Truro Public Library

Jack led a beneficial insect session inspired by the Cape Cod Cooperative Extension’s Beneficial Insects in the Garden and the book The Organic Gardener’s Handbook of Natural Insect and Disease Control : A Complete Problem-Solving Guide to Keeping Your Garden & Yard Healthy without Chemicals edited by Barbara W. Ellis and Fern Marshall Bradley. We asked the kids to draw a beneficial insect and they could use their imagination or use the steps in Draw 50 Creepy Crawlies by Lee J. Ames if they wanted. Other children’s books we looked at were Through the Microscope – Insects by John Stidworthy and Entomology by Ellen Doris.

Outside kids harvested peas, sampled purple beans, hilled the potatoes, planted corn and green peppers, tied up the tomatoes, noticed green beans sprouting and pulled bolted lettuces and the rest of the collard greens and composted them.

• explore beneficial insects through pictures, reading and drawing
• harvest ripe vegetables
• hill potato plants
• pull bolted lettuces and collard greens and compost
• plant corn and green peppers
• tie tomatoes to frames

All 33 children interpreted the garden in varying ways using watercolors, brushes, water and watercolor paper. These paintings  were then sent to Judy Vollmer at the Cape Cod Cooperative Extension to display at the Barnstable County Fair.

• choose what part of the garden to paint
• set-up supplies near the garden

More harvesting of peas and more weeding of all the beds continued today. Paper bags were provided for the kids to make goody bags of vegetables to take home. Lots of daisies growing next to the garden were picked too. We put the weeds into the compost and watered it to keep the worms happy.
• weed beds
• examine inside the pea pods
• provide bags for harvested peas
• water compost

Three groups took turns harvesting peas and lettuce, weeding and preparing the third bed for tomato plants and rinsing the lettuce. Some kids prepared lettuce bouquets to bring to the school for an end of year salad and everyone could sample some of the yummy peas they picked.

• harvest peas and lettuce
• prepare and rinse lettuce
• prepare bed for transplanting tomatoes

Janice Redman helped the garden group finish up their felted work. Those who had completed wet felting their garden pieces were able to finish up by needle felting with extra wool on foam pads. And those who needed time to wet felt were able to do that too. Later this summer all the parts will be assembled to create a hanging for the Truro Agricultural Fair.

Today Anna brought in potatoes with lots of eyes for the kids to look at and plant. Everyone helped remove the plastic covering from the hoop house so the sunflowers have room to grow tall. The potato eyes were planted in the second bed.

• cut off eyes from potatoes and plant
• remove plastic from hoop house
• water