January Color Splash

Here are a few perfect flowers.

Colorful Winter =]

FOR MORE PICTURE (CLICK>)
BLA GREEN HOUSE 2009-2010

Greenhouse '09-'10

Hi there!

Here are some amazing photos to awe about by Anh Nguyen!

A successful planting party!

Every year I plant a thousand new daylily seedlings, and it takes days. This year, I invited the whole club and friends to come to my house, plant seedlings, eat well, and party.


Five showed up: Arlind, Sam, Kelly, Andy and Khoi (not pictured).

We ate well: my own version of Schinkenfleckerln (ham and noodles), tuna and mac salad, fruit salad, ice cream, cookies, etc. And together we worked from roughly 11 to 6 (Khoi and I wrapped it up the last two hours) and got all 1500 seedlings in and done for the year! Hurrah! Take a look:


I'm really grateful to you five for your hard work planting.

These planting parties are annual: I'll have another next year.

Any student who'd like to see the daylilies at peak season should invite themselves over in the next few weeks. Peak season starts at about the 10th and goes until the end of July. Don't be shy if you're interested: email or phone.

2009 Greenhouse Club Plant Sale

Our plant sale has started the week before Memorial Day, as planned. As you can see, the greenhouse is stuffed with seedlings for sale: 35 varieties of tomatoes and a wide assortment of vegetables, herbs and flowers. So far we've sold $1200 or so worth in the first week. At these prices, that's a LOT of plants! Here's the list:

TOMATOES
name days type size color
Tomato 'Absinthe' 70 indet. large green $1 pot
Tomato 'Bella Rosa' VFFNA Hybrid 75 det. large red $1 pot
Tomato 'Big Beef' VFFNTA Hybrid 73 indet. large red $1 pot
Tomato 'Big Bite' VFFNT Hybrid 75 indet. large red $1 pot
Tomato 'Black Cherry' 65 indet. cherry black $1 pot
Tomato 'Brandywine Cherry' 65 indet. cherry dark $1 pot
Tomato 'Cabernet' VFFNTA Hybrid 75 indet. large red $1 pot
Tomato 'Classica' VFFNA Hybrid 76 det. paste red $1 pot
Tomato 'Costa Rica' 70 indet. small red $1 pot
Tomato 'Dr. Carolyn' 75 indet. cherry white $1 pot
Tomato 'Early Girl' VFF Hybrid 52 indet. med red $1 pot
Tomato 'Fireball' 65 semi med red $1 pot
Tomato 'Fireworks' 60 indet. med red $1 pot
Tomato 'Galina's Yellow' 70 indet. cherry yellow $1 pot
Tomato 'Gardener's Delight' 65 indet. cherry red $1 pot
Tomato 'Glacier' 55 det. small red $1 pot
Tomato 'Golden Queen' 75 indet. med gold $1 pot
Tomato 'Indian Stripe' * 'Sungold' F2 indet. small mixed $1 pot
Tomato 'Isis Candy' 70 indet. cherry mixed $1 pot
Tomato 'Jack White' 75 indet. large white $1 pot
Tomato 'Juliet' Hybrid 60 indet. cherry red $1 pot
Tomato 'Matt's Wild Cherry' 60 indet. cherry red $1 pot
Tomato 'Nepal' 80 indet. med red $1 pot
Tomato 'Neves Azorean Red' 75 indet. extra red $1 pot
Tomato 'Polish Linguisa' 73 indet. paste red $1 pot
Tomato 'Royesta' FFNT Hybrid 70 indet. med red $1 pot
Tomato 'Stupice' 52 indet. small red $1 pot
Tomato 'Sugar Snack' NT Hybrid 65 indet. cherry red $1 pot
Tomato 'Sugary' 60 indet. cherry pink $1 pot
Tomato 'Sun Cherry' FT Hybrid 58 indet. cherry red $1 pot
Tomato 'SunSugar' FT Hybrid 62 indet. cherry orange $1 pot
Tomato 'Sweet Cluster' VFNT Hybrid 67 indet. med red $1 pot
Tomato 'Sweet Million' FNT Hybrid 65 indet. cherry red $1 pot
Tomato 'Viva Italia' VFFNA Hybrid 70 det. paste red $1 pot
PEPPERS
name days type size color
Pepper 'Early Sunsation' Hybrid 70 sweet bell green, yellow $1 pot
Pepper 'Fat 'n Sassy' Hybrid 65 sweet bell green, red $1 pot
Pepper 'Fooled You' Hybrid 65 sweet jalepeno green, red $1 pot
Pepper 'Jalapa' Hybrid 65 hot jalepeno green, red $1 pot
Pepper 'Sweet Pickle' 75 sweet ornamental y, o, r, p $2 6-pack
OTHER FRUITS AND VEGETABLES
Cucumber 'Sweet Success' $1 pot
Golden Berry 'Pineapple' $1 pot
Honeydew Melon 'Cool Green' $1 pot
Summer Squash 'Early Prolific Straightneck' $1 pot
Watermelon 'Bush Sugar Baby' $1 pot
Zucchini 'Burpee's Fordhook' $1 pot
HERBS
Basil 'Genovese' $2 6-pack
Basil 'Lime' $2 6-pack
Basil 'Purple Ruffles' $2 6-pack
Basil 'Siam Queen' $2 6-pack
Basil 'Sweet Dani' $2 6-pack
Chives $2 6-pack
Sage $2 6-pack
ANNUAL FLOWERS
Cleome 'Color Fountain Mixed' $2 6-pack
Coleus Giant Exhibition Mix $1 pot
Coleus 'Wizard' Select Mix $2 6-pack
Convolvulus 'Dwarf Ensign' Mix $2 6-pack
Cosmos 'Sensation' Mix $2 6-pack
Ipomoea 'Heavenly Blue' $1 pot
Lavateria (pink) $1 pot
Marigold 'Antigua' Mix $2 6-pack
Mimosa pudica (Sensitive Plant) $1 pot
Nasturtium 'Tip Top Alaska' Mix $2 6-pack
Nasturtium 'Whirlybird Mixed Colors' $2 6-pack
Salvia 'Forest Fire' $2 6-pack
Salvia 'Strata' $2 6-pack
Sunflower 'Russian Giant' $1 pot
Zinnia elegans Giant Scarlet $2 6-pack
Zinnia Thumbellina $2 6-pack
Zinnia 'Uproar Rose' $2 6-pack
Zinnia Zinnita mix $2 6-pack
PERENNIAL FLOWERS
Coreopsis grandiflora 'Presto' $2 6-pack
Dianthus grandiflora 'Cheddar Pink' $2 6-pack
Iberis sempervirens 'Snowflake' $2 6-pack

