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Reflections ​from
​valle crucis

Growing the  growing  season

8/30/2015

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It  would   be  great  to have  cold  weather   crops under  production  this  fall  and  winter.
The  secret  garden  is protected and  likely gets  some radiated  heat  from  the  building  in the
cold  months.  How  much  sun infiltrates  the   space   as  the    sun  sits  lower  in  the  southern   sky I  have   yet  determine  but think the upper  portion  of the  north  wall  should  get  some  . That  should   provide  heat  and  reflected   light  that  a  green house    could  capitalize  on.  Broccoli,  cabbage,
and  lettuce might  be  possible  to  grow throughout  the  winter.  
My  thought is  to build something  like     this  in  modular  pieces so  that  the  covering  could  be   removed
in  the    summer.  Hanging   plants  could    be  supported in  the   upper    portion  of  the  structure where  they  would   catch  winter  light.  Even  in  the  summer  the  structure  would  provide  vertical    growing   possibilities.
One  of  the  gutters units could  be    enclosed  as  a  germinating location  in  early   spring.
Going  to  put  numbers  on  one  unit and  my    hunch is  it  would  not   cost    that   much if  done  right.
Inspired  by  the  Man    of  La  Mancha. :)   Richard T.  and  Shannon C.  suggested  60  degree  angle   for    roof  line   so  that's  what  it  has.
This in  ground    garden I really  kickin'  it.  Can't  wait  for  those tomatoes.
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Can it be  September time ?

8/30/2015

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Yup!   I  can't  believe it.  The  past  week has  been  spectacular ,comfortable sunny  days   hinting  at  the  start  of   fall.  I'm  loving  it and loving  my new base  of  operations  at  the  Valle  Crucis  School.   The garden seems  to  be  loving  the weather  as well.  
Yesterday I spent  the    morning staking  up  the  tomatoes  and  corn  which
have  grown  a  lot  and   are  producing  fruit.  The path  of  the  sun illuminates a  smaller  and  smaller  line  in  the     secret  garden  but  it's  still   hitting    most  of      the  plants.   Would  love  to keep  things   going  for  as  long  as  possible so  I'm    working  on  a  possible  greenhouse    design  to
enclose  the  raised  beds  and  gutter  planters.   If  I  used plastic  sheeting instead  of  polycarbonate it could  be    done  on  the  cheap.   I have thirty  or  so  red  cabbage seedling potted  up  and  have  3    varieties  of  lettuce    also  germinating.   There  is  not   much  room  available  for  them now    but
hopefully   at  harvest  time   the  will  be    ready  for a   second  round  of   planting.
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The Secret Garden is a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

8/23/2015

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I quote  here . "The Secret Garden is a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It was initially published in serial format starting in the autumn of 1910, and was first published in its entirety in 1911. It is now one of Burnett's most popular novels, and is considered to be a classic of English children's literature. Several stage and film adaptations have been produced."
Here  at  Valle  Crucis  we  have  a  "Secret  Garden"  named  for the  book I  assume,   and  what  a  great  name  as    we  try  to  encourage  connections  between " hands on"  learning  in  the  garden  and   course  work  in   our  schools. Mrs.  Brown  in  the  library  could   surely    get   a  copy  of  this  great  book  for  any  interested  class  or  student.  I  love  the  movie  and  it  has   great  insight  into  history  when  England's  colonial  empire spread  across  the  globe.  Apparently the  tale   has   been done   on  stage.  Does  our  school  have  any aspiring actors  or actresses?
Back  in  the   spring I decided  to  try  to  start doing  a  little  art  work  and got  busy on a  few  paintings.  Over  the  summer I  figured  the   entrance   to     the  Secret  Garden    could   use  a  little  advertising   and  that's when  I  got  the  idea  for the painting  you  see    above.  It's  based  on   the  book  cover which  I  researched   on  line.  I   created  a digital collage  of  images  and then  worked    from  this to  create  the  enlarged painting.  I  believe  students   could  do  the  same.  Mural?
Still  time  for  me  to  mess  up  this project.  I  hope  not!   Maybe  it  gets  finished sometime   soon.  Keep  looking  and please  enjoy  the  "Secret  Garden"
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August Garden Images 

8/20/2015

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School Starts  at  Valle  Crucis

8/20/2015

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Wow !  Busy  Week!  I'm working  a  full day  at  the  school now and  so    things  are  changing  a lot.  Throughout  the  summer  it  was  just  me  doing  my  thing,  planting,  tending,  observing  and  maintaining , but the  garden  is  there  for  the    kids  and  the  teachers  and  the  staff   and  I'm  in  a  position  to  promote  it.   Valle  Crucis  is  a  great school   with   a  diverse   group  of kids  and  some  amazing  teachers  and  staff  members  and  each  day
I'm  meeting  more  and  more  of  them.  Whenever  I  can,  I  suggest  heading  down  to   check  out  our  "Secret  Garden"    The  door  has  been  unlocked  and  I   have  a preliminary  sign   on  the  door.   We  have  some  nice  weather  still  ahead  of  us  so  I'm  hoping to  increase  use  and  awareness  of  a   really  cool    garden.  
         Met  Sawyer,  the  aftercare  director  and  I plan  to   do  a  afternoon   of  garden  activities  with  any  of  his  interested  kids.   Dropped  of   some nice potted  tomatillos  for  Sarah  Herman's  Pre-k    garden  and we  are  hoping  to  get    some  fall lettuce  going  and some  "fast  track"  red  cabbage.   The  "Little  Diggers" spot  has     some  beautiful pumpkins, kale, tomatoes,  cosmos,  and  jumbo  sun  flowers.   
Sarah  Bohn and  Lindsey  Postelwaite  are  the  new  AIG  and art  teacher  respectively.  Trying  to  work  with  them  to    do   some   fun  projects.  Can  we    get  a  mural  done  on  the  side  of  the  oil  tank?  Keep  you  posted.  






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Weigh in

8/5/2015

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Poor mans greenhouse

8/5/2015

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    Dana Holden

    Has been gardening for over 20 years and has her Master Gardeners certification. She is especially interested in propagating native plants and apple grafting. She is now the After School Program Coordinator and Garden Coordinator at Valle Crucis. 

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Contact:
828.386.1537
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Location:
Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture Office
P.O. Box 67 | 969 W King Street
 Boone, NC 28607