Hi, I thought that it might be helpful to each other if we would introduce ourselves and say something about what attracted us to this Gardens and Education Forum.

I'll go first since I brought it up!

The person who most inspires me to come to this forum is my son who is 9 and a half. I love gardening, I love seeing him learn. I get a charge out of seeing him take delight in the world around him. I love seeing him put together theories of his own as he explores in the garden and world at large.

We live in an inner city and have a teeny tiny house on a less teeny tiny lot. Our gardening goes on in a fairly limited space. We grow fruit, vegetables, herbs, shrubs and trees in pots(!), and, of late, bulbs and perennials, and flowering annuals and vines. Oh we also have a small potted collection of sedums and a collection of kind of pitiful looking cacti. My son was doing well with a venus fly trap until we decided last year to give it a controlled winter in the refrigerator. Oops. Well, that was a learning event as well.

We are a family who homeschools part-time, although it is clear to me that the majority of what he "knows" he has learned with his family. We love leading him to learning and being challenged to learn ourselves. In our household gardening is a near everyday part of our living and learning.

I see gardening as an incredible avenue for learning. There is so much right there before us that is fascinating, so many experiments, so many wonderments. I think a person could get a very thorough and satisfying eduction just by observing and following things related to gardening. Music, chemistry, social studies, physics, poetry, botany (why, of course!), math...it's all just waiting for us there. The tangents seem endless.

I have lots of ideas to share and will always be on the lookout for ideas here. I hope we will go way beyond the usual "plant a marigold in a paper cup," "grow a bean tee-pee" and "grow the biggest sunflower or pumpkin" sort of thing. Of course those are delightful things to do, but what do we do after that? When my kid is 14 years old and has had 8 bean tee-pees and 4 giant pumpkins, then what? So I hope that we will have ideas among us that are for all age groups and abilities.

I especially look forward to questions that just ask for ideas. Sometimes, I don't have an idea until someone asks me to have one. You know: perhaps someone would ask something like, "We are going to be on Sabbatical for a year and living abroad. What can we set up to leave untended in our garden while gone that will be fascinting to come home to next year?" Or, "Does anyone know how I can demonstrate hydrophyllic forces in a living plant?"

This afternoon, I jotted down some ideas I would like to share here. It filled two pages, so you can see how enthusiastic I am about having this forum. Bravo to the GardenWeb for providing it. (I will try to keep in mind making purchases from their sponsors so that we will be able to keep this forum going.)

Oh, I should probably also mention that doing things inexpensively (free is best!) is always in my mind, even if not consciously. That is just a big part of who I am, and that bent will probably influence my questions and ideas here.

And you?

I came to this forum by virtue of the keyword "Education". I have my own business in Buffalo: Design, Arboriculture, Installation maint.... I volunteer my services on a couople of local committees as an advisor and active participant. My 10 yr old daughter goes to a local neighborhood school. To get involved I offered my services and knowledge to teach the classes about: composting, basic soil science, nutrients etc... It has really done well.

I do some classroom intruction and then take the classes outside to apply what they have learned. i.e. perennial vs. annuals; NPK in soil; compost, trees..... The school system/loacl school love it. Actually, they would love for any parent to get involved with their childs' education. I have found that the school will let any parent come in and offer some basic instruction on a topic in their field as long as it applies to something the class is learning. The teachers love this program so much that short of interrupting a math test, they will let me drop in unannounced anytime and spend an hour with the class. Granted, it works better if you do have some experience and education in your field of instruction. Thats what brought me to this forum. I'm always looking to improve.

Dave - Bflo 5

Well, I guess I'm here cuz i love my kids and i love gardening and I'd love to find more ways to get them involved in this activity. My 6 year old has been sprinkling seeds and taking care of flats in the basement with me for most of his little life - my older kids came during that part of my life that was PG (pre-gardening), so I'm hoping to find ways to at least get them to appreciate ...just a little .....how wonderful gardening can be. Oh sure, they enjoy the fruits of my labors when they gather their friends and sun-bathe on the patios surrounded by the gardens, and they sit out there with their boyfriends, and I'm not looking for their unending gratitude or anything..but i'd like to find a way to get them to quit rolling their eyes at me when i start talking garden talk.

