J.A. Coles Elementary

Our goal is to continue growing the garden we currently have. We would like to expand the greenhouse we built last year by doubling the amount of seedlings we grow there. The vegetable garden, as it stands now, is only being taken care of by the first grade classes. We would like to expand this to at least another grade, perhaps the second and/or third grade classes. This would require creating additional vegetable beds and using the added greenhouse space to start the vegetable plants. We would also like to enhance the flower garden space that we created during the previous school year. This was originally an empty space enclosed with a chain-link fence that three school classrooms have access to. It faces the street and is open to the community. We painted old tires and used them as planters for colorful annuals such as marigolds and petunias; created a Native American "medicine wheel" and grew herbs in pots in that space; re-used plastic sandboxes as planters; weaved morning glory vines through portions of the chain-link fence; and, re-used old pieces of wood fencing as a trellis. But, there's so much more we can do here. Our goal is to purchase or re-furbish a sink table as well as some basic seating for students so that this garden can become more of a teaching space. Teachers can then incorporate this outdoor space into their various curricula.