Greenhouse Club planting schedule for 2008

I've purchased quite a lot of seed to grow for this spring. Here's the rough schedule for planting!

Single Pot for Greenhouse, start very early (February)
Passiflora incarnata Alba sown 1/15
Passiflora incarnata sown 1/15
Campsis 'Morning Calm' Trumpet Creeper sown 1/15
Dicentra 'Golden Tears' sown 1/15
Asarina wislizensis 'Red Dragon' (light, surface sow)
Eccremocarpus ‘Chilean Glory Vine’ (light, surface sow)
Cardinal Climber morning glory
White Cypress vine (soak)
Moonvine, Ipomoea alba (nick and soak)
Ipomoea 'Heavenly Blue' (nick and soak)
Ipomoea ‘Sun Smile’
Cucumber 'Swing F1 Hybrid'
Cucumber ‘Miniature White’

12 weeks before Memorial Day weekend (packs) 2/28
Asperula azurea (germinate cool)
Chives (light)

12 weeks before Memorial Day weekend (community pot) 2/28
Jalepeno Chile
Mimulus ‘Maximas Mix’ (light, surface sow)
Myosotis scorpiodes
Strawberry 'Alexandria'
Strawberry 'Mignonette'
Rosemary (light, cool, dryish)
Summer Savory
Mimosa pudica (Sensitive Plant)

10 weeks before Memorial Day weekend (packs) 3/6
Alyssum 'Sweet White'
Salvia 'Hummingbird Mixed Colors' (light, shallow cover)
Salvia 'Lady In Red' (light, shallow cover)
Salvia Strata (light, surface sow)
Sage (light)
Salvia homineum (Clary) (light)
Peppermint
Spearmint