Well, I'm here as a former sp. ed. teacher. I enjoy gardening with my son (7 1/2) and my niece (2 1/2). I have been wanting to come up with more ways to interest them in gardening and plants. Any forum with "education" in the title gets my attention, but one with "gardening" in it as well, really grabs me. Clare, I look forward to reading all the stuff you are putting together for this forum! You always have such great information and ideas!

I also write about gardening with kids on my webpage and in a column for another site, but I am not an expert. I have only been gardening 4-5 years and I've only had my son for 3 years, so I have a lot to learn! I hope we can make this forum fly! Here's a link to my dream garden. I'll be writing an article on this site (below) in the next month or two.

Here is a link that might be useful: Michigan's 4-H Garden

I am Duane Clupper and I live in Kingman, AZ. I got hooked on gardening with children and the handicapped by accident. Over 10 years ago the southwest was in a draught and if I was to continue raising a large garden that allowed us to can most of the veggies we would eat through out the year I had to find a way to cut my irrigation water requirements by 50 percent or more.

I knew I would have to use some type of container gardening to accomplish this so I started researching all types of soil mixtures and different types of containers. I ended up with a soil mixture that is 65 percent compost and using special made black plastic grow bags for containers.

A teacher at one of our elementary schools liked what I was doing so she and I developed some gardening projects for her 5th and 6th grade classes using small quart size Mini-Bags we made for classroom projects. To make a very long story short my work was featured in 1991 in the National Gardening Magazine. From their it started spreading through out the USA and other countries. We now have a nonprofit corporation that teaches our Garbage Bag Gardening methods in schools, hort-therapy projects and community food security projects. We are now establishing a Internship Program here in Kingman based on Soil Science and Crop Production where college students can work with us and receive credits towards their agriculture degrees from the University of Arizona, College of Agriculture.

We have corporate funding off and on that allows us to donate our Compost, Critters and Kids material free to schools so if any of you school teachers are interested e-mail me for more information.

Boy,Clare,you tromped up the snow real good in here!I'm working on some display gardens,some with themes,some for gardening classes for my business.

Also,our master gardener group is lobbying for some display/eductional gardens at the fairgrounds,where the extension office is located,and helping out with public garden projects,nursing home gardens and a local 'boys home'garden project,so I'm always looking for ideas.

I have been involved in horticulture since 1987. I have worked in several different areas. I am currently (getting Started actually) working on my Master's Degree in Horticulture (with a emphasis in Horticulture therapy). I would be interested in speaking via e mail, with anyone currently involved in hort therapy, working with juveniles.

Hi, Clare! So this is where you've been!

I guess I don't have much to say. I live in the Finger Lakes region of upstate NY, and work for Cornell Univ. at the NY State Agricultural Experiment Station (I work in reasearch, though, not teaching). Right now I work with vinifera wine grapes, but I'm passingly familiar with many tree fruits and small fruits. I was just browsing the fora, and here I am! I hope to be available to give my opinion occasionally, and maybe learn a lot.

Well Clare, I came to this forum because it was new and I like to see what is it about. I have an interest in botany and I like the postingS you have posted thus far.

Hello! I'm a wife, a Mom, and a new Master Gardener. I've been gardening for most of eighteen years, but I just took the course in upstate New York this past May. My big project (which I really didn't mean to get caught up in) is leading a group of fifth and sixth graders in the landscaping of the front of our newly renovated Elementary School building. It's kind of daunting, but I've got a lot of support from our Horticulture Agent, and I'm hoping a local landscape designer will also give us a hand. My husband designed frameworks to hang lights from over school tables, and hopefully we'll get donated materials to make at least two. The kids are very excited about having a "Greenhouse". They're a good group. Wish me luck...I'm going to need it!

I live in the far northwest corner of California, right on the ocean. I write what is ostensibly a garden column for the local paper; in actuality, it provides a forum for me to teach saner, healthier ways to live in peace with the land and each other. For me, the garden is safety, security, a place to pursue spiritual growth, the freedom to play in the dirt---the childhood I postponed until my 40s, when I had time to enjoy it.

