Schools create living laboratories

By Alison Risso

Director of Marketing and Communications

REAL School Gardens

Texas Gardeners know how interesting and satisfying gardens can be, but there's also a movement afoot to install learning gardens in schools across Texas to give children the educational benefits of gardens.

While many gardens are simple veggie patches, or pretty places to pass the time, school gardens can be dynamic outdoor classrooms. With the right features and training, schools can create gardens that are living laboratories where children can experience everything from Science and Math to Language Arts in an engaging hands-on way. REAL School Gardens is a nonprofit started in Fort Worth that creates elaborate learning gardens in low-income schools and then spends three years training teachers how to use them to boost academics. The nonprofit now partners with 100 schools in 10 school districts in three states as well as the District of Columbia.

For most low-income schools, the first step is to create the learning garden.The REAL School Gardens program unites teachers, parents, businesses and the students themselves to design a learning garden tailored to each school's unique needs. Then, the nonprofit invites hundreds of volunteers to create the learning garden in just one day.

But just as a garden needs constant care and cultivation, REAL School Gardens then spends three years training teachers how to use their new garden as a hands-on instructional tool. The nonprofit sends out seasoned outdoor educators to work side-by-side with teachers, sharing proven tips and techniques tailored to each teacher's individual needs. Teachers also get ready-to-use lesson plans that are easy to implement and continue to receive new activities and garden materials to help them succeed.

In Dallas' Esperanza "Hope" Medrano Elementary School, Bianca Marquez teaches fifth grade science. She said her students used to struggle with their Earth Science lessons. Now that she's teaching those subjects in the garden, students grasp all the concepts more easily. "It makes it a little bit more tangible for them, rather than just talking about how erosion is taking away and weathering is breaking apart. They actually get to see it, they actually get to experience it firsthand. So I can see that it's making an impact," Marquez says.

In addition to giving children first-hand experiences in Earth and Life Sciences, REAL school gardens have been proven to be effective teaching tools for other key subjects. Students can learn Math while measuring and computing volume, area, and perimeter of garden beds. And gardens provide children of all incomes a rich natural experience to fuel language development. For example, in one Language Arts lesson on adjectives, children each gather a leaf or a rock, and must then write down a detailed description so their teacher can pick out their rock from among all the others.

While anecdotal evidence abounds, there are also measurable benefits to the program. REAL School Gardens partner schools have seen standardized test score pass rates increase between 12%-15%. Science scores saw the largest increases, placing students on a path for success in a professional job market that increasingly requires STEM skills. Most teachers - 94% - reported the REAL School Gardens Program got their students more engaged in learning, and the REAL School Gardens Program almost doubles teacher effectiveness and job satisfaction in partner schools.

These impressive results, and the learning gardens themselves, wouldn't be possible without program funding from foundations and corporations. While partner schools cover a portion of the costs, the majority of the program fees are covered by corporate contributions. These funding partners work with REAL School Gardens to achieve their education, health, and environmental goals for their corporate social responsibility programs. They also get to send hundreds of employee volunteers out to the school to work side by side with teachers, parents and students to create the garden during a fun day of service. REAL School Gardens will be working with funders such as Wells Fargo, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas and FedEx to build new learning gardens in the Dallas/Fort Worth area this spring.

By JoAnne Lucas

Freelance Writer

"Die, you weasly chartreuse varmit!"

I hit it with a stream from the sprayer. The ugly little rascal sat up on its many hindquarters and gestured for me to "Put 'em up."

I shot it again, but Superworm still inched toward the rich promise of a ripening tomato. I headed it off at the pass and we grappled in hand-to-hand combat. From the driveway a driver tooted his horn and my adversary dropped down into a jungle of plant leaves. I vowed to return.

I stay in the apartment over the garage while Stella, my late father's second wife, jets around to better climes. I watch over the house and take care of the vegetable garden and Dad's roses during summer. Stella's too cheap to hire a full-time gardener to see to the grounds, only a lawn service for surface appearances. Dad always took pride in his rose garden, and I've kept it up since his sudden death two years ago. In the fall, I return to the University.

Dad's will stipulated Stella to be the sole executrix and my guardian until I marry (only with her consent) or reach the age of 25. So Stella carried my love life, allowance, and inheritance in her graspy little hands. Since I'm only 20 now, she would continue to pay herself an increasingly outrageous salary as executrix and live in my father's house for another five years. Forget my getting married, she's already nixed or lured away every prospective boyfriend I've brought around. Poor Dad, he must have had some really gnarly middle-aged crisis thing after Mom died. What else explained his marrying a she-devil of a woman only six years my senior? I'd get along with her better if she'd made Dad happy.

