Well, March is at its Marchiest. Temps in the 30's and snow flurries, lots of clouds and no sunshine...morale was a little Marched on today and energy seemed lower than usual so we worked in the classroom today (we're still waiting on our grant check to get heaters, lights, etc.).
We worked with a different potting mix that was much fresher than the media we used last week so we could talk about the differences. The student noticed right away how much moister the new mix was.
I found some more seeds this week that match the list the Food Service Manager gave us, so we planted a flat of 4-cell packs, including butternut squash, basil (a variety called "sacred"), red wing onions, and Dakota tears onions. This week we used a flat that had no drainage to demonstrate how much easier it is to water seeds from the bottom, rather than the traditional watering form above. Also, this demonstration further allowed us to stay inside the warm classroom - I brought along a little water cooler for the occasion!
And then because this class is the period before the students' lunch, I brought a little backup activity:
1. because they get restless if there is any down time
2. because again, I knew we were dealing with the uncooperative weather
3. because I'm practicing/setting up some models for our Winter Seed Sowing class
4. This will allow us to see how the temps and moisture affect germination and seedling development.
I brought some empty milk jugs and we turned them into mini greenhouses. We'll keep them in the greenhouse, but we used the same seeds we used in the 4-cell packs and I'm anticipating these seeds in the milk jugs will germinate first.
