The US Garden Club has been working hard over the past few weeks to rehabilitate the Lower School Garden, which had effectively been left fallow since the departure of long-time LS science teacher and avid gardener Beth Lemire. Now, the Garden Club has successfully restored one bed, planting rhubarb, potatoes, strawberries, chives, and various herbs. The project was finished on May 3, at which point a LS science class came out to look at their new resource. The students got the chance to meet the architects of their now-blossoming space and ask them questions about gardening and the natural world. 

The planting of the bed followed intensive soil testing, fertilization and aeration. Meanwhile, on two of the neighboring beds, the Garden Club has taken a slower but more environmentally friendly approach, using compost (from the compost arena) and cover-cropping to fertilize the soil. Thus the garden is also serving as an outdoor lab to investigate the efficacy of more sustainable farming methods. Ultimately, however, the goal is to use sustainable practices on all the beds, and to return the lower school garden back to full productivity by the end of the next school year.

Before & After (feat. Garden Club members Liv Silberstein and Milly Urbanowski)