Gatewood students aren’t letting the cold weather keep them from learning in (and from) the garden.  Here is some recent news, from our teacher and garden coordinator Jeannie Revello: Students are observing winter vegetable crops including several types of kale, swiss chard and spinach withstand the frost. They love to taste parsley and arugula, and … More Shedding some light on a winter garden

Here is some fall news from garden coordinator Jeannie Revello and other teachers: Cottage and Gatewood students have been enjoying the learning garden daily this fall.  Students look forward to “outside science” days, where they have a diverse environment for observing, taking notes, taking care of plants and working together. Students have observed the plants’ … More Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme

It’s been awhile since we’ve posted about our school garden, so let’s catch up a bit. The seeds and starts planted by students in the spring survived and thrived through the summer months.  Many thanks to Cottage School staff and students who watered on weekdays and families who signed up to water over the weekends! … More Autumn in the garden

Mr. Gaynor’s and Ms. Klein’s fourth graders had a good time on their field trip to the Beacon Food Forest last Friday, and it was a great way to tie together curricula relating to ecosystems, Native American tribes and plants of the Pacific Northwest, and food chemistry. Students heard the history of the Beacon Food … More What plant smells like pizza?

It’s been gratifying to see students in the garden over the past month planting seeds and starts.  The after-school gardening club is in full swing, teachers are planting with their students, and the space is being used broadly as an outdoor classroom.   School Learning Garden Network meeting Gatewood hosted the spring School Learning Garden … More Hands in the dirt, flowers in the salad, and a garden grant

Despite spring break–and a long break from posting about the garden–we’ve made a lot of progress in the past month. After building and installing the raised beds, we filled them with a vegetable garden soil mix purchased from Cedar Grove.  Then we gathered materials for laying wood chips on pathways around the beds: For weed barrier that … More April showers in the garden

We had a productive work party on Sunday, with a dozen students, parents, and teachers building and installing the raised beds in the garden.  Here are some photos:        

The snow still falls, but we remain hopeful that spring will arrive and are ready to build our raised beds for the garden.  We built a prototype, two of our awesome teachers helped cut the lumber for the rest of the beds this past weekend, and we’re preparing for a work party to build and install … More Raised garden beds

Eager for spring planting?  To raise money for our school garden, we are holding a Seattle Seed Co. online fundraiser for three weeks, from today through March 17.  Order organic seeds and/or other garden-related goodies (flyer below) at https://www.seattleseed.com/gatewood-elementary Gatewood receives 50% of proceeds.  Spread the word among family, friends and neighbors!

First the snow fell, now the rain pours down, but flowers are starting to bloom and spring is in the air!  Right?  So it’s high time for a learning garden update: Raised beds. We finalized a basic design for the raised beds and are pricing lumber and other supplies.  Teachers Mr. Revello and Mr. Gaynor and I made a first … More February garden update