Final phase of Woodland Garden

With the woodland shade garden planted and mulched, the final phase is building benches and some raised beds for a few plants (there's a break of sky between the neighboring buildings in that section of the garden that should allow enough sun for edible plants). Alex is providing estimates for this project. We hope we can raise funds for so it can be begun this winter and ready for spring.

Cport Garden Committee Notes, Nov 19

Attendance: Alex (parent), Andy (parent), Monica (parent), Derek (parent and vertical gardening expert), Alice (CitySprouts)

Agenda:

1. Vertical gardening – input from Derek
2. Decision to use Woolie Pockets instead of CityScapes aluminum frame
3. School restructuring and how this may impact the garden
4. Budget update
5. Projects for the spring

Action list:

1. Vertical gardening – input from Derek

Derek, a Cport parent with 3 kids, installed 9 vertical gardening systems in a public park in Singapore. He’s unfortunately leaving Cambridge around Christmas, but had this input for whatever system we choose:

- Make the purpose public and clear: lots of signage and information will keep people from judging the appearance, which may not always be perfect

- Maintenance: should be taken over by one person, who develops expertise as to amount water is needed, which plants thrive, how often to change out plants, etc. In our case, this would be a CitySprouts person.

- Think carefully about which plants would be appropriate for the system – how long will they last, how much water do they need, will you need to switch them out frequently?

- Keep systems low and accessible, unless you’re ready to deal with ladders frequently.

2. Vertical Garden Decision

After some discussion with Derek, the committee decided to pursue Woolie Pockets over the CityScapes aluminum frame, for the following reasons:

- Pockets are cheaper! $5,798 buys us two 8x4 CityScape frames; $1,000 buys us 50 Pockets, dirt, curriculum package

- Pockets are deeper, easier to plant, may retain water better

- Pockets are soft, appropriate for next to the play area, can be hung individually

- CityScapes frame is heavy, shallow pockets, requires multiple people to do the heavy lifting for planting and maintenance. Can’t really switch out individual plants without taking the whole frame down

- Irrigation for Pockets will most likely be by hose. Andy has a drip irrigation system that works well at home, we may be able to set something similar up.

3. School restructuring

There is some concern that the Cport building will, in a worst-case scenario, no longer be used as a school. Another restructuring possibility involves moving the 6/7/8 grades to a separate middle school. We will find out about the future of Cport in January. Obviously, our plans to invest in hardscaping will change, depending on whether or not we stay in the current location. CitySprouts will, most likely, stick with the student population, either at Cport, or another building.

4. Budget Update

CitySprouts budget for FY 2011 is $2,000, and can be drawn on starting in the spring, for whatever projects we’d like. That said, Monica is working diligently on a few grants to help fund the vertical gardening, potential vegetable garden, and fruit trees for outside the staff room.

5. Projects for the spring

Alice’s job at CitySprouts ends on November 30^th, and starts up again April 1^st. There are number of projects that would be great to start then (or before):

- Raised bed/bench: we would like to hire Alex to plan and build the bench/bed for the woodland garden. Monica will use his sketch to apply for grants for this, and once we hear about the school plans, this could start in early spring

- Vertical gardens: we’re going with Woolie Pockets. Once we hear back from the Harvest Coop grant, we could already start planning where these will go and getting teachers to start thinking about planting them in the spring.

- Dwarf fruit trees in pot for on the roof outside the staff room: Isabel Eccles and her class would be in charge of this project. Monica is working on a grant for fruit trees. This would start in the spring.

- Teacher parking spot space: this is stalled, still – we haven’t been able to secure a replacement spot yet. We’re still working on it.

That’s it for the Cport Garden Committee notes. Thank you all so much for your enthusiasm and work, and special thanks to Monica for her all of her research on vertical gardens and funding! I’m looking forward to seeing you all again in the spring! -- Alice

8th graders Make Beautiful Garden Signs for Woodland Garden

With the help of art teacher Amy Grady, Cambridgeport School 8th graders made signs labeling the new woodland garden and its many native plants. As Alex on the garden committee pointed out, the colors and shapes of the signs echo the colors and shapes of the student-made "house tiles" that appear opposite them on the school wall. We look forward to the spring when the plants wake from sleep and our garden is filled with even more color. Thanks Amy and our eighth graders, too!

CitySprouts Celebrates!