10 weeks before Memorial Day weekend (community pot) 3/6
Golden Berry 'commercial '
Golden Berry 'Pineapple'
Coleus (light, surface sow)
Coleus Giant Exhibition Mix (light, surface sow)
Nicotiana 'Tinkerbelle F1 Hybrid'
Nicotiana 'Havana Mixed F1 Hybrid'
Dianthus 'Arctic Fire'
Echinops ruthenicus
Silene lacinata 'Jack Flash'
Platycodon 'Hakone White double' (light)
Aquilegia vulgaris (Columbine) (light, surface)
Aquilegia flabellata Cameo Mix (light, surface)
Cephalaphora aromatica (light, surface)
Hibiscus 'Disco Belle' mix (soak, light)

8 weeks before Memorial Day weekend (packs) 3/20
Basil 'Siam Queen'
Basil 'Cinnamon'
Basil 'Lemon'
Basil 'Bush'
Basil 'Sweet'
Cosmos 'Sonata Dwarf Mixed Colors'
Cosmos 'Ladybird Scarlet'
Cosmos 'Polidor'
Cosmos 'Gazebo Mixed'
Cilantro
Dill (light)
Convovulus 'Rainbow Flash' (Dwarf Morning Glory)
Myosotis 'Royal Blue Improved' (Forget Me Not)

8 weeks before Memorial Day weekend (lines) 3/20
Tomato Sugar Snack NT Hybrid
Tomato Sweet Million FNT Hybrid
Tomato Sugary
Tomato Juliet Hybrid
Tomato Big Bite VFFNT Hybrid
Tomato Royesta FFNT Hybrid
Tomato Goliath VFFNT Hybrid
Tomato Big Beef VFFNTA Hybrid
Tomato Cabernet VFFNTA Hybrid
Tomato Glacier
Tomato Fireworks
Tomato Early Girl VFF Hybrid
Tomato 'Supersteak F1 Hybrid'
Tomato 'Moneymaker'
Tomato 'Gardener's Delight'
Tomato 'Super Marmande'
Cleome 'Cherry Queen'
Cleome 'Color Fountain Mixed'

6 weeks before Memorial Day weekend (packs) 4/3
Marigold 'Solan'
Marigold 'Mr Majestic'
Marigold 'Scarlet Sophie'
Marigold 'Boy O Boy Series Mixed'
Marigold 'Sunspot Mixed'
Marigold 'Colossus'
Tithonia 'Torch'
Zinnia 'Peppermint Stick'
Zinnia Zinnita mix
Zinnia Profusion Cherry
Zinnia Dreamland Mix (6 weeks to bloom)
Zinnia elegans Giant Scarlet
Zinnia Magellan Mix (x3) (6 weeks to bloom)
Zinnia Thumbellina


4 weeks before Memorial Day weekend (packs) 4/17
Nasturtium 'Cherry Rose Jewel'
Nasturtium 'Princess Of India'
Nasturtium 'Empress Of India'
Nasturtium 'Whirlybird Mixed Colors'
Nasturtium 'Strawberry Cream'
Nasturtium 'Jewel Of Africa'
Nasturtium 'Climbing Mixed'
Nasturtium 'Double Gleam Mixed'
Nasturtium 'Tom Thumb Mixed Colors'
Nasturtium 'Alaska Mixed

Week of Memorial Day weekend 5/19-5/23: SALE

MISC, probably won’t be sown:
Aster chinensis 'Blue Ribbon'
Begonia 'Tenella Rose F1 Hybrid'
Broccoli 'Summer Purple Sprouting'
Cimicifuga racemosa
Napa (Chinese Leaves)
Helianthus (Sunflower)
Ipomoea 'Milky Way'
Lettuce 'All The Year Round'
Lettuce 'Ultimate Mixed'
Nemesia 'Penny Black'
Pai Tsai
Penstemmon Mixture
Salvia 'Sizzler Red Stripe F1 Hybrid'
Shamrocks sown 11/15

Last Week's Club Meeting

Catherine Droser did a presentation of how to plant an avacado tree. We divided into groups of 4 and made our own experiment with the avacado seed! Of course, we can't wait to see the results sometime in spring (hopefully)! There's a preview of what the tree will turn out to be in the 1st picture!






I give myself props for this picture, the sunshine really hits the spot!

The plant above is a golden berry plant(?), brought in by Mr. Huben. And our cuttings from the second week of the club is sprouting roots!

