Planet Earth

Yesterday, Wednesday October 15, began our classroom viewing of the "Planet Earth" series created by the BBC and viewed here in the states on the Discovery Channel. We began with the episode entitled "Pole to Pole". The episode showed the earth from top to bottom, focusing mainly on the sun's influence on the earth. As the year progresses we will view the entire 12 part series.
As an instructor I feel that in order to truly convey the importance of environmental stewardship my students need to be aware of a world beyond their front door. This series provides us with an opportunity to view parts of the world we will never visit, and allows for open dialogue on a wide range of topics, in an informative and entertaining manner.
As we view more episodes we will add our thoughts and learning moments here on our blog!

STUDENTS AND BLOG VISITORS- After viewing the first episode of the series, what were three things that you found really cool or interesting? Of those three, which would you like to learn more about?

Compost put to work!

As some of you may know we have created a Composting Program with our Culinary Arts students. They bring us vegetable and fruit scraps from the kitchen and we add them to leaves, pine needles, pruning scraps, and grass clippings that we collect; all of it goes into the composter!

This program has yielded some beautiful product which we added to a raised bed that we have been working on since last year. The bed runs alongside a portion of our school building. The first layer of material put down included clumps of sod that we had after several of our edging and planting projects. We turned the sod clumps upside-down to smother the grass. Upon that layer we added leaf compost, generously donated by UVA Grounds management. Upon that layer was added our very on compost. To finish off the look the students mulched with a layer of pine needles gathered from out own campus. We hope to create a drought resistant annual and perennial flower garden this spring!

STUDENTS and BLOG VISITORS - To create this bed we used materials found here on campus, and donated materials, making this a "free" landscaping project. With this in mind, how might you approach new projects assigned at school, or new projects that come up at home? Please answer using the "comments" option.

Busy Days!

The past week or so has been very busy for the Horticulture students here at CATEC! While our book work has continued, our outside work has gone into full swing!

We have cleaned out the greenhouse, and are prepping it for some new tables being donated by our carpentry class.

We've also been busy with Fall Planting! As some of you may know Fall is a great time of year to plant. Woody plants are focusing there energy on root growth instead of leaf production. Strong root systems heading into winter are a must! Also, and perhaps most important, plants with an extra season of establishment are better suited for facing the challenges of summer heat and drought stress.

We've added new shrubs and trees to our landscape, and will continue to plant as the season goes on, so be sure to check back for updates!

Above are pictures of a successful planting of a River Birch. We chose this plant for this area because it is tolerant of wet conditions, this is a low spot on campus where rain water collects.

Above you can see us planting a Cleveland Select Pear Tree. Different from the Bradford Pear Tree, this variety is less susceptible to breakage during high winds. It also flowers beautifully in spring and is well suited to the mostly sunny conditions in the area.

In the photos above the students are recieving a planting lesson from me, Mrs. Greenberg; in the next shot they are putting their new skills to work. We chose Chrysanthemums for around our flagpole because they are perennial flowering plants that are ofter evergreen. They are well suited to the sunny conditions of the area as well. In the next week or so we will be adding spring-blooming bulbs and holly shrubs.

STUDENTS:

What are the steps to planting that you have learned over the last week? Please give me a numbered list of steps; answer by adding a comment!