My husband and I are in our 50s, raise rabbits for manure, ducks for slug control, and marigolds for the sheer joy of it. We share our over-grown and disorganized acre with a dog, 2 cats, lots of birds and all too often, the neighbor's horse. It's a good life for a pair of clean and sober retreads from the '60s. We've had all the drama and trauma we can handle, and now we hang out at 'Gopher Gulch,' just being utterly blissful together.

I'm brand-new to the internet, and still stunned by the research possibilities. For years, my research materials have consisted of a small rural library that can't afford inter-library loans, and back issues of Organic Gardening. I wander from site to site, drunk on possibilities.

Thank you so much for being out there with questions, and answers, and interests and ideas. Inez

Hi there! I'm so impressed with this site and the quality of the visitors. Thanks, Claire for starting this forum.

My home is in southeastern Connecticut - East Haddam. I bought a house last year and want to landscape this overgrown 3 acre lot desperately. I realize the chore ahead may not be easy but I love gardening and all that it entails. Everyone - please include me if you send out tips to the forum, ideas, new finds, etc. My e-mail address is: ber01298@acad.suffolk.edu. Thank you!

I live on a nine acre farm, not very big for around here, but I have landscaped 1 acre of it so far. All by hand, shovel, rake, pitch fork, etc...I have been designing my own landscapes for over 6 years, and am going to go into the landscape design business. This forum is a great place for information not found in other web pages. It is also a great place for ideas you don't have to give a credit card number. I am going to go back to school in gardening, and this forum has already given me some ideas. Happy gardening from Zone4-5 Payson, Utah.

Salut, I am a teacher for horticulture (special: fruit and nursery production, landscaping, perennials, dendrology) at Luxembourg -Lycée Technique Agricole. We are the only institution here for the trainig of gardeners, head-gardeners and horticulture-technicans.
I do like the Gardenweb-forums very much and hope to get here on this forum some inspirations for my work - even to share experience in the horticultural education affairs (which can be sometimes a hard job, but mostly is a beautiful thing).
Yours, Eike

I'm a veterinary pathologist at a university affiliated diagnostic laboratory, teach parasitology to AHT/Pre-Vet students here and occasionally moonlight as a biology/anatomy & physiology instructor at the local community colleges.

I've had an interest in horticulture all my life, and even now sometimes wish I'd pursued that avenue instead, though I do like what I do.

I'm currently working with a couple of the teachers at my children's elementary school to plan and establish an outdoor classroom/nature area on the campus of the new facility that is under construction. I was attracted here for any ideas we could incorporate into our undertaking.

I have a special interest in fruit & nut trees, and hope to establish a good collection of native trees/plants at the school, with a heavy emphasis on those which produce edible fruits/nuts for wildlife and human consumption.

Hi: I am a High School Science teacher in Tucson Arizona. I am a confirmed Rosaholic (about 400 plants) who is primarially intereted in Old Garden Roses and Species. I teach Biology and Astronomy and this year am helping my students and Steward Observatory at the University of Arizona build a 30 inch (thats the mirror diameter) research grade telescope for the school and community.

I live north of town with 2 cats and a Xolo (Mexican Hairless). Have raised and trained horses and done the grow and raise everything you eat thing. Right now I am too busy with school and Astronomy to do that but plan when I retire in about 6 years to begin to do more again.

I love gardening and try to tie it into all of my classes even the Physics based ones. I discovered this forum today and have been enjoying reading everyons posts.

I'm in zone 7b western Washington and homeschool my 8 yr old son & 10 yr old daughter. We live on six acres in wet, slugful woods with clay soil. We are about to have our 2nd summer and I've gone catalog crazy. I'm out in the rain amending, clearing and begging the "GODS" to be good to me. We have rabbits, ducks, chickens, goats, and lots of great POOP! Great forum!

The word education caught my eye. I'm a kindergarden teacher and Linda, an ex Special Ed teacher... I guess not so ex as I currently have four special needs kids in my AM class, but that is another story. I love gardening too. I have 8 grandchildren and so far have convinced 5 that gardening is fun too. Each child has their plot of ground in a section of my yard called the Grandkids Garden. Wow so orginal! We explore and experiment with new things each year. I learn as much as they do and I enjoy the time spent with them. At school I am working on a grant to get a vandel proof greenhouse built so that I can do more things with the school kids. We have such a short season it's hard to grow things during the school year. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated. I am looking forward to reading about your ideas and sharing a few of mine.

