Seasonal Workshops on the Farm

Keeping Your Classroom Fresh & Growing!

THE GARDEN DAY IS STILL ON. We PUT UP A TENT AND WILL MOVE THINGS UNDER COVER THIS MORNING.

This workshop is free and open to all educators with registration. Bring your own lunch.  *Ten Professional Development Points are offered for each workshop with accompanying classroom project.

About

Massachusetts Agriculture in the Classroom is sponsoring an educational day of workshops and demonstrations on Saturday, April 20 from 9:00 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Tranquil Lake Nursery in Rehoboth. Learn a variety of new skills that will help you with your school gardening efforts.

Spend an educational and fun day brushing up on your gardening techniques and learning new activity ideas for the school garden on Saturday, April 20, from 9:00 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Tranquil Lake Nursery in Rehoboth. Twelve workshops and demonstrations to support successful efforts in the school garden will be held throughout the day, including digging garden beds, constructing raised beds, gardening in containers, seeding and saving seeds, mulching, tree planting, herbs and more. Free an open to educators, school gardeners, garden volunteers and the public. Bring your own lunch. Ten Professional Development Points are provided to teachers with accompanying school gardening or classroom activity. Registration is required. This educational event is supported in part with funds from the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources and with sponsorship support from Tranquil Lake Nursery.

Workshops & Demonstration Schedule

 

 

9:00 a.m. - - - Preparing the Vegetable Garden Beds - Double Digging Method
---- Warren Leach, Landscape horticulturist and co-owner of Tranquil Lake Nursery

The day begins with a demonstration on how to prepare vegetable garden beds using the French Intensive Method known as Double Digging. During his demonstration “Preparing the Vegetable Garden Beds - Double Digging Method” landscape horticulturist Warren Leach, co-owner of Tranquil Lake Nursery will demonstrate garden preparation, digging the bed, amending the soil and preparation for planting.

 

9:30 a.m. - - - Preparing the Garden Bed - Lasagne Layering Materials
---- Alice Posner, Program Associate, Massachusetts Agriculture in the Classroom

The next demonstration will offer an alternative approach to vegetable garden bed preparation known as Sheet Composting or Lasagne Layering. Alice Posner, School Garden Educator and Massachusetts Agriculture in the Classroom’s Program Associate will show you this technique for building the garden beds without digging or removing sod in her demonstration “Preparing the Vegetable Garden Beds - Lasagne Layering Method.” Look closely at a garden that was layered a year ago to see how the soil has improved.

 

10:00 a.m. - - - Gardening in Containers in the School Garden
---- Tony Ghelfi, Manthela George School, Brockton

Tony Ghelfi, 3rd grade teacher at the Manthela George School in Brockton will offer a workshop on “Gardening in Containers in the School Garden." Growing plants in containers allows the opportunity to add beauty or a vegetable patch to areas with limited horticultural attributes such as on pavement or under shallow rooted trees. It also provides the opportunity to get the garden started indoors and then move the garden outdoors when the weather is favorable. You can also send the garden home for the summer where it will be watered and tended until fall. Tony will discuss tips for planting and care as well as ideas for decorating the containers with your students.

 

10:30 a.m. - - - Building Raised Garden Beds for the Schoolyard
---- Debi Hogan, Warren Leach, Alice Posner and Tony Ghelfi

Horticulturists and gardeners Debi Hogan, Warren Leach, Alice Posner and Tony Ghlefi will join together to offer a demonstration and useful tips on “Building A Raised Garden Bed.” They will take you step-by-step through the process on constructing a simple 4 foot by 8 foot raised bed for the school garden, providing a list of materials and written instructions. Ideally suited for the school garden, raised beds are relatively simple to make. Give your students ownership over their garden by learning how to incorporate them into the process of making raised beds.

 

11:00 a.m. - - - Ornamental Plants for the School Landscape
---- Warren Leach, horticulturist, garden designer and co-owner of Tranquil Lake Nursery

Selection of plants with flowering and fruiting characteristics that complement the school calendar can add ornamental beauty and interest to the schoolyard, while also offering opportunities for classroom study. Llandscape horticulturist Warren Leach from Tranquil Lake Nursery will offer a diverse palette of choice edible and ornamental perennials, shrubs and trees that will improve the schoolyard experience in his Garden talk on “Ornamental Plants from the School Garden.” He will also provide suggestions for care and culture.

 

11:30 a.m. - - - Using Grow Lights as A Tool to Support the School Garden
---- Marian Hazzard, School Garden Educator, Touchstone Community School, Grafton

Yes, you can grow vegetables in the classroom! In her 11:30 a.m. step-by-step demonstration “Using Grow Lights as A Tool to Support the School Garden” Marian Hazzard from the Touchstone Community School in Grafton will discuss setting up a classroom light units. Then she’ll share how to start seeds, when to transplant seedlings, the care vegetables need indoors, the kinds of vegetables that will grow indoors, when the vegetables are ready to harvest.

