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Hello Childcare Centers!
We are so excited to be joining you as you grow food at your center. Each week (for the next 8-12 weeks) we will send you tips and lessons that correspond to your center's growing efforts.
Here are a few to get you started... |
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Tip 1: Is it safe to plant outdoors now?
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| When growing plants outdoors, it's important to wait until the threat of frost has passed. Temperatures below 32 degrees can ruin the plant tissue and harm the vegetable. On your childcare center's customized growing plan (emailed recently), you can find your center's frost information. Using the image here, there is only a 10% probability of frost after May 4th so this center should be able to go ahead and plant outdoors now. Again, just be mindful of cooler temps. If you have an unusually cool night, simply cover your crops with a sheet or row cover. |
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Tip 2: What kind of soil should we use?
Soil to use if growing in a seed starter: If you use seed starter containers, similar to the one in this picture, then you'll want to use an airy soil-less mix (aka- a seed starter mix). An organic variety is always great if possible. No fertilizer is needed at this point.
Soil to use in a garden bed: For your garden bed, you'll want to use an Organic Vegetable Soil or Garden Soil. If you've grown in the outdoor bed or container before, you'll most likely need to replenish the nutrients in the soil by adding a little organic fertilizer. A little goes a long way here so a small bag will do it. Soils and fertilizers are easy to find at stores like Walmart, Lowes, Home Depot, and local garden stores.
Your customized garden plan can also give you an indication of how much soil you might need for a garden bed or a container. Here's a sample of what that looks like. In this example, a small 4ft x 4ft raised bed (which is 48 inches x 48 inches) that is about 6 inches deep would take 8 cubic feet of soil. As a point of reference, a larger bag of soil is about 1.5 cubic feet, so this bed would need almost 5 bags of soil. |
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Tip 3: How deep should I plant seeds?
Your seed packet will give you recommendations on this but a good rule of thumb is to plant the seed 3 times as deep the widest diameter of the seed.
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Tip 4: Lesson for kids at this stage in your garden:
Seed germination is a great lesson to do with kids at this age. Page 52 of the Grow It, Try It, Like It! kit will walk you through this lesson with your children. You can also check out the Start A Garden growing video to see this lesson in action.
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| We hope you find these tips and lessons helpful. Please reach out to us anytime with your questions. We're happy to help. And don't forget to use the online technology to help you strategize what plants to grow in your containers.
We'll be back in touch with more information next week.
Have a great weekend.
Mandy Curry Start A Garden & Healthy Kids Inc. mandy@healthykidsinc.com |
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