Hi:

I came to this site via an e-mail invitation from another individual who uses this site. I am an advanced master gardener, certified biology teacher, and freelance horticultural writer. In my spare time (ha ha) I run a national nonprofit organization for coastal gardeners. Almost my entire landscape is gardens...formal herb garden, medieval garden (authentic period AD 1000), seaside garden, winter hardy cacti garden, perennials, native herbs, and more. When spring finally arrives I will have a very hard time keeping up with all my activities since I will try to be out in the garden every moment there is sunshine. I'd like to correspond with other master gardeners, especially those who live near the seashore--anywhere from right on the beachfront to about 1000 feet inland. It can be just a summer cottage or year round lifestyle.

Thanks so much, Pam J of MA

Hi! I'm Mary & I just moved to S/W Missouri on Table Rock lake to 8 acres of tree, rocks & unknown type of soil. We left the Chgo suburb area in Jan 98. I found this site by chance since I just signed up on the net last week. I have enjoyed gardening since I was a teen, but it's only in the past few years that I have ever had any space to garden. Now I have 8 acres, lots of shade & am a bit overwhelmed by it all! :) I'm enjoying reading everyone's msgs & I'm finding this a nice way to 'meet' people since we don't know too many people down here in Mo yet..working on that tho'. I like perennials the best, my houseplants & am going to be looking for way to work around my trees/shade. I would enjoy hearing from anyone who wants to talk about gardening. It's been good to read all your msgs, thanks....Mary z6

hi clare! the word "education" caught my eye-i am a special education teacher (elementary) and our school
designed and built a "reading garden" last year - ongoing.
anyway, we have some great parents involved and a few teachers and i need ideas. the kids
love to work in the garden. a great release of energy after
being in the classroom. we have 1 1/2 hours on friday
afternoons for children who are especially interested to do
extra projects, weed, water, etc. it really is a lot of fun.
we also have a pond (small) with goldfish and a couple of
water plants. so i am interested in ideas for that. our art
classes made a fabulous garden sculpture for the center.
anyway, thanks for starting all this!

vicki

I'll add my name to this too. I am also a teacher - ESL - but have just bought a new home and have an acre to landscape. I enjoy gardening and want to take a master gardening course this summer. I have a question. I don't like to mow grass so am trying to plant buffalo grass. It doesn't seem to want to do well. How do I go about this? I live in Northeast Texas surrounded by pine trees, oaks,and sweet gum trees. I found this site searching for gardening tips on landscaping and anything to do with fixing up a yard. I also have a definite hillslope to content with. Would appreciate any suggestions. CF

Dear Carla, I don't know about the climate there but if you have plenty of sun on your land you may want to try zoysia. There is very little cutting to be done after it gets established. It does not need very mush water either. I live in middle GA zone 8a and we would use centipede if sunny or St Augustine if shady. Call your county extension agent and ask for his or her recommendation. If they don't know, get the telephone number of the nearest agriculture school and get in touch with the turf specialist. Surely, they can help you. Good luck. Dan, MG intern from GA

Thanks Dan. I'll look into this. Carla

I came to this site because the menu said "Garden Therapy." However, when I got here it says "Teaching."

I'm not a master gardener, and haven't found a plant yet that has requested a diploma.

I started landscaping to improve the value of my house. Then I became interested in old garden roses and unusual trees, and have a small collection of each.

This year I'm turning my back yard, which is south facing and large, into a wildflower meadow.

I read Sydney Eddison's book, "A Passion For Daylilies" before I ever grew a daylily, and joined the American Hemerocallis Society, whose address is listed at the end of the book. A few months later the local chapter called me, and I joined the Middle Tennessee Daylily Society, still before I had ever grown a daylily.

Local gardening clubs are great ways to get interesting plants. Now I have several named varieties of daylilies, and this will be the first year for their blooms.

I got a kick out of growing blue fescue and columbine from seed. I tiled a granite bench for fun.

It's just therapy, a way to avoid feeling disappointment about other things.