 

 

12:00 p.m. - - - Siting the School Garden: Considering the Needs Before Your Build
---- Paul Pieri, Science Teacher, the Wheeler School at owner of Maurolo Farm, Little Compton, RI

Paul Pieri, Science Teacher at the Wheeler School in Providence, also assisted with the development of the Wheeler School educational gardens. In his classroom, he provided opportunities for students to study soils in detail while also planning the garden location and the plants that they will grow. In his garden talk “Siting the School Garden: Considering the Needs Before Your Build” he’ll review the key elements that you should investigate before planning the school garde. Topics will include soils, sun, water, aesthetics, tools, storage, work spaces, student movement in the garden, wildlife, end of season clean-up and more. He will also make recommendation for what to do if you do not have good soil or sun conditions. Paul also owns Maurolou Farm in Little Compton, Rhode Island where he grows flowers for the cut market. As a farmer, he knows that the right growing conditions t determines the health of the garden.

 

12:30 p.m. - - - Pruning Basics: from Thinning to Cutting Back and Rejuvenation
---- Jeremy Thurber, Arborist, Bartlett Tree Experts, Seekonk

Learn how and when to cut back shrubs and trees, ornamental grasses and vines with arborist Jeremy Thurber from Bartlett Tree Experts in Seekonk. Jeremy will take you through the nursery gardens offering pruning tips in his demonstration “Pruning Basics: from Thinning to Cutting Back and Rejuvenation.” He’ll will show you how to cut back trees and shrubs to keep them in scale with the garden, thin out overgrown shrubs and trees, rejuvenate older plantings and encourage prolific bloom in the future.

 

1:00 p.m. - - - Techniques for Successfully Planting a Tree in the Schoolyard
---- Warren Leach, landscape horticulturist and co-owner, Tranquil Lake Nursery

Have you ever wanted to plant a tree in the school yard but been unsure how to handle it and didn’t have a clue how to go about digging the planting hole. In his demonstration “Techniques for Successfully Planting a Tree in the Schoolyard”, seasoned horticulturist Warren Leach will show you how to prepare the tree, dig the hole, amend the soils and move the tree into its new location. Learn how and when to water and when you should prune.

 

1:30 p.m. - - - Favorite Ornamental and Edible Herbs for Gardening with Children
---- Debi Hogan, Horticulturist and Executive Director of Massachusetts Agriculture in the Classroom

Debi Hogan, horticulturist and avid herb garden has been growing herbs in the gardens, containers and window boxes for more than twenty-five years. She has also been gardening with children of all ages for nearly as long, and is currently Executive Director of Massachusetts Agriculture in the Classroom. Debi will share her love for herbs at 1:30 p.m. in her presentation “Favorite Ornamental and Edible Herbs for Gardening with Children” offering tips on favorite cultivars, tips for growing, drying techniques, how to prepare for culinary use and overwintering.

 

2:00 p.m. - - - The Importance of Mulch in the School Garden
---- Alice Posner, School Garden Program Associate, Massachusetts Agriculture in the Classroom

Mulch is the essential ingredient that will ease your labor in the garden. It holds soil moisture, discourages weeds and even adds to the organic material in the soil. School Garden Educator Alice Posner will offer a workshop on the benefits of “Using Mulch in the Garden.” She will discuss different types of mulch from grass clippings to salt marsh hay and even black plastic. She’ll also offer suggestions for saving water and labor in the garden.

 

2:30 p.m. - - - Seed Saving in the School Garden
---- Barbara Marsilius Link, Agricultural Educator, Agraria Farm, Rehoboth

Seed saving provides a valuable lesson in cultural heritage, genetic diversity and also offer a gift your class can give to following stewards of your garden. In her presentation “Seed Saving in the School Garden,” Barbara Marsilius Link will tell you which plants are the easy ones to save seeds from, how and when to do it, how to dry and store seed, and tips on how to do this with young children. Barbara is a farmer and agricultural Educator. She owns and operates Agraria Farm in Rehoboth.

 

You will also have the opportunity to wander among the gardens at Tranquil Lake Nursery, where you will see a diverse variety of perennials, grasses, shrubs and vines. The gardens include a number of perennial borders, mixed perennial and shrub gardens, an ornamental vegetable garden, a thyme bench, container herb garden, an entry garden, an ornamental grass garden, a pond-side water garden, a purple garden designed to attract hummingbirds, a bog garden, a dry-scree garden, spectacular container plantings brimming with annuals and perennials, a pool with a water rill and a new rain garden and bog water garden.

Plan to spend the whole day and learn how to improve the look of your garden this spring, while you also get ready for the summer and late season to follow. Bring a picnic lunch. For more information, directions or a schedule, call the nursery at (508) 252-4002 or visit their website at www.tranquil-lake.com.

We are grateful to the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources and to Tranquil Lake Nursery for providing funding for this day of workshops and demonstrations.