The CitySprouts School Garden Celebration on Saturday at the Tobin School was well attended and a terrific success for CitySprouts, celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. It was also a great day for Cambridgeport. Our table with its informational display about our woodland shade garden and research about vertical gardening (which included information about Woolly Pockets and Green Living Technologies' growing panels) generated a lot of interest. The GLT living wall, courtesy of Jan Goodman at Cityscapes in Boston, brought many people to our table. Everyone who stopped by was either amazed or excited for us. School Superintendent Jeffrey Young was surprised at the different types of vertical growing and super enthusiastic. City Councillor Leland Cheung listened carefully about our school's shortage of sunny space and all our plans. He asked to keep him posted—he may have a lead for us re possible funding. Lastly, with the enterprising help of C'port middle schoolers and CitySprouts summer interns Kester and Allie, donations for our garden totaled $86. Thanks Allie and Kester!

Just as exciting, the day before the event two different articles about our garden plans appeared in the Cambridge press—the links are here:

Cambridge Chronicle — Cambridge’s CitySprouts celebrates edible wall, new garden

Cambridge Day — Cambridgeport kids bring 'edible walls' to CitySprouts celebration Saturday

Below are photos of our display at the event. Also be sure to check out the Cambridgeport PTO website, which has additional photos from planting day September 28.

Getting Our Garden Off the Ground!

Tuesday, September 28, was one of the busiest garden workdays so far, and rainy too, but parents, students and CitySprouts staff dug in and got dirty—and it looks beautiful!

Many thanks to Alice, our garden coordinator, and CitySprouts exec director Jane Hirschi who kept planting in the wet, wet rain along with garden committee member Andy and even dynamo 5th grader Helen S. Also a tremendous thanks to Jan of Boston plantscaping firm Cityscapes, who brought a 7-foot stainless-steel growing frame along with bunches of beautiful plants. Jan spent three hours showing 10 students how to carefully plant in each panel, then with Alice's and Andy's help hoisted the panels onto the frame in our entrance hall. Jan's moving this beautiful living wall to the Tobin school for us in time for Saturday's CitySprouts School Garden Celebration, from 11 am to 3 pm. (Thanks also to Wade Lindhorst, who stayed his chipper self even though we overtook so much Community School classes space.)

Lastly, many thanks to JK assistant teacher Kristen Emack, who took gobs of great photos, many of them below. With her skills we were able to land an article about our school in Cambridge Day, with possibly more coverage to come. See the article here.

It's Harvest Time!

We're back, folks! Cambridgeport's garden is taking off! Keep checking back for updates and photos—lots of exciting garden news coming this fall.

Tuesday, September 28: Planting Day! Eveyone is welcome to help plant Cambridgeport's Woodland Garden after school, 2 to 5:30 pm. We'll be planting rhododendron, mountain laurel, dogwood and other native shade plants behind the school. We will ALSO be planting colorful cabbages, chards and pppers into a mobile vertical growing frame, courtesy of CityScapes in Boston. No other school in Cambridge or Boston has a vertical growing system like this!

Saturday October 2: CitySprouts School Garden Celebration. Come see what all the K–8 schools in the district have been up to with their gardens during the past year. The theme of Cambridgeport's display is "Getting a Garden Off the Ground" and will focus on vertical gardening. At the Tobin School, 11am to 3pm—held outdoors if the weather is good, indoors in the cafeteria in case of rain.

Notes from Cambridgeport Garden Committee Meeting

September 14, 2010

Attendance: Alex (parent), Shirley Harvey (parent liaison), Andy (parent), Monica (parent), Katie (principal), Jason (chef at Bondir Restaurant at 279A Broadway), Alice Gugelmann (CitySprouts)

Agenda:

• Upcoming planting and event dates
• Vandalism prevention in new woodland garden
• Plan for Cport’s table at CitySprouts’ Garden Celebration, Oct 2nd

Action list:

• Alice will confirm and order plants, mulch, compost for Sept 28th planting days, talk with Amy the art teacher about making signs for plants, make flyers to hand out to neighbors
• Alex will complete a sketch of raised beds in time for Tuesday 21st Back-to-School night, and will pick up birch logs for border on weekend of 24th
• Monica will publicize Sept 28th planting day and Garden Celebration Day, and will continue to work on displays for “Getting a Garden off the Ground” table

1. Vandalism prevention in new woodland garden:

• To curb potential vandalism in the newly planted, back-alley garden, we will consider lighting the space (flood lights? Christmas tree lights in the trees, like in Inman Square?), so that kids can’t loiter there in the complete dark. Also, to make it clear that the space is by and for children, we’ll put up children-made signs with plant names and information. We’ll send out flyers to the adjacent neighbors to ask them to keep an eye out.

