Adventure Three CARETAKING In this Adventure, we will learn to become the caretakers of this garden so that our baby plants grow into big, healthy crops for the harvest! We’ll water and weed, and also build habitat for wild critters who can help us by pollinating our flowers and protecting our plants from pests. ACTIVITIES IN ADVENTURE THREE ● Keeping Our Garden Growing ● Homes for Our Helpers ● Deadheading and Seed Saving ● Tea Time ● Take Home: Build a Bee Hotel 68 ADVENTURE THREE SUPPLIES CHECKLIST These are all the supplies you will need for all of the activities in Adventure Three. You can also find a list of supplies for each activity at the beginning of each activity plan. General Supplies Gardening Supplies ● 1 water droplet cut out of blue ● A relatively dry garden bed to cardstock (or other object that can demonstrate watering represent water) for each Scout ● Watering can or hose with fan nozzle* ● Materials to make seed envelopes. You ● A place to put noxious weeds, such as a can use small manila coin envelopes Green Waste container that is disposed or reused paper and make an origami of off-site pocket following directions online. ● A compost pile or other place to collect ● Materials to decorate seed envelopes, non-noxious weeds (see Compost Cake such as old seed catalogs for cutting activity in Adventure One to learn to out pictures; and/or colored pencils or build a compost pile) crayons ● Gloves, if you have any thorny or prickly ● At least one seed catalog or planting weeds guide where Scouts can find information about planting their seeds ● 1 hand trowel for each Scout At least 1 beneficial insectary plant for ● Crayons ● each pair of Scouts. Common examples ● Sprout Scouts journals and pens or include: calendula, cosmos, rudbeckia, pencils sunflowers, zinnias, buckwheat, dill, ● Caretaking Certificate for each Scout fennel, sweet alyssum, and yarrow ● Optional: Colorful popsicle sticks ● 1 wheelbarrow or bucket full of finished ● Optional: A board or log compost* ● Optional: Bug boxes with magnifying ● Plants in the garden that have dead lids flowers on them ● 1 pair of hand shears or scissors for each Scout* ● In the garden: at least 2 herbs for tea, do it yorself such as mint, chamomile, lemon balm, > Watering Can lemon verbena, or any other local or You can make an excellent watering can traditional herbs used for tea (or, even better, one for each Scout!) out Cooking Supplies of an empty, well-rinsed plastic milk jug ● Two (or more) pots of hot water – Water with holes poked in the lid. can be heated on a stove or with an > Hand Shears electric kettle Try using classroom scissors instead. ● Cups > Wheelbarrow ● Optional: two teapots or thermoses 2 gallon buckets is a comparable amount of compost. 69 Adventure 3 | Activity 1 Grades: 3-5 Estimated Time: 45 minutes Location: Outdoors keping or garden groing MATERIALS PREPARATION ● 1 water droplet cut out of blue ● Set 3 water droplets off to the side. cardstock (or other object that can ● Hide all of the remaining water droplets represent water) for each Scout out in various places around the garden. ● A relatively dry garden bed to ● Optional: If you think your Scouts might demonstrate watering mistake crops for weeds, use colorful ● Watering can or hose with fan nozzle – popsicle sticks to mark all crops in areas You can make an excellent watering can where Scouts will be weeding so that (or, even better, one for each Scout!) out they know not to pull those plants. of an empty, well-rinsed plastic milk jug ● Musical Option: Learn “The Garden with holes poked in the lid. Song (Inch by Inch)” by Pete Seeger. ● A place to put noxious weeds, such as a Photocopy or write the words to the Green Waste container that is disposed song where everyone can see them. of off-site DESCRIPTION ● A compost pile or other place to collect non-noxious weeds (see Compost Cake Let’s take care of these young plants so they can activity in Adventure One to learn to grow into big, healthy crops that we can harvest build a compost pile) and eat! ● Gloves, if you have any thorny or prickly weeds ACTIVITY ● 1 hand trowel for each Scout Engage – Discussion ● Sprout Scouts journals and pens or 1. Gather in a circle. pencils 2. Ask some questions related to Optional: colorful popsicle sticks ● caretaking, such as, Has anyone here had a pet? What did you do to take care of your pet? Have Scouts share out. Now Remember to use a Participation we’re going to learn to take care of our Structure from p. 16 during your plants so they can grow big and strong! share out! 70 Explore – Watering Game 3. All together, have Scouts dig their fingers into the soil to the depth of the 1. Imagine that each of you is a young plant. roots of our plants. Is it wet down there What will you need in order to grow? or dry? That’s where the plant roots drink Have Scouts share what they remember up the water so, if it’s dry, we need to from previous Adventures. Add anything water! they may have forgotten to the list: sun, soil, space, air, and water! 