Autumn Settles in at the Panther Patch

 There are still plenty of plants kicking around the Panther Patch, but things have definitely slowed down.  Take a look at the pole sock/mail box.  It will add color to the garden all winter long.  Students in Mrs. Rhodes' and Mrs. Diaz's classes have been leaving notes and poems in the pockets. 

Oh Deer!

The deer are still eating our veggies and flowers.
Over the weekend, I followed the advice of an
online resource and left soap shavings around the
perimeter of the garden.  The strong scent of soap,
especially Irish Spring, supposedly masks the
yummy smell of fresh juicy plants, so deer won't
be drawn to our garden in the first place...and
won't be tempted to eat our little critters!  Hope
this works!

Garden Bounty! Who Needs the Grocery Store?

It's harvest time at the Panther Patch!

Fresh sunflowers and marigolds

Fresh corn, basil, peppers, eggplant and cucumbers

Ch Ch Ch Ch Changes!!!

Growing your own veggies and flowers gives you the
opportunity to see all the life stages of the food we eat
and the blooms that brighten up our living spaces.  Over
time, we have developed a close relationship to our
charges from seed to plant to flower to fruit/veggie.
Take a look at the transformations!

An eggplant bloom turns into a fleshy eggplant!

A cucumber blossom comes of age!

How are the flowers similar to the fruits/veggies?  How

are they different?  It's fun to get to know our food at 

every moment of its development!

Garden Babies

Congrats to the Royal Family for the birth of a son!  We have
some babies of our own to be proud of!  Here, you see a baby
pumpkin and two baby watermelons!

Daisies

Mystery Solved: Hungry Critters ARE Garden Vandals!

My online research has led me to the discovery that deer love noshing on flowers, especially sunflowers!  I also examined my parent's hydrangea, which has become the main course of numerous late night deer feasts this summer.  My parent's hydrangea and the plants in the Patch bear the same random pattern of missing flowers and leaves.

So, now what?  The most obvious (and expensive) solution is to construct a fence to keep the deer out of the garden.  Another solution is to plant fragrant plants, such as lavender, in the garden to mask the scent of tasty plants.  One website suggested dropping powerfully scented soap shavings throughout the garden area to accomplish the same goal.  Other options include scaring the deer away with a "scare deer" that looks like a person, wolf, or bear.  Many resources suggest leaving bags of human hair in the garden.

Now I know that posting signs, which I mentioned as a solution in a previous entry, won't work, unless we figure out a way to teach the deer to read!

In any case, we need to implement something immediately before our garden is completely decimated.