Hi Everyone:

My name is Wayne Miller, live in Lancaster, Pa., the
Amish Country and been gardening of one type or
another for 25 years full time or part time. My wife
says all the time. I have no formal training at all but
learn by doing and doing. Made alot of mistakes but I guess thats how you learn.

Wife says after she is done with collage I can open
a small greenhouse. Would like to take a few on-line
course on gardening before I would think about it.

I am intrested in scented geraniums and vines.

This was nice, thank you, hope to hear from you
all some time.

WM1547@aol.com.
Wayne Miller

Hello! I'm here because a friend told me to "check this out". I'm a new Master Gardener here in NW Fl. I got into the program because of the frustrating seasons in this part of the country. After years of very successful gardening in Oregon, I found out what a beginner I really am in the SE.
I have an extremely small vegetable garden, which I pack with everything possible and an obsession to collect one of every plant I see! My flower and shrub beds keep spreading much to the displeasure of my husband who thinks green lawns are a necessity. Some days he's out there with his tape measure pondering over what happened to another foot and a half!
I delight in growing oddities and having the neighbors stare. My latest triumph are Hollyhocks! There may be some that I haven't seen, but I'm proud as punch that I actually have succeded in getting them to bloom!
You guessed it, I'm one of the "exhibitionists of the group" and I love to brag about my garden.........................
It's the excitement I feel that I want to share. So many are discouraged when they can't get a thing to grow....I'm experiencing my own success this year with the first real tomatoes I've grown since arriving in Fl.
I think this forum just may be at the top at the top of my "bookmarks".
Thank you for starting it!
Shari

Hi, I'm Anne in Vacaville California. I'm halfway between San Francisco and Sacramento. l have a degree in Zoology but, I'm probably one of those who would have been happier studying Horticulture. I've been married 28 years but my one and only child is 13. I worked in pharmaceutical research before we bought five acres here 20 years ago. I've been a gardening fool ever since. I've been home teaching my daughter since second grade. She got in trouble at school in first grade for standing up to an adult in protecting another child from harrassment. What was viewed as aggression I prefered to see as assertive. She is continuing to grow and hasn't lost her compassion for the underdog. In addition to all that my husband decided at age fifty that he couldn't work as an accountant any longer , so we got into the architectural styrofoam business. Now the only free time I have is at four in the morning. Too dark to garden and everyone else is asleep.

I feel like a real amateur after reading of you all. I live in Orlando, FL and do the best I can with this heat with a small vegetable garden and lots of flower beds. I too found this forum through "Garden Therapy" as that truly is what my garden does for me. My parents were country bred and "city farmers" while I was growing up; taught me a lot. Composting was taught as a way of life. Now I enjoy bromeliads and other tropicals as a hobby to get away from my real job as an entertainment lighting designer/consultant/salesperson. I also have gazing balls and bowling balls in my flower beds, as well as statues and various junk/art forms. Love this forum.

To Steve: Re your second and last statements --- Amen. Louise

Hi! I too have nor formal education in gardening. Just do it for my own mental health therapy. However, I work for a company that owns and operates 16 nursing homes and assisted living complexes. I am always looking for programs to improve the quality of life for both our active and more impaired seniors. Any ideas or links would be appreciated.

Hi everyone,
I'm from Perth Western Australia. I stubbled on this site when I entered Azalias. I received 7 different varieties of azalia bushes today and thought I might find some hints on looking after them (I haven't planted them yet they are still in their pots). If anyone out there has any advise it would be gratefully received.

Cheers from down under.

why does a pine tree keep it needles all winter?

Hi,
I started gardening when I semi-self built my first home
in 96-7 now I have my own little buisness mowing lawns and sorting out problems for
people.
I dont have any training and learn as I work but all I want to do is garden.
As i live in the north east of England the weather plays a great part in my work.
I found this page by looking for courses on gardening.

My name is Greg G. Painter, I Have been in Hort. For over 30 years with two degrees. I now work in Fla. at a community college. I work on the grounds crew and teach a short course at night to home owners on the nature of landscapes and the elements of design. I love it! I would like to go into teaching and training full time, but for now the Fla. Sunshine and weather keep my garden growing and me busy. Hope to answer questions to help others knowledge grow!?!
Thanks,
GGP

I'm Liz Storrie - 28 - from Canada - an indoor plant MG(?).

