Chilliwack has a really cool garden program that has been offered for a long, long time. The idea is to get school aged children interested in gardening. There is a $2.00 entrance fee and then you are supplied with all the information you need to start your garden. They also provide you will all the seeds you will need. What a great way to see how the things we buy can also be grown at home. First Abby helped Trevor move compost soil over to the garden. It's a messy job digging out the compost, but it's great for giving your garden a head start!
Abby preparing the soil for planting. This is hard work but makes it much easier to plant later.
The garden program specifies the size of the garden, and where to plant each variety. They have judges come and look at your garden at least two times during the months of June and July. They check to make sure all the varieties are represented, that you are keeping away pests, hiling/thinning your plants as needed.
After planting all the seeds you need to give them a good watering to start them growing. Abby's garden will have Pole Beans, Beets, Carrots and Zinnias. In the middle of August you can take your harvest to the Chilliwack Exhibition and try to win some prizes. Last year Abby won $5.00 and a bunch of ribbons for her entries. Hopefully she can enter a few items again this coming year.
Kendra isn't able to participate until next year. She enjoys watching Abby do all the work though!
Great blog Mel ;)
ReplyDeleteWhat a good looking garden. Now the girls get to have the fun of watching for all the new growth.
Hope there is some award winning stuff in there this year Abby :)
Carol
What a fun project! Great Job Abby!
ReplyDeleteTrish
To maximize chances of winning have Abby do ALL 4 categories: Garden, Journal, Poster and Fair. If she does all 4 categories and does well she can have a chance to win the Aggregate Trophy. Also, for the Fair, have her enter all the exhibits including the extras that are individual veggies and flowers. Even if you think her Veggies are doing lousy because that usually means that everyone else isn't doing well (weather dependent) and a lot of people don't bother to enter the Fair if their Veggies aren't big enough but then you can win if you are the only one to enter those tiny beans. This will give her more chances of bringing home prize money. I think Megan came home with about $40 last year! If you have any questions I'm sure Megan will gladly answer them for you :-)
ReplyDeleteI love that chilliwack has a program like this . Such a great way fir kids to get into gardening! :)
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