2. Cambridgeport’s table at the CitySprouts Garden Celebration (11 to 3pm, Oct 2nd, Tobin School)

• Monica has pulled together the materials and theme (Getting a Garden off the Ground) for the Cport table, focusing on vertical gardening and the process by which Cport has built garden space.
• Monica needs help staffing the table on Oct 2nd! Please contact her if you can be there for an hour or two - mvelgos@pipeline.com

More information:

http://agreenroof.com/urban-farms/mobile-edible-walls/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbr4fHTOrK4

The Workday at Cport was a Success!

Thank you to everyone who came out - to Monica for muffins, Alex and Andy for tools and expertise in removing the cement curb, and all the parents, kids, and teachers who shoveled gravel and dirt for 3 1/2 hours. The woodland garden is ready for a path and plants, more to come on the next steps!

New Planters are ready to Plant

On Tuesday, the planters were filled with help from Carolyn, Giselle, Jill, Patrick, and Diane's classes (pictures to follow). Alex came that evening and installed the trellises, and here is the result! The huge dirt pile in the back of the school will be transferred to the new woodland garden on the May 15th workday.

Cport Garden Committee Notes, April 27th

Cambridgeport Garden Committee Notes

April 27^th

Attendance: Alex Van Praagh (parent and bed-builder extraordinaire), Shirley Harvey (parent liaison), Andy Hrycyna (parent), Alice Gugelmann and Jane Hirschi (CitySprouts)

Agenda:

1. New beds!
2. Changes to Elm Street
3. Filling the beds and woodland area – May 15^th workday for gravel and dirt shoveling
4. Woolly gardens
5. Action list

Next meeting: not set, but workday will be May 15^th

1. New beds and murals by Alex and Whitney!

Everything is in place on Elm Street and looking great. Trellises and last details will be completed by this weekend; soil will come next week. Alex explained that the beds are adaptable, if we’d like to move them in the future.

2. Road changes to Elm Street

The City will be doing road and sidewalk work starting this week (April 26^th) and lasting 1-2 months. An informational meeting will be held in the Cport cafeteria on Weds April 28^th.

Action step: Alice will attend the meeting, to see how this might affect our plans for garden changes: will bike parking be added on the street, giving us more room on the school property for a garden? Will they be laying out water lines that we could use for watering our new planters? We access to the school be impeded in any way (possibly blocking the way for a big dirt delivery?)

3. Filling the beds and woodland area – May 15^th workday

Workday: A workday was set for May 15^th for the removal of gravel in the woodland area, and spreading of soil. Shirley and Alex will organize volunteers (need about 10, over 3 hours, to complete the job). Tools are available at other CitySprouts sites, volunteers just show up. Jane noted that Kelly Ryder from the City will remove the gravel, as long as we rake it up and deposit it by the street.

Soil delivery: Depending on whether we can get school permission, we’ll have a large delivery of soil deposited in the last parking space by the playground this week, to leave there for 2 weeks. Alice will then use it next Tuesday with classes to fill the new planters, and we will save on the cost of delivering it twice. If that isn’t possible, we will have two soil deliveries, or find another solution for filling the beds (bags from Home Depot, for example).

Design of the woodland area: Alex will work on a sketch of possible topographical changes to the space, including a stepping-stone path.

4. Woolly gardens.

Alex brought up a vertical hanging garden concept he saw advertised, turns out the company works with schools to raise money for the garden if they don’t have a budget. Since we cannot build beds by the tire swing (because the play area needs to be obstacle-free), hanging gardens could be an alternative. Here is the link: www.woollyschoolgarden.org

5. Action list

Alice: attend Elm St meeting and report back; organize soil delivery, fill the planters (get permission from Jennifer Ford); coordinate tool needs with Andy.

Andy and Shirley: organize 10 or more volunteers for the May 15^th workday

Alex: finish up trellises and last bed details, sketch out potential design for woodland area

Question: Should we get someone to organize snacks? Or just ask everyone to bring their own?

Next meeting: not set, but workday will be May 15^th

Front planters almost finished

C'port parent Alex Van Praagh made an early morning drive to New Hampshire on Saturday April 24 to retrieve the composite decking material for the flower planters for the front of the school. (He actually made two trips in order to get the best color.) Made from reclaimed or recycled wood and plastic fibers, this durable material will last a long, long time.

