Planting Seeds at Slate School

By Grace Kenney, Environmentalist

The winter months are when gardeners, farmers, and planters spend their time dreaming and planning for the spring, and it is no different for the young gardeners of Slate School. Beginning in early January, the entire school community begins to think about what we will grow in our school garden this coming season. This work is spread across the grades, with each classroom contributing in their own important and unique way. Depending on what is of greatest interest to the children, or suits the set of skills that class is deeply engaged in growing, the garden planning complements the work already happening in each classroom.  Not only is the voice of each child represented in their choice of what seeds to plant, but the shared dream of the garden is where all of our ideas can be woven together into something real and nourishing. 

This year, the Kindergarten children in Treetop began this work by exploring seeds from the diverse collection we have saved from previous years. They first looked closely: noticing the vast differences in size, shape, and color. They playfully designed patterns with the seeds, and then used those available to make a pictograph — a way to represent numerical data using images — or in this case, the physical seeds themselves. The children sorted the seeds and wondered about what types of plants they would grow into someday. We read books about seeds together, enjoying stories and informational resources. And then the children shared what they would most like to grow in their garden here at school, creating a list of what they know they like to eat, or want to try for the first time. 

Across the courtyard, in the Meadow Grade 1/2 classroom, the children leafed through seed catalogs, gasping at the alluring photographs of the plants and keeping track of the seeds they’d like to sow. Alongside this work, questions about fruits, vegetables, and how they differ from each other arose. Sticky notes with these questions began to populate their “Wonder Wall,” and bookshelves around the room were filled with resources from Grove to answer their questions. This later inspired a “Fruits and Veggies ABC Book,” authored by the students. Meanwhile, the plants they were excited to grow from the seed catalog became a useful tool for seeing how many people in their class were interested in each type. The data from this chart was then added to the seed wishlist Treetop had begun.

In the Grade 3/4 Apple Tree classroom, the children’s previous experiences with decimals and dollar amounts poised them to be our budgeteers. As they spent time with the seed catalogs, it felt important to reflect on how these seeds are a resource we invest in. This inspired the children to keep track of the price of each seed variety they chose and make a budget for themselves and as a class. Along the way, observations about prices that differed from past seed catalogs to this year’s led to questions about inflation, and the seed quantities listed as fractions of an ounce supported their exploration of parts of a whole. Once their seed varieties were added to the seed wishlist, it became clear that the friends in Apple Tree were particularly drawn to flowers. The faculty has begun to brainstorm how to support this interest in the garden and around campus! 

The Grade 5 Wildflower classroom had already established their routine of averaging and recording daily high and low temperatures when they began to think about seeds for this year’s garden. Together, they considered what they already knew about how different plants thrive under different conditions. They examined global and local maps of temperature data and historical weather data for the area. The children reflected on their own experiences in seasonal weather patterns. They contemplated the connection between climate, temperature, and growing vegetable seeds. In light of their discoveries, they thought about what conditions here at Slate School support plant growth. Then, Wildflower dove into the detailed descriptions of seed types in the catalogs, using the information there to make informed decisions on what might do particularly well in our garden here at school. They looked for cold or frost-resistant types that could grow well in the early spring and fall when school is in session, and heat- or bolt-resistant varieties that would give the families tending to the garden over the summer plenty to take home. With the dream of being able to feed more than just ourselves, high-yielding varieties were sought out, too. The plants with these identified traits became Wildflower’s contribution to the wishlist. 

The work done to create our seed list for the year was exciting and full of hope for all that comes from the tiniest of seeds. After parents who attended February’s First Tuesday chose seeds to add to the list — as it is their garden, too — we were finally ready to place the order. Meanwhile, the work towards planning for the garden continued around the school. Meadow and Treetop helped create the planting calendar by counting back from the Approximate Last Frost Date the number of weeks we could begin certain seedlings in Sprout. Wildflower color-coded the seed list by vegetable type to better understand the dispersal of varieties, and added predicted harvest dates to the calendar to make sure we can maximize a continual harvest. Apple Tree took a peek at the giant swath of garden fabric stored in the Potting Shed and calculated how many sections it could be cut into in order to become more usable for shade netting in Sprout and cold-weather tunnels in the garden beds. One of the afternoon Enrichment groups diligently sorted all the seed packets into our new storage boxes and made beautiful labels for each compartment. Like so much of what we do at Slate School, each contribution builds on the work of others and supports the ability for everyone to be involved throughout the process. 

In late February, the planting calendar let us know that it was time to plant the very first seeds of the season: leeks! We celebrated Sprout’s first sprout of 2023 during the week before March Break, and now that we have returned to school, the greenhouse will be home to multiplying trays of vegetable seedlings until the warmer weeks of Spring are here!