This week's Germination

Today the club germinated some seeds for the spring, and hopefully the shamlocks will grow by Saint Patrick's Day! Our Triumvrate decides to grow avacado pulps next week. More ideas soon to come!

Descriptions are from www.thompson-morgan.com

Aquilegia caerulea
Description:
Possibly the most beautiful Aquilegia of all. With glorious light to deep blue flowers 2-3in across sometimes fetching bi-coloured with white. An excellent border perennial, grand for cutting, in bloom for several weeks and will grow in sun or light shade. Flowers late spring/early summer.

Height: 30-35cm (12-14in)

ALyssum Snow Crystals
Description:Distinctly larger flowers than "Snowcloth" and "Carpet of Snow" which while still small, in their overall combined effect make for a whiter, cleaner appearance. Very neat, compact and uniform in growth.

Height: 8-10cm (3-4in)

Dephinium Hybrida "White Swan"
Description:
From T&M's own breeding comes this amazing dwarf delphinium. Pure white, tightly packed, short spikes, held well above deep green foliage, on dwarf, compact plants. Being early flowering, makes this ideal for planting in the front of a border or in containers.

Height: 30-38cm (12-15in)

Shamrocks
Description:
Great for little window displays! A Saint Patrick's Day Classic!

Greenhouse Club Officers 2007-8

Triumvirate presidency:

Malika Dickson
Catherine Droser
Ngoc Duong

Blog Editor:

Vyvy Nguyen

Secretary:

Lori Hobson

These officers were chose by a very informal process: they stood up. If you would also like a position of some sort, please let me know.

Hat's Off To Mr. Moy And His Students

Mr. Moy and his students have been making excellent use of the greenhouse plants as subjects for drawings Here are some of the drawings. Clicking the photos will enlarge them.

Greenhouse Improvements!

We have heat! Ms. Aaronsson has gotten us the big three elements our greenhouse was missing: electricity, water, and finally heat! I think we can supply the rest to make the greenhouse (or outdoor classroom, as it is originally described) a success.

Now that we shouldn't lose plants to frost any more, we can build a collection of tropical plants for beauty and educational purposes.



Above is one of the Passionflowers that I've brought into the greenhouse from my last trip to Logees. It's an astounding greenhouse nursery that sells thousands of kinds of greenhouse plants in little pots for reasonable prices. I also picked up a banana plant, a coffee tree, and a number of other things that mostly have no common names. (Only botanical Latin names.) We should run a field trip there to get more!

Welcome To A New Season For The Greenhouse Club!

We're starting off with some beautiful plants that survived the summer in the greenhouse, and a number of baskets of ivy geraniums from a neighbor of mine. In addition, we have more than a hundred packets of seed, and will order still more as time goes on.



Last year's crop of seedlings was a huge success: faculty snapped them up, making several hundred dollars for the club. Above is Tomato 'Sugary F1 Hybrid'. It's indeterminate, which means it never stops growing. Faculty report phenominal success with this variety, and it's still fruiting in the greenhouse right now.

Below is Zinnia 'Candy Cane'. The zinnias bloomed in my garden until frost last week.



We'll grow a large assortment in the winter and for the spring. Top requests are for more tomatos and herbs: can do!

This year we've got around 24 club members so far. It will be a challenge keeping you all occupied, but there's no end to the exciting projects we can do in the greenhouse. Growing plants for sales is just the start: we can also run experiments, create ecological habitats, compost, and a host of other exciting things. You choose!

June Summary: A Success!

This past year, we had quite a successful spring growing season! We covered two of the 8x4 foot tables with well-grown seedlings of flowers, vegetables, and herbs. The long window bed was filled with beautiful seedlings, which grew throughout the summer. The results were just beautiful

Most of the growing was done by the dozen-strong Applied Academics Greenhouse Club, but my math students were clamoring to do things in the greenhouse as well. I indulged the seniors in my Discrete Math class, and they planted a number of flats.

Here's a photo showing off some of the early-blooming seedlings.



These seedlings were sold mostly to faculty, though of course the students who grew them also got some to take home.

March Greenhouse Progress!

A lot has happened in the past few months.

The first use of the greenhouse by the science department: Mr. Barry requested a dozen bean plants for a lab he'll have in a few weeks. The greenhouse club has sown them into pots for him. This sort of procedure should work out very nicely!

