Helping Gardens Grow
FMS is getting ready to expand its garden area this year, thanks to the help of our wonderful staff, parents and students. We are planning to build new planter boxes (thanks to the gracious assistance of a few FMS fathers); fix the sprinklers; and start planting! One of our elementary teachers, Ms. April, is spearheading this exciting new development with the hopes of teaching the children more about nutrition, health and the natural environment. If you would like to get involved, please contact her at ap***@fo*****************.com. We really have some amazing, knowledgeable and proactive parents in our community and we can’t thank you enough.
This week, middle school students got involved by cleaning out the garden and researching best planting practices. On their classroom blog, E4 writes:
“Thank you to Middle school friends for researching and cleaning our garden! After finding out some facts about the plants in our courtyard boxes, they cleaned and cut back tomatoes, peppers, and sunflowers. Next, they provided us with a list of plant information. We are preparing to build more planters and add more sprinklers. Now we know we can always turn to our middle school students for knowledge and assistance! It was interesting to learn how to care for sunflowers and tomatoes. Here are some helpful hints:
- We should use distilled or rain water for sunflowers because other types of water can be poisonous to the flower.
- They need at least two feet of space to grow
- They need to be watered every other day
- If the flower is dead, cut the head off then uproot it
- Tomatoes need deep soil so the plant’s roots can hold it upright
- If you don’t prune tomatoes regularly, the plants will develop extra branches called suckers. Suckers take away energy from the plant.”
Stay tuned for more garden expansion updates!
Foothills Montessori School is a private Montessori school serving families in Henderson, Las Vegas and Southern Nevada.