2nd Place
Demey Elementary School
Middletown, PA

During a wet spring, we managed to dodge the storms and plant in late April. This year we chose some of the same seeds and plants but we rotated them to avoid diseases and pests that follow plant families. We used the Rodale Encyclopedia Guide and decided to put our bean plants in the pumpkin areas and use a rye crop after the growing season to help the patch. An advantage this year was our compost pile did what it was supposed to do! We produced enough mulch (the maintenance department added leaves) to cover the entire garden. A parent chipped all the stems, leaves, etc. to a fine mixture, and that with the composted soil added a lot of nutrients and kept the soil loose in the garden.

The most exciting addition to the garden, however, was the compost and worms from our worm box. We began in January with 6-7 pounds of newspaper and our composting worms. After adding scraps from fruits and vegetables all winter, we finished in May with some fine soil and lots of healthy worms.

This year our garden includes tomatoes, beans, onions, radishes, pumpkins, bush cucumbers, lettuce, and a patch of red, white, and blue flowers and sunflowers. Our summer gardeners picked the larger spring onions. We tried some and donated some to the food bank. We'll share this way all summer. To focus on the contest theme we are going to include a healthy recipe with our offerings to family and food bank. Some ideas include: tomato sandwiches, salads, pumpkin muffins, marinated green beans, and pumpkin soup. We talked about eating fresh vegetables instead of fatty or sugary snacks. We also discussed the valuable vitamins and minerals that fresh vegetables provide.

Some of the summer challenges will be to keep the plants moist and free of pests. So far nature has provided most of the water and not many pests. But we are also supplementing with some drip irrigation. We use a hose trickle at the base of the plant and we are experimenting with the milk jugs (holes in the bottom). Sometimes we place ice around a vulnerable plant. This adds gradual moisture for several hours. Also we are ordering some lady beetles and lacewings to combat the aphids. We used some tips from our guide and put in a birdbath and sunflowers to make the garden more attractive to our beneficial insects.