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