Master Gardeners
This year Hamilton has partnered with Chicago master gardeners through IL Extension. To learn more about Master Gardeners and what they do, click here.
Gardening + Illinois Extension
Jen Van Buskirk and Lily Davis reached out to the teachers asking them to have their students start seeds indoors in their classrooms last month. Several classes signed up, voted on what seeds they’d like to start, and today they transplanted their seedlings into the learning garden.
Students rotated through 3 stations while in the garden- 1) planting 2) vermi-composting 3) making seed balls (used zinnia seeds)
Some students even got a chance to help give all the freshly planted seedlings a drink of water. IL extension was also kind enough to bring us a flat of everbearing strawberries. The students' eyes lit up upon hearing strawberries were in the garden this year!
While a lot of the seeds that were started did not sprout, they were able to plant many different varieties of tomatoes (cherry and heirloom varieties- orange accordion, yellow pear, snowball, San Marzano, and pink fang), several types of basil (sweet Thai, genevese, cinnamon, lemon), watermelon and Kajari melons, assorted varieties of sunflowers, marigolds, cosmos, zinnias, China jade and crystal apple cucumbers today.
There is one more class planting this week - pole beans, romanesco broccoli, ground cherries, sweet corn, and Mexican sour gherkins. Fingers crossed their seedlings all sprouted and can be planted in the garden.
Jen plans to create a sign up for help maintaining the garden over the summer with watering, weeding, and harvesting to share with our families. Speaking of harvesting, this is the first year that our students, teachers, and staff will be able to pick and eat produce from the learning garden during the school day. Per CPS protocol any school that wishes to do so must be certified. Hamilton is now officially certified! Wohoo!
A very special thank you to Jen Van Buskirk, Lily Davis, Corrina Demma, our amazing volunteer students & teachers, and grandma to Ham kindergartener (Ellyana Reddick) + longtime neighborhood resident Louise Pollock! The work you are doing is incredible and we are so lucky to have such a fantastic team keeping our garden buzzing.
Volunteer to Help
We are asking for volunteers to help keep the Hamilton Learning Garden and Nature Sanctuary healthy and thriving this summer. Volunteers will help water, weed, and harvest produce (when ready). What you see growing in the garden bed’s aren’t the only vegetation that needs care. All the trees, bushes, and native plants that call the Learning Garden and Nature Sanctuary in front of the school home also need lots of TLC during the summer months! All volunteers will be emailed with additional information and instructions for the care and upkeep of our outdoor spaces. Thank you in advance for helping keep our outdoor spaces beautiful!
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