Schoolyard volunteer Day: 11/23/13
Many Friends of the Edward Everett Elementary Schoolyard, with the assistance of almost a dozen volunteers from Boston Cares, BPS horticulturist Neil McCarthy, and Everett parents successfully worked together to put the schoolyard to bed Saturday November 23rd, 2013.
We toured the schoolyard to identify problem areas and then went to work to fix them. From clearing brambles to re-arranging the logs in the outdoor classroom to cutting tree sprouts to creating a butterfly dip, a photo documentation follows.
Helping out was Everett 3rd grade student and environmental reporter, Sofie, who filed this report about preparing the raised garden beds for winter.
Edward Everett Schoolyard Gardens: First we have to take out all the leaves and weeds. We pull them out with small rakes . After they are all out, we have to pull the roots out. Some were small and some were enormous. I pulled out one so big it went into the actual ground. My prediction is that the big roots were sunflowers. When we were pulling out the roots, we found lots of potatoes. Some were big and some were small. Some were funny shaped and
some were round. After everything was out, we put in seeds. I sprinkled them all over the garden and then we put the leaves back.
Stone garden bed:We are taking the crumpled marigold out but we are going to save them to get the seeds. We found a baby beet plant with no beet on it. There are growing carrots. We are keeping them in the garden. We are also covering them back up with leaves.
There is a mystery berry I don’t know.
What is different:
There is a tree with a bush in it. The bush is bare and its branches are skinny. It was not like this in the fall.
Edward Everett Schoolyard Gardens: First we have to take out all the leaves and weeds. We pull them out with small rakes . After they are all out, we have to pull the roots out. Some were small and some were enormous. I pulled out one so big it went into the actual ground. My prediction is that the big roots were sunflowers. When we were pulling out the roots, we found lots of potatoes. Some were big and some were small. Some were funny shaped and
some were round. After everything was out, we put in seeds. I sprinkled them all over the garden and then we put the leaves back.
Stone garden bed:We are taking the crumpled marigold out but we are going to save them to get the seeds. We found a baby beet plant with no beet on it. There are growing carrots. We are keeping them in the garden. We are also covering them back up with leaves.
There is a mystery berry I don’t know.
What is different:
There is a tree with a bush in it. The bush is bare and its branches are skinny. It was not like this in the fall.
Trees: One man is taking out a tree. He uses a jack. The tree is being stubborn. The man gets it out. But a root is still there. I got a rock for him. He uses it for leverage.
by Alicia Zipp, Environmental Educator & Sara Gardner, K1 teacher