Here's a tid bit that I hope educators, parents, all people would agree to. As a Northern Canadian resident, I was fascinated as a young child when I was brought to the communitiy green house. The most memorable moment was seeing an orange tree growing in there - now that's a major accomplishment and rarity in this part of the hemisphere.
Let children see things out of the ordinary - field trips, plants of different origins. May be it won't seem like a big awe inspiring event at the time, but later they will have an appreciation for nature, and it's a memory that will stay with them for life.

Hello, my name is Sand. I have been working professionally in horticulture since 1971. A lot of my experience is in greenhouses but I have also done landscaping, irrigation and drainage, grounds maintenance and design. I have lived and worked in Texas, Chicago, New Mexico, and Baja California.
I currently reside in Oklahoma where I operate a very small business and am in the second year of funding ($20,000 total) for a "School Tree Farm Project" in Muskogee, OK. This project has involved about 250 hours of classroom lessons about trees, from 3rd grade to H.S. Altogether 2000 trees were planted by 700 students, mostly elementary on six different school yards.

I have done all the other care involved and even after the terrible drought here most of the trees have done well. I am just now starting the harvest part of the project. The trees must be dug while they are still small and most of ours are 3'-4'. Every student in the project is being asked to select a tree and take it home to plant in

I live in northern Indiana. I happened on this forum when looking for information on gardening. I have taken a Master Garden course and have completed my volunteer time. I don't spend much time on the web, just in the winter when I can't get out and dig in the dirt. Am in the process of landscaping our new home, always interested in learning more.

Well Clare this was fun reading. I'll introduce myself and maybe get this started again. My name is Connie and I'm from Canada and I own a greenhouse business. As a child I was a little bit of a tom boy and who would have guessed I'd be doing this. I started with a very small greenhouse and have been in business for 9 years now. It grows every year. I really enjoy this site and sort of feel like the new kid on the block. Anyways, it will soon be back to work in our gardens. Sooner than we think.

Hi, I live in the Pacific Northwest and started gardening about 6 years ago when I decided to remodel an old home. I have 2 acres of land in the country and I am having a ball learning about what works and what doesn't. I have written to this sight because I do not meet many other gardners and this feels like a great place to gather the wonderful knowlegde others. I learn so much from my gardens, mostly how to realize I can't control everything.
I would love to hear from all of you. I have questions on soil, and how to get that lush English cottage garden look. Happy gardening to all of you.

Clare- Gardening and cooking are the best hobbies ever. I find that the people with these hobbies are the best people. They tend to be kind and hardworking and have a joy of living. I garden because I love to take on a project and see it come alive. The work world is very self-center and when you are shut in a building you are only looking at paper and computers. The garden world is beautiful and gives me a feeling of calmness.

I've been gardening all my adult life. We now have 80 acres and last year put in a country pond. It is stocked with 500 fish. We also have a water garden with 7 fish. My children have no problem knowing what to get Dad and me for gifts. We love plants. We share our overflow of garden vegetables with neighbors. Today we took some of my tulips to the nursing home for my mother and the other residents to enjoy. A simple act of kindness that was very much appreciated by all.

The garden and the joy I get from it means everything to me. I have beautiful gardens not to impress anyone but my own family. We take great pride in telling people how this place that is now so lovely 20 yrs ago did not have a flower or a shrub. We did the work our selves.

Winters here in Michigan are long, but you can find me bundled up sitting at the kitchen table with my hot tea and a garden book planning next year's garden.

Hi.I am a real begining garden enthusiast. We just bought a home on Fire Island(Long Islant) which had a yard of weeds. We have worked on the weeds,planted a few fruit trees ,a few perennials and several annuals so I can have some quick color.I love Russian sage and have planted seven plants. We just put in an arbor and I need to learn about vines,especially climbing roses which bloom all summer. I wish there was an online discussion group about gardens.Does anyone know of such a group?

