Garden News

Several years ago, our Redwood PTA provided the funds to purchase our wonderful greenhouse, and thanks to the efforts of two Eagle Boy Scouts, several community members, parents, staff, and students, we have been enjoying the fruits of the financial commitment and our extensive labor ever since. Two of our former RMS Garden Club Presidents, Shraddha and Natalia, spent several hours on November 27, 2024 cleaning up and weeding the greenhouse, and transplanting dozens of plants. Several former RMS gardeners including Shraddha, Natalia, Manlin, Arthur, Connie, Han, and other students have continued to support our RMS garden while building and tending a student garden at SHS in conjunction with the SHS Special Education Department.

We grow two types of grapes in the garden, and both had a great crop this year. The grapes lasted until late November, and they were a huge hit with all of our gardeners and students who visited the garden. 

In October, we did our annual pumpkin carving and decorating. Our students did an outstanding job, and learned how to work with sharp tools while practicing safety precautions. It was truly a festive occasion. 

Fall activities included pruning what is left of the grapes and planting winter crops. The winter crops consist of carrots, potatoes, spinach, cabbage, kale, and chard. We decorated and carved our pumpkins the week prior to Halloween, and finished at lunch on Halloween. After taking some nice pictures, we took the carved pumpkins to SHS where they were smashed in the robot compactor and composted. As the fall season started inching towards winter, we found ourselves enjoying a variety of other fruits, including Oranges, Lemons, and Fuji apples. 

Last year, the Garden Club raised enough money to build a new shed, and construction was completed in November 2023. The SHS and RMS Garden Clubs prepared the ground where the new shed was built. Volunteers from the SHS Garden Club helped with the project on Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023.  Special thanks to Mr. Hwang and Tilton Pacific for their donations of time and materials to build our new shed. Please check out the picture below of our spring garden with California Poppies, Hairy Vetch, Spanish Lavender, and Garden Sage all in bloom. 

We have been working hard to get our summer season plants in our garden beds including tomatoes, beans, peppers, sunflowers, strawberries, chard, and corn. We hope to plant a few pumpkin plants and cucumbers before the end of May.