It got cold in the greenhouse! This year, it didn't really get cold outside until January, but then we got some serious cold. When the temperature was in the single digits, we froze in the greenhouse: the giant tubes with the fish had large amounts of ice. That killed the water hyacinth in the tube. If the tube had frozen much more, expanding ice would probably have shattered it before it froze the goldfish solid. The few plants we'd left in the greenhouse did freeze, and the frost-tolerant vegetables we'd planted stopped growing.

This illustrates a design flaw: when you want to depend on solar heat, don't build at the bottom of a well. Because the greenhouse is at the bottom of a courtyard, for almost two months the sun didn't rise high enough to shine on the greenhouse. In the future, for those two months growth will essentially slow to a stop, even if we keep the greenhouse warm with a ventillation system. But we can live with that. Another design flaw is that the thermal storage (ie. water tanks) that supposedly would prevent freezing are not nearly large enough to do anything significant in such a large greenhouse.

It got hot in the greenhouse! Now that the sun has peeked above the top of the building to shine into the greenhouse, the temperature can readily hit 100 or more. We're seeing some peak-temperature wilting in seedlings. Opening the roof vents gets the temperature back down to sane levels, but we really need automated temperature control with thermally operated vents.

The current proposal for fixing the temperature problems in the greenhouse is to install two intake fans to move air from the hallway windows into the greenhouse, and louvered vents to allow cold air at the bottom of the greenhouse to escape. We will also need thermal-muscle powered automatic vents to pull cool air from the building into the greenhouse during the summer, even if the fans are not running. The fans also must be louvered so that if they shut off, the building doesn't draw air from the outside through the greenhouse into the school building. That would quickly chill the greenhouse in the winter.

February was time to start seedlings for this spring's crop, but because the greenhouse was too cold for good germination, I moved a mesh table into my classroom and covered it with plastic. It's raised so that it fits over the radiator in my south windows: that provides bottom heat and excellent light. We're getting great germination. The greenhouse club members have enthusiastically gotten into sowing seeds into community pots and directly into cell packs. It was great doing this in the classroom when it was chilly in the greenhouse. We're already transplanted our first seedlings, and almost finished the direct sowing. The flats of germinated seedlings have now been moved into the greenhouse.

Students, teachers, and administration have been very excited to see the Amaryllis blooming and seedlings growing on the plant table in my room. It's generating some excitement.

I've taken some of my math classes into the greenhouse as well. My discrete math class (all seniors) was feeling really lazy about the math, so I had them sow a bunch more flats in the greenhouse and bring them back into the classroom for germination under the well-controlled conditions. They really enjoyed it, and will be excited as their seedlings germinate in the next week or so. I've promised that class and the greenhouse club members that they can have a seedling each from what they've started. The rest we'll have fun selling, perhaps at 50 cents to 2 bucks a plant.

The front bed of the greenhouse has been planted with a few pansies and violas that I bought, along with some nasturtiums, morning glories, thunbergia, swiss chard, chives, and other plants that we grew. The lettuce we sowed in winter has decided that it's a good time to grow, and we've resown some moon vines, snap peas and sweet peas. Soon we'll plant in some other seedlings (tomatoes, peppers, herbs, and other seedlings.) It's starting to look like the greenhouse is used!

Here's a list of what we've sown:

