Newsletters

We haven’t done much recently as winter is here. We have worked on making a blueprint for the 2021 season, and a list of the plants we want to grow. Since this is taking so long, we’ve also been researching good plants that we can easily grow for next season. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to contact us either through our website (here) or by emailing us at ohmsgarden@gmail.com. We have also been making a purchase order for what we want for the garden, including more wooden beds, a plaque mentioning everyone who’s helped the garden since 2018, and possibly a (not broken and fully functional) hose. Additionally, we’ve been planning for a fundraiser, which we will provide more details for in the spring. Last week (Monday, November 30, 2020), we had everyone in the club make a little bio to put on the website. You can read them on the “About” page here. We have also been doing more things around taking care of the environment during the early winter/late fall. If you want to know more about what we have been talking about regarding that, ask us using the methods above

Happy New Year! It’s the middle of winter, so there’s not much we can do for the garden. We have mainly been planning for the spring. We calculated how much soil per square foot we will need to buy in order to cover the whole garden. We also finished our plant list of everything we want to plant, how much it costs, and the amount of space it takes up. Furthermore, we will most likely be stopping the selling of anymore masks in the foreseeable future as we are getting no more orders. Don’t worry, if you ordered a mask and have not acquired it yet, we will still make it and get it to you. If you haven’t already ordered a mask and would like to, don’t hesitate! Order one on the Masks page of our website. Finally, if you have your mask and haven’t paid yet, please do so whenever you can. In April we will be selling seed kits of thyme, basil, tomato, and squash. If you are interested in this, we will be sending out an interest form some time in the next month. If you aren’t already signed up for email notifications of the newsletter, you won’t get the interest form as we will be emailing it to those on the list. If you would like a seed kit and we don’t have your email, please sign up. At the bottom of any page of our website, there is a link to sign up.

Since it is still winter we are still planning more ideas for the next gardening season. Some of our club members have been working on making a blueprint of the garden to help us plan where the plants will go so we can organize them based on their type and needs for growth. Other people have been continuing our work on seed kits which you can find more information about on the Seed Kits page of our website. More information will come out soon. In addition to our Facebook account, we have created an Instagram account (@ohms_gardenclub).

This past month, we have started taking orders for the seed kits. To order, please go to the “Seed Kits” page of our website and watch the video if you want to learn more. We have also recently completed the blueprint for where we want the plants and new beds next season in our garden to go. Soon, we will begin buying seeds using the money we got from selling seed kits and masks. We have none left, but can make more if you would still like to order some! We have been looking into getting a wheelbarrow and a toolshed as well as a faucet closer to our garden although we still need more information on the cost.

We went to the garden in person twice a couple of weeks ago, and plan to go more often as the weather outside gets warmer. The first time we went we planned out where the new beds would be once we got the materials to build them. The second time we made seed kits (we are taking orders on the “Seed Kits” tab of our website). We also planted seeds into small trays and some of us brought them home to grow into healthy seedlings while we are waiting to build the beds that they will grow in. As a modification from our previous newsletter in March, we are continuing to sell masks and you can still order some on the “Masks” tab of our website. Another modification is that our Challenges of the Week on Instagram will be continuing past Earth Day (April 22nd) so please follow us to see what they are! @ohms_gardenclub, or you can click the link at the top of any page on the website (there is a link for our Facebook page there too!). We are currently working on creating an irrigation system for the garden. This is so that we don’t need someone to go and water every single day, which as some may remember from last year, didn’t quite happen. Not everyone was able to make it every day as most people are busy. So, this year, we are going to have a better system so that the plants are better taken care of. Once we have the right materials we will start to build both the new beds and the irrigation system.

