Big Week at Bard

There was lot going on at BHSEC this week. First, Ray Peterson announced his retirement. I heard, through my daughter, that the students gave him a huge round of applause when he announced this to them on Tuesday. They are very sad about his leaving. The Gardening Committee has a lot to thank him for (besides his school leadership). If not for him the "Bard Yard" would not look as good as it does now, or as gorgeous as it is bound to be later this spring and summer.

Second it was Parent-teacher conference week. It was my last one at Bard and I enjoyed visiting with teachers and other parents in the hallways. I saw Kristi and Susan and they both mentioned the new growth they observed in the garden.


Kristi mentioned seeing buds on the trees. Great news--they survived the winter!


And the bulbs are sprouting and flowering.


It looks like three different types of bulbs are coming up here.

The plants in this pot survived the winter too.

The moon is visible in this picture (it was about 3 in the afternoon). Can anyone out there identify trees by shape?

Lowe's Toolbox for Education Grant Success!

Recently garden committee member Helen Slavin was excited to let us all know that she'd gotten a letter from Lowe's informing us that we were selected to receive a $2600 grant for "The Bard Yard."

Lowe's donates $5 million to public schools every year through their Toolbox for Education Grants. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Lowe's. The bulk of this money will be spent on an automated sprinkler system and as I've mentioned in earlier entries watering the garden has been extremely labor-intensive and time consuming. This grant will help to ease the maintenance and ensure the future of the garden.

It's been a while since I posted so to jog my memory I looked through the past blog entries and found this one with details of our plans for a sprinkler system. Some of the members will be meeting soon to nail down the particulars for ordering the system.

If any parents of the Bard H.S. Early College community see this blog and are interested in joining the committee please leave a comment and make sure that you are put onto our group email list. I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have as well. We would love to have new members to help out with future planning, the sprinkler installation and spring planting (which is really fun and satisfying).

P.S. I just scrolled backward (fast) through the past blog entries. I recommend it if you'd like to get a pictorial history of the 2009 garden.

Bulb Planting on Saturday

The Garden Committee got together last Saturday (December 6th) to plant bulbs in the beds surrounding our new trees.

Helen, Tim, and Lourdes holding the pictures of the bulbs that we planted.

I think that's Rebecca working in the southwestern corner of the yard.


Karen (aka: me)

Sonia transplanted some of our perennials from this summer's garden into the beds.


I can't wait until spring... The class of 2011 will have a beautiful yard for their graduation.

Bardvark Article about the Garden and Tree Planting

This BHSEC student newspaper article on the tree planting by the city mentions the efforts of the garden committee members and the ECO Club.

photo by Olivia Winn

The Trees Have Been Planted

The trees are all in. This picture was taken last Saturday while the gardeners were still working. It's taken some teamwork and planning, but it all seems to come off without a hitch thanks to all involved.

Near the end of the planning stage, on October 21, the Bard Garden Committee met with the student group, the ECO Club. You can see where they laid out masking tape to show where the trees would eventually go.

One week later members of the ECO Club started to move the plants away from the areas where the digging and tree planting would occur.


I took these photos from Mangin Street, outside the chain link fence. You can see a number of the new trees far away on the other side of the yard.

I think the gardeners thought I was a crazy lady taking photos of them. These shots are not that picturesque and they knew it.



Looks nice! I love that the baby's breath is thriving on the stone slope next to the trees.

A parting shot of one of the chrysanthemums that were still blooming on Saturday.

Eco Club Meeting

A few Garden Committee parents met with the Eco Club to try and find ways that the two groups could help each other achieve our related goals. The meeting started off well with 16 students attending and Italian pastries served. Karen, our blog administrator, also handed out several copies of "Backyard Conservation" magazine to help generate some ideas.

Then the fun started. First the fire drill bell rang just as we got the laptop and LCD to work. Sacrificing a demo of the Garden Committe website and blog due to a very tight schedule, a quick impromptu decision was made to continue in the yard after the drill.

Fortunately the fire drill didn't take too long and soon everyone was back on their way to the yard down through the back stairs and past the cafeteria. But then all of a sudden we found that the gate was locked!

After some quick hustling some Eco Club members convinced a custodian to unlock the gate for us. Whew! More minutes lost but we still had just enough time to get what we needed done.

After a quick introduction of what the Garden Committee was up to, the group started to do some brainstorming on how the Eco Club's goals may be relevant. Initial ideas that came out of it were:

• Plant native trees that indigenous to New York State
  
• Tie the garden into the work that the Biology department is doing
• Develop an ecosystem for the study of birds, butterflies and even fish!
• Reach out to the Art program to see how we can integrate art work or even a mural
• Tap into the Science teacher as a zen master resource!

Now wouldn't it be cool if the yard started to look like this !!!

After the brainstorming, Rebecca our parent architect, talked the students through the tree layout design and explained how the irrigation system would work. We had a good discussion. The Eco Club raised the concern that we should try to put as many trees as possible on the old playground side of the yard to minimize any losses if and when the school building is expanded. Point well taken!

By that time we just about had hit 3:20 pm and some students had to start leaving for their next meeting. A few stayed behind and worked with Rebecca to begin "spotting out" the layout with masking tape. This really helped give the group a better feel for exactly where each tree would be located and how much space they would take up.

Next steps from the meeting were:

• Think about raising some money by soliciting donations for the right to name a tree and have a nameplate attached (ex. "Class of ... " ). The tallest tree is reserved though - the club decided to name it after our school principal!
• Spot the remaining tree locations and design where the benches should be located
• Help move the existing potted plants over to the shade garden (adjacent to the building) to make room for the tree planting
• Begin preparing for Spring by planting Fall bulbs!

MillionTreesNYC is coming to BHSEC on 10/28 to review the final layouts with the principal and Susan, our parent horticulturalist. Then the trees start to get planted the week of November 2nd. The Yard will be transformed! Now isn't that exciting?

Tree Layout and Irrigation System Design

The Garden Committee met last Tuesday to review the updated designs. Here's what the group decided on:

Layout for 30 trees


Irrigation System Layout


Above Ground Sprinkler System


With the key decisions finally made, Helen was able to submit the grant application to Lowe's for the new irrigation system. And MillionTreesNYC should have everything they need to start work on getting the trees planted.

Hopefully we'll get the grant in a few months and then install a new irrigation system. Until then we will just have to keep watering manually. Susan says that the new trees will need consistent and thorough watering, at least once and maybe twice a week if it doesn't rain. We will have to keep doing that through the fall so they are hydrated when the ground freezes in the Winter. Adding mulch will help too.