold, icy and snowy days that the winter brings! But […]
Cleaning Out Your Schoolyard Garden For the Winter
Now that the temperatures are dropping, and your fall garden is slowing down, it’s time to think about wrapping up the growing season in your schoolyard garden. Before winter comes, and it’s too chilly to work outside with your students, you will want to clean out your garden so that it’s neat, empty and ready […]