The family lawyer, Hugh Dearing, waited for me on my little porch. Besides having the personality of wet newspaper, Hugh wrote up Dad's last will and was a frequent guest of Stella's. He cleared his throat to signal the beginning of some lawyerly pronouncement.

"Er, you know Stella went on a trip to Mexico?" he asked.

Well, duh! Of course I knew, and he knew I did. He was here two hours early last week to take dear Step-mama to the airport. I also knew that was the day Stella told him she couldn't stand his possessiveness and wouldn't go out with him anymore.

Hugh sat silently at the kitchen table with me. Stella had left off making up her special tanning glop until that morning. We watched her carefully slide iodine into a pot that held hot baby oil. The sudden acrid smell had attacked my nose and made my eyes water. Stella bragged on her compound; how soft her skin felt and how she was going to get a tan to die for. She always made the tanning solution herself, and added strongly brewed tea after it cooled to cut the iodine smell. A glass Pyrex measuring cup of tea stood waiting beside another filled with one of her concoctions. Stella fancied herself a "good witch" and messed around with herbs and homemade remedies. I also considered her a witch, the one with the green face, and I was Dorothy.

She continued dictating her directions for me to write down. "I want you to use this on the vegetables instead of that commercial control. Spray once a month."

I reached for the glass container next to the tea. "Don't do that, stupid, that's pure nicotine. Use gloves to fill the sprayer. You'll get ill if you get any on your hands. I don't want Hugh calling me home because you've got a tummy ache."

What a slam! The only time Hugh ever called her about me was when she was in the Greek Islands last year; I needed an emergency appendectomy and she had to fax her approval of the expenditure.

Before I could make some remark that would probably cause another big reduction in my allowance, she left the room.

Hugh stood up and walked over to look out the window. I left to get the sprayer. Must be nice to dump a guy and still have him around to take you to the airport. I substituted Brad Pitt for the lawyer and dreamed on.

I returned with the sprayer, snapped on the rubber gloves, and slowly poured the brown liquid into the sprayer. Hugh watched, taking in every detail so he could tattle to the s-mom later. I picked up the container and waggled a pinkie bye-bye to Hugh. I was really glad to be rid of the two of them for a few weeks.

But it's only been six days now.

"Er, I'm afraid I have some bad news," he said. "Stella is dead."

I didn't move.

"The Mexican authorities are a little vague about the cause of death."

It seemed that because of the weather, Stella couldn't sun-bathe until two days ago. The bad weather returned that evening, but not Stella. When the storm let up they found her on the beach. Everything else had been swept out to sea. They thought her heart was not good, or maybe an allergic reaction to something she ate. Hugh made arrangements to have the body buried there.

He said that Stella's death negated the guardianship. I would now come into my full inheritance.

I nodded. He stood up, put his hand down on my shoulder, and said I could call on him anytime; perhaps we could do dinner. He squeezed my shoulder and left.

I sat on the porch a long time and thought about how Hugh was alone in the kitchen that day. Maybe it could never be proved murder, but first thing tomorrow I'm having all the locks changed, hiring a new lawyer, and using only tanning lotions that are factory-sealed.

I picked up my sprayer and a stick and returned to the garden. "Yo, worm! You want your dose of tea with one lump or two?"

JoAnne Lucas lives and writes in the small city of Clovis, California - which likes to pretend it's Texas.

Tycoon: New tomato worth a try!

By Robert Burns

Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service

Tycoon tomato has many characteristics that rival or even best the Celebrity tomato, the long-standing favorite of many commercial and home growers, according to a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service horticulturist.

Tycoon tomato has superior resistance to diseases and nematodes, and it can produce very large fruit of superior quality. All these characteristics and more won it the Texas Superstar title, said David Rodriguez, AgriLife Extension agent for horticulture in Bexar County and member of the Texas Superstar selection board.

For example, Tycoon is resistant to tomato yellow leaf curl virus, a disease that has become a major problem for many varieties in the past few years, Rodriguez said. It is also resistant to the fungi verticillium and fusarium, races one and two, and tomato spotted wilt virus, as well as nematodes.

Tycoon is an annual and determinant variety, which means that it is bushy rather than vining, and produces and ripens all its initial fruit crop at nearly the same time, most often within about a two-week period, he said.

Most home gardeners as well as commercial growers prefer determinant varieties because they're easier to manage and usually don't take up as much space. Also, the plants continue to produce fruit well into the summer, another plus for Texas gardeners.

As if all these favorable characteristics weren't enough to qualify Tycoon as a Texas Superstar, it's also capable of growing very large tomatoes, Rodriguez said. A common-size tomato for most reliable varieties, including Celebrity, is about 6 to 8 ounces.

"But we've been seeing and hearing reports from other growers as well that under optimum management, Tycoon can produce tomatoes 1 pound and larger and of very high quality," he said.

