Bountiful Harvest - Pick and Store

Monday Miss Chris and the young gardeners found this cool tomato horn worm - not in our garden but in an adjoining plot. Today the same tomato horn worm was covered with parasitic wasp eggs! Very cool!

Really hot and dry in the garden. Tosh helped Miss Chris set up a sprinkler to water half the garden while we all weeded the other half. Then he re-adjusted the sprinkler and we switched halfs. The students harvested a lot of produce today. Some of what was picked:
Okra from Caitlyn's plot
Tosh - eight ball zuccini and cherry tomatos
Ethan - cherry tomatos
Reilly - onion and banana peppers
Garrett - banana peppers

Today's lesson was about how to store and preserve the produce from the garden. Glenda Kinder, nutrition specialist with the University of Missouri Extension Service, talked to the class about how to preserve their produce. The students loved the frozen grapes Miss Glenda brought, and the frozen bananas on a stick provided by Miss Chris. The donuts Miss Ty brought were enjoyed too!

Reilly made a 'Thank You' poster for Miss Linda, who supplied the gourds the we painted for birdhouses.

What's Up Doc? Diagnose and Treat

Still hot and dry in the garden! The young gardeners wore hats, drank lots of water and worked hard weeding and watering their plots. We've lost more squash to the squash vine borer, but the good news is our smart gardeners are experts at recognizing and controlling pests. We harvested okra, peppers and tomatoes, and saw our first cucumber, about 4" long.

Miss Kirsten taught the gardeners about plant problems and diseases. She showed plants that had evidence of insect damage such as honeydew and tracks from leaf miner insects. Several plants had damage from fungus and bacteria. We also saw a plant with a viral infection that had puckered and distorted leaves. Miss Kirsten explained the disease triangle, and the three things needed for disease: (1) a pathogen such as an insect, bacteria, fungus or virus, (2) a host, and (3) an environment that allows disease to take hold.

Miss Kirsten brought two examples of "good bugs" - a praying mantis and three bags of lady beetles. The gardeners had fun releasing them in the garden. The praying mantis was glad to get out of his jar and entertained the gardeners. The lady beetles quickly exited their mesh bags. Trevor really enjoyed having them climb up his arms and said they tickled.

Good, Bad and Beautiful Bugs

Hot and Dry! We watered and weeded to start Thursday. Garrett's last squash succumbed to the dreaded squash vine borer shown here.

Miss Chris taught the class about bugs. The young gardeners already knew about good bugs and bad bugs. Today they learned about the different mouth parts various insects have - chewing, piercing-sucking, sponging, siphoning and rasping-sucking. A really cool slide show followed with photographs of good and bad insects.

Today's snack was almost to pretty to eat! Here's Ethan with his.

It's A Plot

HOT and DRY! Bugs don't seem to mind the weather! We found cucumber beetles.

Miss Cass taught the class how to design a garden plot, then everyone got to design their fantasy garden.

Afterwards, the young gardeners put some more time in painting their gourd birdhouses. These are artistic masterpieces!

Fruit or Veggie - What is...?

Our gardens needed a lot of weeding today, and this is not our young gardeners' favorite task! We measured 1.6 inches in the rain gauge, so we didn't need to water today. Miss Chris showed the gardeners a pollinator and got a good picture of it.



We harvested okra and pattypan squash today. Here is Ethan's pattypan squash before he picked it, and Trevor showing off freshly harvested okra.

Miss Chris taught the class the difference between a fruit and a vegetable. A fruit is a special container of seeds, the fleshy part of an ovary formed from a pollinated flower. A vegetable is a growth or part of a plant such as a stem, root, leave or petiole. Lots of foods we think of as vegetables are botanically really fruit, like tomatoes, cucumbers and squash! The youngsters snacked on lots of fruits and vegetables while they learned about them.

The take away lessons for today - pay attention to what you eat, and try a new fruit or vegetable!

Zoning Out - Zones Explained

Monday the gardens needed lots of weeding and bug patrol. Some of Garrett's squash plants were wilted. We dissected a plant to find out if it was bacterial wilt from those pesky cucumber beetles or squash vine borer eating through the plant stem. We saw some bug "frass" or poop that looked like sawdust on the outer stem but inside the plant stem near the base of the plant we found the culprit. A squash vine borer - a small white smooth caterpillar - had been burrowing through the stem. He was summarily squished.

We also saw and squished lots of squash bug eggs. Some of these eggs were hatching. Baby squash bugs are pale blue with black legs. We found a new invader, the Mexican bean beetle. It resembles a lady beetle (good bug) in appearance but the Mexican bean beetle (bad bug) eats holes in the bean leaves.

Miss Cass and the young gardeners started a new science experiment. One plant in each garden had reflective cloth put under the plant. We will check to see if this material deflects bugs and increases light, allowing the plant to grow better and faster.

In the classroom, Miss Cass taught everyone about Plant Zones. The plant hardiness zone in our area and other areas in the country were discussed. Each gardener then designed there own "dream garden". They looked through garden catalogs and picked their favorite fruit and vegetable plants. The cost of planting their dream gardens was calculated. Our gardeners have refined and expensive taste!

The Master Gardeners prepared a great project for the gardeners. Miss Linda donated birdhouse gourds, which were cleaned, drilled and based painted by Miss Ty and Miss Chris. The youngsters started painting their birdhouses Monday. Check these out!

Pistils, Petals and Other Parts

Rain Thursday, so there was no work in the gardens.

Today's class was all about flowers. The students learned the parts of a flower and each part's purpose. They learned that the anther produces pollen. The color of the petals attracts pollinators, who help transfer the pollen to the stigma, where it travels downs to the ovary to produce seeds. The young gardeners dissected different flowers to see the parts. Here are Trevor, Reilly and Tyler dissecting flowers.

After dissecting their flowers, the students got to make flowers out of colorful tape and straws. The results were beautiful flowers. Here the young gardeners are showing off their creations!




The students checked the soil experiments they started last week. They mixed different soil types together with water in olive jars and let them settle. Today they could see the different layers.