Hi everyone - I'm a vet fortunate to have seen some beautiful parts of the world I'm learning more about plantcare and pleased that horticulture is blending with therapy - I hope VA hospitals incorporate it, military life can be extremely stressful even for those not on the battlefront. Long absences from loved ones causes depression and other problems. I've posted messages on the Seed, Plant - and will be posting here - and Recipe Exchange. Hope we can share our knowledge and mutual appreciation of gardening. I'd especially like to hear from vets and Hort. Therapists. Ann Ogle, St Louis, MO

Greetings all,

I am part of a TEAM of tree parents who have started a "garden club" at the elementary school our children attend. With the help of the teachers, we have managed to make growing a part of every classroom. We had a new school built on a 33 acre former cornfield, and that is what it looked like. We now, after three years have two prairies, a butterfly garden, a woodland/shade area, in a corner of the building, a wet area, another woodland that is native hardwoods ( only about 1-3 feet high now) not exactly a forest yet, a large swale/pond that we are planting and seeding now. This fall the 7th graders will be composting all cafeteria waste as part of a science activity.
We also have 7 banks of growlights (I scrounged them from the old school and made stands for them) for indoor activities. We collect seeds and start them and plant them at the school and send plants home with the kids. We also send some of the plants to master gardener projects in the city.
Without the help and support of our awsome teachers, we would not get very far with this project. We even have a teacher who lives in an apartment and has no garden, so she is planting outside her classroom windows!
Our biggest problem is money/rather aquiring materials that we need. Potting soil/ seeds/ compost thermometer/ timers/ extention cords/ etc. it all adds up. Any ideas for fundraising?
We have been so successful with our project that two other schools are doing the same. The high school biology teacher has even asked to join us.
GROW ON!!

Hi, my name is Ali. I live in the Pacific NW. I just bought my first new home two weeks ago! I purposely chose a house that needed a little fixing up so that I could do the landscaping/gardening myself. I have already started the weeding and new flower beds, and I haven't finished unpacking yet. LOL It has a creek and a fish pond and a designated wetland in the back. Oh yea -- the former owners left me lots of overgrown flower gardens and a pile of old brush that they covered with vines near the wetlands. I have my work cut out for me. -- I don't know when I'll get that unpacking done....

I am a teacher in the Bergen County Technical High School in Paramus, NJ. I have taught Learning disabled students for 25 1/2 years and have finally decided to get my Masters. We have a beautiful Greenhouse and campus all done by students.

If by chance you should come across any periodicals or journal ref. on the topic of positive applications of Horticulture in the lives of individuals with learning disorders (particularly high school or younger) I would be most appreciative. Once again, thank you for your kind response.

Andrew W. Jackson SR.

Bergen County Technical Schools;

Horticulture Dept.

East 275 Pascack Rd.

Paramus, NJ, 07652

E-Mail andjac@bergen.org

What a great forum - just found it and had to respond. I'm from Alta Loma, CA and a newcomer to the internet. The resources are amazing. It's so nice to feel all your enthusiasm for gargening. All my waking hours, it seems, are consumed with some form of gardening: work part-time at a garden center, botanical garden volunteer, president of the local rose society, master gardener, free-lance design consultant, and I play in my own garden every second I can. Evenings are taken up reading (what else?) gardening book, magazines, catalogs. What can I say, I love
it! I only wish my family shared my passion. Thank you, Carla, for introducing the site. I'll be back!

Hi, An avid gardener in the rural mtns. of far northern Calif. (50 miles inland), we have raised our family along with the vegetables and flowers. I have been growing vegetables in a serious manner for over 30 years, and have a condition that forces me to put everything in a jar and can it rather than let it go to waste!

Our three (now grown)children all seem to have inherited our love of gardening, and the doing of it has taught them much and kept them fairly grounded. We have always been fascinated with growing things, both domesticated and the myriad of amazing plants that grow in the fields and forests here.

Self - employed, my garden 'work' is the meditation that grounds and restores me. Everyone here respects when Mom's out 'playing in the dirt'.

I just come here to see/hear what others say, I'm nosey! :)

Am looking for sweetgum(liquidambar) seeds or seedlings! Anyone out there have some or know anywhere I can find some? Please, e-mail me if you have any ideas. Thanx, Dan

Here is a link that might be useful: Homestead

Here is a link that might be useful: My botanical art &naturalist illustration pages