4. Watering: Teach Scouts how to water effectively. We call this the Sweep and 2. Now we’re going to play a game. In this Sparkle. Using a watering can or hose with game, you’re the plants, but you are a a fan nozzle, water across one area just little different from plants because you until you see the water sparkling on the can move around. I want you to look soil surface (just a few seconds), and then around the garden and see how many move forward to the next dry patch of water droplets you can find and gather. soil. We call this Sweeping. When you have Show them an example of the water swept across the entire bed, much of it droplets they’ll be looking for. When I will still be shiny, or sparkling, with water. crow like a rooster, you’ll come back here Explain, You need to wait until the sparkle with all your water and we’ll see how fades before doing another sweep. each plant did. 5. After just one pass over the bed, stop 3. Send them out to search for the water. watering and have Scouts dig their Once most of the water has been found, fingers down into the soil as deep as the call everyone back and have them show roots of the plants in that bed again. Is what they found. the soil down there wet, or dry? Remind 4. Announce, Only plants that found a Scouts that the water needs to reach water droplet survived! Have remaining that depth so, if it’s still dry, you should plants die a dramatic plant death. continue to Sweep and Sparkle several more times until the water reaches the Explain – How to Water and Weed depth of the roots. This can often take five or more passes over the same bed. 1. Think back to the game we just played. How many plants survived? How many 6. Weeding: Teach Scouts how to weed died? How might you change the game effectively. First, look at your bed and to make sure all of your plants get all the identify any crops you know we planted. water they need? Share ideas. If no one Make sure you know what they look mentions these, add the following: We like so you know not to pull those out. If could add more water or we could play you’re not sure, ask a friend or ask me! with fewer plants. This is how we support Practice together on one bed. our crops too! As gardeners, we can 7. Once you know which plants to protect, increase soil moisture by watering our you can pull out all the rest! To do this, crops when the rain isn’t sufficient; and simply pinch the weed at the base and we can reduce the number of other plants pull it straight out. It’s best if we get in the garden by weeding, so that our the entire weed out, including the root! crops don’t have to compete so much for Demonstrate. If it doesn’t budge, use a water, sunlight, or nutrients from the soil. hand trowel to loosen the soil around the 2. Ask, How do we know when our plants root. Demonstrate. And if the weed has need water? Share ideas. If they don’t thorns or anything like that, wear gloves mention it, add droopy, wilting leaves to protect your hands. and dry soil. 8. Competition Option: Host a Weeding Olympics with different competitions, 71 such as Tallest Pile of Weeds; Longest Weed Root; Largest Weed; etc. fyi 9. If mulch is used in your region and Why do we stop watering in an area when season, apply mulch to freshly watered it’s sparkling? and weeded beds to retain soil moisture and slow weed growth. If we add too much water to the same place at the same time, it can cause the Elaborate and Evaluate soil at the surface to cake together, which prevents water from passing through the 1. Gather in a circle. We just learned a lot surface and percolating deeper down. about taking care of our garden. Let’s make a plan for caring for it over the next If you have different crops growing in few months, as our crops grow.