THE BEGINNING

OSCAR MAYER MAGNET SCHOOL
THE GARDEN PROJECT 

In the Fall of 2007, Oscar Mayer began the first year of our Montessori and International Baucalaurate Middle Years (IBMYP) programs.  Both Montessori and IBMYP philosophies/curriculum have gardening, environment, and healthy lifestyle components so a number of the parents thought, “Let’s build a school garden”.  It just makes so much sense to have a green space for our kids to learn about where our food comes from.  Our new garden is for all of the students and teachers to enjoy.  This is their place to get their hands dirty, learn about the environment and so much more. 

Many of the classrooms started seeds and spent afternoons transplanting their plants.  The students were then responsible for maintaining their plots until school let out for the summer.  We have organized a summer watering/weeding schedule for families and teachers who have expressed interest in helping with the gardens over the next three months.   

We hope that teachers will use the garden for science experiments, ecology lessons, art, math, botany, etc.  And we hope that eventually our garden will provide a small business opportunity.  We plan to grow a plethora of herbs and flowers that could be sold at local farmer's markets or to local restaurants.  The older students may play a part in writing a business plan and managing the business.  Any income generated could then be put back into the garden thereby making it a self-sustaining enterprise.

All in all, we are very excited about the Garden Project and all of the opportunities it affords our students and teachers. 

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GARDEN INFORMATION:  CURRENT

We have since made some changes to our gardens at Mayer.  The trees that line the sidewalk in front of our main garden created too much shade for us to grow the sun loving vegetables we had grown for the past six years in the main garden so four Mayer dads built raised beds on the south side of the building so that we could continue to grow food for our kids to try. 

WE MOVED THE COOP!

FRONT DOOR CONTAINERS

The goals for planting these beds are to create joyful and educational front planters at the entrance of Oscar Mayer School, focus on plants that attract butterflies and hummingbirds and to use plant material with unusual common names to spark student curiosity and learning.  This project was led and funded by Master Gardeners and Mayer parents Sarah Steedman and Wiebke Russomanno.

Sun Bed:  Baptisia australis (blue false indigo), Aster laevis (smooth aster), Eragrostis  (purple Lovegrass), Alexandria , Vernonia (Ironweed), Sprorobolus heterolepis (Prairie dropseed), Andropogen gerardii (big bluestem), Sedum cauticolum (stonecrop), Buddleja davidii 'blue chip' (butterfly bush), Echinacea purpurea (purple coneflower), Stachys byzanina 'big ears' (lambs ear), Crocosmia 'lucifer' , Salvia nemorosa (perennial salvia), Miniature sedum varieties, Scabiosa 'butterfly blue', Small perennial daisy, Canna, lobelia, Purple sweet potato vine.

Shade Bed:  Aruncus dioecious (Goatsbeard), Gillenia trifoliate (Bowman's Root), Carex pensylvanica (Pennsylvania sedge), Chelone glabra (White Turtlehead), Caltha palustris (Marsh Marigold), Hosta 'Sagae', Hosta ' Great Expectations', Hakonechloa  ' Aurea' (Japanese Forest Grass), Anemone (Honorine Jobert), Trycirtis formosana (Toadlily), Dicentra spectabilis (Bleeding Heart), Osmunda regalis (Royal Fern), Athirium nipponicum ‘Pictum’ (Japanese painted Fern), Lamium (Deadnettle), Geranium 'Rozanne', Lysamachia nummularia ' Aurea' (Creeping Jenny), Wax Begonia, New Guinea Impatients, Coleus, Sweet Potato Vine.