As for flavor, that's a subjective matter, Rodriguez noted, but Tycoon does have a very good sugar-to-acid ratio, which should please most people's taste.

All Texas Superstar plants undergo extensive tests throughout the state by Texas A&M AgriLife Research and AgriLife Extension horticulturists, said Dr. Brent Pemberton, AgriLife Research horticulturist and chair of the Texas Superstar executive board, Overton.

Texas Superstar is a registered trademark owned by Texas A&M AgriLife Research, a state agency that is part of the Texas A&M University System. More information about the Texas Superstar program can be found at http://texassuperstar.com/.

To be designated a Texas Superstar a plant must perform well for consumers and commercial growers throughout Texas, Pemberton said. Superstars must also be easy to propagate-which ensures the plants are not only widely available throughout Texas, but also reasonably priced.

Editor's Note: If you want to give Tycoon a try and start your own transplants, you can order bulk seed from Paramount Seed, www.paramountseed.com , or we have a limited amount of seed that we would like to share with our readers for $4 for 10 seeds to cover postage and handling. Send payment to Texas Gardener, PO Box 9005, Waco, TX 76714 or call 1-800-727-9020 to pay with credit card.

APRIL

Nacogdoches: On April 17-19, Stephen F. Austin State University will host the sixth Big Thicket and West Gulf Coastal Plain Science Conference. The focus of this year's plenary session will be "Watersheds and Waterflow" to be addressed by invited speakers. Dr. Francis "Ab" Abernethy, professor emeritus of English at Stephen F. Austin State University and editor emeritus of the Texas Folklore Society, and Dr. Kirk O. Winemiller, Regents Professor, Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences, Texas A&M University will give plenary presentations. The Science Conference provides a forum for scientists and resource managers to share their research in the West Gulf Coastal Plain ecosystem, which comprises a variety of communities including southeastern pine forests, bottomland hardwood forests, and prairies. All topics relevant to the ecology of the region are appropriate, including studies of plant communities, wildlife, restoration ecology, effects of climate change, invasive species, fisheries, and large-scale disturbance ecology. In addition to the general call for papers, symposia or special sessions may be planned and available on a variety of topics. Contact the Program Committee BigThicket2015@gmail.com  if you are interested in hosting a session. Presenters are encouraged to submit manuscripts to be published in a special issue of the peer-reviewed journal, Southeastern Naturalist. All manuscripts will be subject to the full peer-review process and the standards of the Southeastern Naturalist. Abstracts for papers can be submitted to Dr. Chris Comer BigThicket2015@gmail.com by 1 March. Registration fees are $100 by 20 March; late registration is $150 and student registration is $25. Registration for only one day is $60. Optional field trips are not included in fees. Three trips are planned: 1) Saline Prairie, led by Will Godwin and Jason Singhurst; 2) Tonkawa Sand Hills, led by James Van Kley, and 3) Birding in the SFA Experimental Forest, led by Cliff Shackelford. Sponsors of the event include the Big Thicket Association, Stephen F. Austin State University, USFS Southern Research Station, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, and the Big Thicket National Preserve. Contact Dan Saenz of the U.S. Forest Service (Conference Chair) with questions at dsaenz@fs.fed.us or check the conference website at www.bigthicket.org for additional information.

• Many, many practical and timely garden tips that are for Texas - not Maine or California!
• Organic, earth friendly tips to make your garden grow and prosper
• Lots of space to record your own activities for future reference
• Planting dates and tips for vegetables, flowers, herbs, fruit and lawns

The Vegetable Book

By Dr. Sam Cotner

Finally, back by popular demand and in its fourth printing, the most informative and comprehensive "how-to" book on vegetable gardening in Texas (also, suitable for most other areas of the South) written by the late, great Dr. Sam Cotner, former head of horticulture at Texas A&M University and lifelong gardener. This interesting read has over 370 pages of detailed information on every crop, from Asparagus to Watermelon including problem/solving sections for each vegetable. If you want to maximize your enjoyment and success growing vegetables in Texas, this book is a "must have," whether you are a beginner or a seasoned gardener. Price $34.02

By William D. Adams

The best thing for tomato enthusiasts since the tomato itself! Adams draws on more than thirty years of experience to provide a complete, step-by-step guide to success in the tomato patch. Learn everything from soil preparation, planting, feeding, caging and watering. Liberally sprinkled with the author's easy humor and illustrated with his own excellent photographs, this must-have book has everything you'll need to assure a bumper crop! 189 pages. Lots of color photographs! Price: $31.94

($15.82 if ordered separately)

Remit payment to:

TG Books * PO Box 9005 * Waco, TX 76714

or call Toll-Free 1-800-727-9020

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