Anchusa petophylla ‘Blue Shower’
Basil ‘Genovese’
Basil ‘Lemon Mrs. Burns’
Bean ‘Pencil Pod’
California Poppy ‘Sunset Mix’
Chinese Chives
Cilantro/Coriander ‘Slow Bolting’
Cleome ‘Color Fountain Mix’
Cosmos ‘Bright Lights Mix’
Cosmos ‘Double Click’
Cosmos ‘Sonata Dwarf Mix’
Cynoglossum ‘Chill Out’
Dianthus ‘Arctic Fire’
Echinacea ‘Lustre Hybrids
Four O’Clock’s Mix
Gypsophila ‘Covent Garden’
Hollyhock ‘Antwerp Mix’
Impatiens ‘Neon Mixed’
Ipomoea alba
Ipomoea ‘Heavenly Blue’
Ipomoea pandurata
Lavateria trimestris ‘Twins Hot Pink’
Lettuce ‘All Year Round’
Linanthes ‘French Hybrids’
Linaria ‘Northern Lights’
Lobelia erinus ‘Blue Wings’
Marigold ‘Burpee’s Best Mix’
Marigold ‘Solan’
Marigold ‘Sunspot’
Marigold ‘Snowdrift’
Nemophila ‘Pennie Black’
Nasturtium ‘Alaska Mixed’
Nasturtium “Empress Of India’
Nicotiana ‘Fragrant Cloud’
Pepper ‘California Wonder’
Pepper ‘Thai Dragon’
Salvia ‘Hummingbird Mixed’
Salvia ‘Lady In Red’
Sensitive Plant
Silene lacinata ‘Jack Flash’
Snap Pea ‘Sugar Ann’
Snow Pea
Sweet Pea ‘T&M Prize Strain’
Swiss Chard ‘Bright Lights’
Thunbergia ‘Beauty Spots’
Tithonia ‘Torch’
Tomato ‘Beefmaster Hybrid’
Tomato ‘Sugary F1 Hybrid’
Tomato ‘Sweet 100 Hybrid’
Zinnia ‘Candy Cane Mix’
Zinnia ‘Cactus Flowered Mix’
Zinnia ‘Peppermint Stick’

Not all have germinated, but we've got a fair amount. We need to do some transplanting in the next few weeks, and I have a few more seeds coming:

Golden Berry (Cape Gooseberry
Cucumber 'Swing F1 Hybrid'
Sage
Alpine Strawberry 'Mignonette'
Echinops ruthenicus

I've put off sowing my own daylily seed for my hybridizing. Once the remaining seedlings are moved to the greenhouse, I'll sow them. See my web page for that project: http://hubendaylilies.blogspot.com/2006/12/welcome.html

Time to start taking some pictures!

December progress.

Fish in the giant tube!

The rainwater system is getting installed.

We need some small, hardy fish for mosquito control in the wetland pools.

The front bed (soil filled) is now mostly planted with vegetable seed. No germination yet: it wasn't really watered enough to wet the soil more than a fraction of an inch.

More seed is on order.

We've lost one or two members since we started, and gained three. Welcome!

Still no responses to this blog from anybody. :-( Students report that my email invitations haven't gotten through.

The most tender plants have been moved up to the third floor until we're more certain of the heat situation.

I observed on last Thursday that on a windy day, cold air blew from the greenhouse into the building when the connecting windows were opened. That means that sometimes keeping the windows open would not heat the greenhouse, but instead cause cold air to be sucked into the greenhouse. That could be countered if we had a fan blowing air from inside the school into the greenhouse. But we'd need electricity first for that.

There was an excellent meeting of the science faculty two weeks ago to show off the outdoor classroom, and push to get it used.

Ms. Williams is interested in getting a digital recording sensor for temperature in the greenhouse. Somewhere around $40.

Some brave volunteers are bringing home seed and pots to get the seedlings started in warmer conditions.

I've asked Ms. Aronsen for another table for my room. I'll place it against the radiator in front of the window, top it and the radiator with a plastic sheet, and have a growing table with bottom heat for starting seedlings. Once they're germinated, they can be moved into the cooler greenhouse.

Short week! No AA meeting.

However, there are a few things we can chat about.

First, looking at the Chilterns catalog, I think instead we'll order again from Thompson and Morgan. I'm thinking mostly of things that germinate and grow well at cool temperatures. Here's the current list I'm thinking of:
* Alyssum 'Aphrodite Mix'
* Sweet Pea 'T&M Prize'
* Snap Pea 'Sugar Ann'
If you look at the web site (or the printed catalog -- Linda has it) and see something else suited for winter growing, please mention it in a response to this post.

Checking my old seeds, I found some good cool-weather crops:
Swiss Chard 'Bright Lights' (beautiful multi-colored stalks!)
Turnip 'Oasis' (fast, small, tender, sweet, white)
Radish 'Gourmet Blend' (radishes are the fastest vegetables)
Cucumber 'Long White' (bet you never saw one with a white skin)
Beet 'Chiogga' (pink and white striped!)