Back in Cambridge Alex began work with the help of Justin Cravens (C'port k'garten teacher), Alice Turkel (School Committee member and former C'port parent), Alex's brother in law J.P. (who's also an architect and furniture maker), and J.P.'s son Ben.

The work site was an interior space on Broadway near the 9th grade school. By 5 p.m. all three planters were well on their way to completion. The photos below show Alex, J.P., Ben and the result of the day's labor.

Alex is fairly certain the planters will be completed on schedule for Tuesday.

On Sunday afternoon, Whitney, Alex's wife, began painting the recessed areas in front of C'Port where the planters will go.

Thanks SO MUCH, Alex, Whitney and helpers for all your efforts! And thanks especially for donating so many hours of your time on a beautiful weekend for Cambridgeport school.

First Planting at Squirrel Brand

April 12th started a week of planting in all the schools, including Cambridgeport. Diane's 1/2 class came out to plant snap peas, loosen up soil, and explore the garden with a scavenger hunt. With the new beds being built next week, we'll look for more planting after April Break.

Garden workshop led by Frank and Joe

On Tuesday, Frank Meehan and Joe Petner led an hour-long garden workshop for Cambridgeport teachers. They demonstrated how many fascinating biotic (living) and abiotic (nonliving) things can be found around the schoolyard and used in day-to-day curricula. Frank brought in dozens of trees samples, from white pine to weeping willow and American beech, to show differences in plant structure and growth. After a quick and enthusiastic botany lesson, Frank passed around landscaping ideas for the new “woodland garden” space between the two playgrounds.

Cambridgeport meeting notes 4/6/10 8:30am- 9:30am

Attending: Alex Van Praagh, Monica Velgos, Andy Hrycyna, Susan Shelkrot, Shirley Harvey, Alice Gugelmann, Francey Slater

Work Day – Date will most likely be changed from 4/17 to 4/24 or 4/25 (Alex will confirm). The main task for this workday will be to install the 3 planters at the front on the Building (Elm St). Alex will be point person, and would like 1-3 helpers (preferably with carpentry skills). Start time is 10am. Monica will solicit volunteers in newsletter

Planters – material is yet undetermined, Alex is looking for best supplier and cost. If we go with cedar, it will most likely be more like $250 per planter for the wood, coming to $300 with all hardware. The dimensions of the box are (roughly) 22” long x 22” deep x 30” tall.

The question of painting the wall behind the platers was rasied: do we want to paint a solid color or include some artistic elements (flowers, butterflies, etc..)? Alex will ask his wife Whitney (www.witcards.com) if she is interested/available to help. NOTE: the actual color of the trim on the school is forest green, not aqua, as shown in the picture.

Filling planters with soil and planting them will come next. CitySprouts generally uses loam and compost from Cambridge Bark and Loam. Andy has researched a soil-less mix that is good for containers. A well-draining mix is crucial. Selecting plants for the planter boxes will also be considered, as they receive limited sunlight (Alex’s estimate was 4 hrs).

Donations – Alice is looking into paint (Sherwin Williams), lumber & hardware (Home Depot) donations

Water Source – Carl informed me that there are NO water sources on the outside of the building, and suggested that we approach Dana Ham of CPS to install. There is a fire hydrant opening on the front of the building, and a water fountain in the playground, so installing taps may be an option. Alice and I spoke in greater depth with Carl about running a hose from the custodian’s room (inside the gate and down the ramp) up to the beds on Elm st, and we also thought about installing a rain barrel at the front that we could just fill from the hose and use for hand watering. Another option is to see if a classroom teacher or three would like to adopt the task of watering (means a lot of lugging water…)

May 20th – Tile (and other) celebration is scheduled for May 20th, which will also be a time to unveil the front planters to the school community.

Playground beds – Jane met with John Nardone, Kelly Writer, Dana Ham and Dick Woods about the potential installation of garden beds in the North corner of the playground. The fence cutting is off the table, but there is the possibility of building a bed or two flush with the fence. The question of clearance with the tire swing remains, and we hope to hear back in the next week about this.

Action Items:

· Alex will continue to research materials and pricing, including recycled plastic lumber
· Alex will confirm work day date, 4/24 or 4/25
· Monica will recruit skilled volunteers
· Alice is contacting retailers about donations
· Alex will ask Whitney about artistic paintings
· CitySprouts will contact DPW about further excavation under the Locust trees

Next meeting: April 27th, 8:30 am

Cport Raised Bed Designs by Alex

Here is the design for three new raised beds, to be built tentatively on Saturday, April 24th.

