Johnson Park Edible Gardens

From the link.

“First grade harvested a lot of vegetables from our garden. They then made vegetable soup. We studied the important role of in our garden and went on a bug hunt, looking for both beneficial and not-so-beneficial insects!”

During the summer months, parents with children at Johnson Park volunteered their time in the garden to help water and tend plants. This enabled the students on their return to jump straight into garden activities, harvesting, cooking and tasting the produce they planted before their summer break. It is interesting and fun sometimes to taste what a vegetable is like before it is cooked and in my opinion when organically grown it tastes even better, especially when freshly picked. During September, students were busy making dishes such as salsa for the Johnson Park picnic event and at this event parents had the opportunity to sample the garden produce.

The Boy Scouts built a second compost for JP; students learned the process of decomposing vegetation and the value it brings to the vegetable soil beds when ready. There is a big oak tree in the garden so plenty of leaves to rake and deposit, as well as left over vegetable plants to start the composting process. The acorns from the oak tree were also collected and students planted them in the hope they will sprout in time for Arbor Day, April 26,  and have grown sufficiently enough to take home and plant.

In October, kindergarten and first grade enjoyed various activities with pumpkins as well as tasting pumpkin seeds baked in olive oil. Second grade learned all about the Black Swallowtail Butterfly. They made soup from the host plants used by this native insect. Third grade had the opportunity to gather herbs and tie them using a slip-knot. The students took them home to hang and dry for later use in their home cooking. Fourth grade experimented with vegetables and berries as a natural dye. Fourth grade also had the chance to make a delicious soup called Three Sisters, consisting of squash and beans. Fifth grade made pumpkin muffins.

November really saw the end of most of the garden produce, the season finished with most grades planting spring bulbs and scattering seeds, the vegetable beds were prepared for the following spring. Tools and equipment were cleaned and safely stored. 

Clean up has begun for fall plantings! The salsa garden was fruitful, and the salsa that was canned over the summer from all the produce will be given out at Johnson Park’s Fall Picnic.

The school’s garden club is continuing to grow as many crops as it can, and even has plans to start a Cooking Club. Stay tuned for updates.

The Johnson Park garden is a courtyard garden, seen by all who enter the school’s main entrance. The Garden Club, JP’s garden program, is held twice a week during recess hours – children are invited to visit the garden during that time.

The garden’s main focus this spring was the JP Salsa Project, in which each grade was responsible for growing seedlings for a different ingredient to be used in salsa. The seedlings were grown indoors beginning in February, and transplanted in the spring. Two varieties of tomatoes along with jalapeno peppers, cilantro and spring onions were planted and are currently thriving in the garden. The produce will be harvested over the summer, made into salsa and then canned. Students and their families will get a chance to taste their final product at the school’s fall picnic.

Another highlight from this spring was the kindergarten project: The youngest students in the school planted rose geraniums and harvested the leaves for the bent spoon. At the end of the school year, they enjoyed an ice cream party in the garden. For more on this exciting project:

Princeton Patch: Kindergartners team-up with the Bent Spoon to make ice cream
Town Topics coverage

Also growing in the Johnson Park garden this summer are pole beans, swiss chard, carrots, peas, pumpkins, squash, lettuce, radishes, corn, strawberries, watermelon, potatoes, sunflowers and various herbs. Parent volunteers are tending the garden two or three times a week. Food that is harvested is being preserved – frozen, dried or canned – for the fall picnic.

— Contibuted by Tory Hamilton, Elizabeth White and Tina van der Scharr