We've now got a partial schedule for watering and tidying the greenhouse:
Monday R5: Linda Nguyen
Tuesday: open
Wednesday R7: Tom Burke
Thursday: open
Friday R2: Christina Ho

On Friday, I noticed that the first morning glory seed had sprouted. Very soon we'll need some sort of trellising or netting for the vines to grow on. Things are going to start popping fairly soon.

We should arrange some after-school field trips: these will require parents to drive you students. I can't without elaborate permissions and insurance issues. I'm thinking of field trips to places like Mahoney's or Russell's or the city greenhouses. Or maybe we can see the Isabella Stuart Gardiner Museum's facilities.

I've got a load of dead leaves to stick in the compost bin with some worms that were brought in on Friday. I could use some help carrying them in from my car. I also have an Epiphyllum cactus to transplant and a couple of Clivias to bring in.

We should organize some way for us to be in the greenhouse more often, perhaps immediately before or after school. It's really cool to be able to check the plants daily.

Greenhouse Club Planning 11/16/06

Here's the first picture of our greenhouse classroom on the web.



I'll use it on the blog page, but replace it as we fill the greenhouse and get a more interesting view.

This week I'd like to do a few minor things:

(1) Clean the greenhouse so that it is presentable for Parent's Night.

(2) Get email addresses so that we all can post to this blog (beyond comments.)

(3) Line up a few people to do short reports on interesting topics.

(4) Think about other seeds we're interested in buying. The next order will go to Chilterns, which is linked on the right.

Greenhouse Club Planning 11/9/06

As a simple solution for communicating and sharing pictures, I’ve started a blog for the greenhouse classroom at: http://greenhouseclassroom.blogspot.com/

Everybody can post responses to the blog, but I will set up folks to create new postings if you simply email me at mhuben@world.std.com.

I’d really like somebody to “own” the blog and change its style and template to something beautiful.

We should all check the blog at least once a week.

We can now set up a schedule of volunteers for watering, cleaning, and other regular needs. My idea is one volunteer per day during a volunteer’s study. I can write a pass allowing you to leave your study to work in the greenhouse.

Today we’re going to get some seeds planted, and once again we’ll use plastic bags to ensure that moisture stays high. Because of the cool conditions in the greenhouse, seed germination will be fairly slow: we may want to take some planted seed home with us or find a warmer windowsill in the school.

I still want people to bring in cuttings and find seed to grow. For example, a trip to the Arboretum could result in lots of tree seed. One of the more interesting seed you can gather on city streets is black locust tree seed: you’ll spot foot-long, twisty black pods hanging from the trees. The seedlings are beautiful and ferny, but the seed needs a special trick to germinate.

And finally, we need to start sharing our interests in plants with each other. I’m thinking that we could each give a little 5 minute talk on some aspect of plants that intrigues us, that we’ve done a little research on. Present a book or article you’ve recently read.

Greenhouse Club Planning 11/2/06

The greenhouse club is starting with a few high and low priority goals.

• Have fun! Grow lots of stuff! Learn about plants!
• Set up a schedule of volunteers for watering, cleaning, and other regular needs.
• Create a group of knowledgable students who can assist teachers and students in use of the greenhouse for classes.
• Create rules for greenhouse usage to prevent problems.
• Improve the greenhouse gradually with some well-chosen additions.

Initial rules:
• All plants must be labeled with the plant’s caretaker and the supervising teacher’s name.
• No pesticides may be sprayed without authorization.
• Students must have faculty with them in the greenhouse.
• White surfaced tables are for work, not growing.
• Greenhouse must be kept tidy and clean.

Startup:
• GET THINGS GROWING!
• Secretary to record rules, notes from meetings, etc.
• Create a schedule for watering, etc.
• What do we need?
• List problems that could be solved.
• List and plan projects to be undertaken.
• Email list or blog for the club.
• Web site?

What do YOU want to do?

Welcome!

Welcome to the Boston Latin Academy greenhouse classroom blog!

It's purpose is to simplify communications between greenhouse users by providing an easy-to-find repository for information, discussions, and plans for the greenhouse classroom.

The first users will be the greenhouse club that I'm running. Then we'll add whoever else in faculty, administration, or among the other students.

Membership is required to post or respond: that helps to avoid spam.

I've selected a blog because it should be easy to beautify it and incorporate photos. It's open to all to view, though not publicized. Students should not use full names in their blogger ID's or include other contact information for basic privacy and security reasons.