Lopez Park pictures

I found this image of the Costa Lopez Park community garden with raised beds/ planter boxes:




You can get a better view at the source,  here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/anarchitect/3778933839/sizes/l/#cc_license

The city page describing the park is here:

http://www.cambridgema.gov/CAC/Public/CostaLopezTaylorPark.cfm

Andy

Unfired totem from River Festival 2009

Edible Wall link

This is the story on the Edible Wall product from the New York Times.

Minutes of First Meeting

Cambridgeport Garden Committee Meeting Notes - 2/2/10

Physical Garden Update:

- Question of where a garden would go has been asked for some time

- Decision to start with Woodland Habitat Garden under locust trees in stretch behind school building, and build from there

- Initial budget of $5,000 to build garden, $1,000 of which has been spent on purchasing and installing garden shed ($4,000 remaining)

- DPW removed layer of blacktop from around the trees in December; we will request another layer (if possible 12”) of crushed stone be removed

Overview of CitySprouts Program

- CitySprouts functions in partnership with CPSD, school administration, and school community

- What CitySprouts provides: part-time seasonal staff person (Garden Coordinator), Professional Development for Teachers (led by CS Education Consultants Joe Petner and Frank Meehan), Volunteer matching to help installation and future projects

- What CPSD provides: funding (line item in the budget), relationship with Science Department (writing garden lessons into existing curriculum & doing teacher training around these units – this is a new initiative and will be piloted this spring at Peabody and Amigos schools)

- What school administration provides: funding (contracts with principals), dedicated time for professional development with teachers

- What parent community provides: help building garden, form school garden committee (which has its own set of responsibilities – fundraising, communication, event planning – see School Garden Committee document)

Questions and Discussion Points:

- What happens in summertime? Is the there possibility of connecting the CAPI summer camp to the garden?

CitySprouts sponsors and runs an Internship program for five – eight middle school students from each school, focusing on growing food, nutrition and health, leadership development and community service. The internship is 4 weeks long. We encourage forming connections between other youth-serving programs during the summer – the more young people with access to the school garden, the better.

- Where can a vegetable garden grow? Space and sunlight are challenges at Cambridgeport.

Answering this question will be a creative and collaborative process. Ideas ranged from moveable containers that can be rolled into sunny locations to relocating bike rack to new location to make room for a vegetable bed in the teacher parking area. Moving bikes out of parking lot makes safety sense, thought replacing with a vegetable garden where teachers and families bring children does not follow the same logic. Other ideas: Vertical gardening, living walls, hydroponics.

Thinking beyond $4,000 budget – fundraising for a more technologically advanced features

- Is there another CitySprouts garden that has similar sunlight challenges? Is there a template for Woodland Habitat Gardens?

A few CitySprouts gardens have shady woodland areas (Haggerty, King/Amigos), but Cambridgeport will be the first garden that is majority shaded. Ideas about designing garden to embrace the low light condition – create an enchanted-feeling garden with enclosed feeling, i.e. under the canopy of plants.

- What about native species?

Garden in the Woods (New England Wildflower Society, N Framingham) is a great example of beautiful and lush shade gardening with native plants. Planting natives under Locust trees may prove difficult, as they are shallow rooted (Note: I spoke with a horticulturist at NE Wildflower Society and she did not see any problems with locusts specifically, but will do some research and get back to us).

- Has Vandalism been a problem in other gardens? The garden site is known to be a place people go at night to drink, smoke, etc…

CitySprouts gardens have had limited problems with vandalism.

Concern at Cambridgeport over lack of lights (Alex suggested some kind of strung lights in trees, could add to “enchanted garden” feel), garden as high traffic area (might get trampled by people passing through), and general misuse of garden area; most people felt confident that neighbors would be respectful of garden, and that misuse could be discouraged via good design.

- Tile Unveiling and Potluck dinner on May 20th – deadline to have at least some part of garden completed

- People Making a Difference volunteer group has a workday scheduled for Saturday 4/10 – they can help remove crushed stone, wheelbarrow soil, plant or whatever needs to be done at that point.

Steps Forward

- Alex will create a sketch possible design to bring to next meeting for people to work with. From there we will create a timeline for projects, and determine what kind of fundraising will be needed.

- Before our next meeting (Tuesday, March 2nd 8:30am) people should start looking for design ideas, specifically images that can be shared with group (print or email). Check out Boston Schoolyard Initiative Photos: http://gallery.mac.com/schoolyards