Come spring, we have done a lot more for our garden including building three new wooden beds, expanding the garden to incorporate the compost bin into its fence, adding a bench, moving new dirt, and soon we will be planting the seeds we’ve been growing since March. On Monday, April 26th, we built the 3 new wooden beds and placed them into the garden. See photos from this day in the “Photo Gallery” tab of the website. The new beds didn’t have any dirt in them (other than that already below them) until Monday, May 3rd. We moved some new dirt that was delivered to us into all the beds to ensure better conditions for our plants. Furthermore, we added the compost bin to the garden by adding new fencing around it so that the animals can’t get into it. We have also added a bench which was found on the side of the road that was being given away for free. It is a nice addition to the garden and lets people sit and relax while enjoying the growing plants. At our next meeting on Monday, May 10th, we will be planting all the seedlings that have been growing in our homes since March. We have also gotten many new members that have joined in the past few weeks. If you would like to join or help out, please email us at ohmsgarden@gmail.com. Additionally, if you would like to purchase a seed kit or a mask from us, we are still selling those and you can fill out the order form/s on their respective tabs of our website.

This month, we planted all our seedlings and they have started growing nicely. If you were to stop by the garden, you would see lots of mint, kale, strawberries, chives, and some asparagus; all of which are ready for picking and eating! We also have other plants such as caesar lettuce, arugula, peas, onions, green onions, garlic, basil, cilantro, parsley, rosemary, jalapeños, habaneros, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, carrots, bell peppers, and broccoli; which are still growing. The irrigation system is now working well; we had some technical difficulties at the beginning, but they are now all resolved. If you stop by and see water spraying everywhere, please know that this is supposed to happen so that the water reaches all the plants. If you would like to help out at the garden during the summer, you can sign up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040a4aa5ab22a3fc1-volunteer2. We will then reach out to you so you know what you have to do. When you come, you may harvest whatever plants you would like!

This month we are preparing the garden for the winter seasons, meaning we are removing dead plants, continuing to get rid of weeds, and removing plants that can be eaten, so if you stop by to look at the garden it will seem more barren. If you were to drop by the garden, you will see that we have received a small bed of grass in the garden that has been surrounded by rocks. We are also growing the club, and hanging up info throughout the school to raise awareness and bring in new members. If your children are interested in gardening, tell them to consider checking out the gardening club in rm. 108 after school on Tuesdays. In addition to this, we are planning a bake sale to get more items for the spring. We hope we can host the bake sale by the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. In the bake sale, we plan to sell pastries, and goods like scallion pancakes and cupcakes, with ingredients from the garden.

This month we are planning to make a garden club extension period, where students can come and participate in the Oak Hill garden, gain awareness about climate change and the goal; climate action. The bake sale from November went better than expected, we were able to raise around 175 dollars to help fund the garden and all of our endeavors. Special thanks to Mrs. Chin, Mrs. Ferrari and all other members who helped bring items to sell, and thank you to parents who told their students to come to the bake sale. We are yet to fix the leak in the irrigation system, which will probably be fixed in the spring due to stores not currently selling repair kits. We have also gotten new members, and congratulations to Caitlyn for becoming the new vice president!

During the month of January, we cleaned up the garden by doing things such as removing the plants, weeds, and making sure the perennial plants are prepared for the winter. We will clean up the remaining weeds as soon as spring starts. We are planning what we could do to raise awareness, we also planned what materials we need to get in order of importance, ranked from extra to necessary. We are still planning the garden extension, and we will send out another survey to see how many students are interested.

This month we talked about what fundraisers we want to do. We finally decided on selling pencil pouches, pencil toppers, and drawstring bags. We were going to the garden extension, but due to lack of responses we have canceled it. We were also going to hold another bake sale but canceled it due to the rise in Covid cases and decided to postpone it and wait till Spring.

This month we began and finished the research for what plants to grow, and where to get them. We have also chosen specifics of what plants to grow from the general broad ideas, such as flowers, etc. We are continuing the merchandise sale planning, and are starting to discuss things such as seed kit sales. We have also started to weed the garden and clean it up.

This month we began to work on the garden plants by getting the soil ready, fixing the irrigation system, and getting seeds to plant into the soil. We also continued to weed the garden and polish things up. Many of the perennial plants like strawberry and asparagus have started to grow. Newton Serve also did a beautification process on the school, and we received mulch which we are very grateful for! We have also been joined by a new member Abby.