Springtime is… still feeling like wintertime! It snowed yesterday, and the soil is frozen again. Last week when the weather was gorgeous for a couple days, we direct sowed carrot, radish and pea seeds at the preschool. The kids had a blast! They love using the mini wheelbarrows to transport soil and the fill planters. And of course, they can never get enough of watering!

(Again, wish I could post their faces, but unfortunately photo release policy doesn’t allow for it. You’ll have to believe me that they look super cute and happy!)

We have so many starter plants at the preschool– dont they look ready for transplanting? Come on springtime, let’s do this!

Last week at Edison Elementary, we also seeded carrot, radish and peas… but this week was too cold to do more gardening outside. Instead, we stayed inside and tasted the mizuna and tatsoi microgreens that they started last week in a recyclable plastic container. They’re growing great, and are super yummy and flavorful 🙂 Next program, we’ll make mini pizza bagels with microgreen topping– we can’t wait!

At Edison and also at Chicago Youth Centers, we made the most of being indoors by making “seed sculptures,” which is a variation on the classic seed balls. We mix equal parts air dry clay and compost together, add seeds, and then mold the shape however we like 🙂 The kids love this activity and get super creative with it! The sculptures dry on their own, and can be tossed in the garden or planted… then the clay naturally breaks down in the soil so the seeds can germinate. We used a mix of edible flowers such as nasturtium, borage, bachelor’s button, and Johnny jump-ups… also included radish and basil, since their flowers are edible as well.

So fun to fuse garden activities with art and creativity 🙂

Can’t wait for warmer weather!!