Truro Public Library

We celebrated with an Garden Memories Art Opening. Kelly and Racine brought snacks and everyone signed thank you cards for all the wonderful garden volunteers.

Francie led two drawing and painting workshops with children from the Truro Recreation After School Program. She talked about and showed the children different artist’s interpretations of a garden from some books such as Vincent’s Colors and then the children could explore other books with photographs of plants and bugs such as Wildlife Gardening by Martyn Cox.

To grow a giant pumpkin for next year’s Truro Ag Fair, we decided to clear a patch behind the garden. First all the weeds needed to be pulled, piled up and then discarded. The children worked hard and took turns with hand cultivators and rakes to loosen the dirt and the weeds. Some worms were found and tossed into the garden.

• clear area using hand cultivators and rakes
• discard weeds in compost area
• add any worms to garden

Today the children picked tomatoes and composted the split ones. They pulled some large carrots and each child took one home. We found some worms and Francie asked “what’s a worm a sign of?” The answer is “a healthy garden.” Old corn stalks were pulled and composted. A root ball was dug around the marigold plant which was transplanted at the end of the second bed and the west end soil was tilled and evened out so no pooling could occur. Because of its tolerance for cool soil, more spinach was planted there with 9 or 10 seeds per foot and a 1/2″ deep. The soil was tamped down, but not too hard and lightly watered. Carrots and tomatoes were delivered to the Truro Central School.

• harvest tomatoes and carrots
• compost split tomatoes and withered corn
• dig a root ball around marigolds to transplant
• till and even out soil
• plant spinach seeds in three rows with 9-10 seeds per foot and 1/2″ deep
• deliver harvest to local school

By rotating groups, each child could work at a task. First the remaining three sunflowers were harvested by carefully loosening the soil around the roots and then pulled out and shaken into the bed. This bed, closest to the library, was cleared and prepared for planting spinach. We measured and recorded the final heights of the sunflowers with 102″ being the tallest! Tomatoes and basil were harvested and later brought to the Truro Central School. Each child took home a goody bag of oregano.

• uproot sunflowers; shake off soil; measure height; compost roots and stems; save seeds
• harvest tomatoes and basil
• clear and prepare bed for planting spinach according to packet directions
• lightly water seeds

The 4-H table looked inviting at the Truro Agricultural Fair with the children’s wool banner hanging next to it. Special thanks to Janice Redman for leading the project and Nancy Spillane for backing the banner with sturdy canvas.