Join us for The 2023 Fall Gathering

Join us for live music, a special dinner featuring school gardens’ produce and local food, fresh apple cider, and local beverages.

Lower Columbia School Gardens invites you to our annual Fall Gathering on November 11th from 6-9pm to celebrate our accomplishments and sustain this good work into the future. Come and enjoy the best food, beverages, and company this season has to offer.

Where: Cowlitz County Event Center Floral Building 1900 7th Avenue Longview, WA 98632

Tickets are $55 per person;
please purchase in advance.

Glimpses of school gardens from Our Summer of Covid

New farm field at Three Rivers Christian – Longview

Getting creative in the garden: build a trellis for your snap peas

Some of you may have noticed we recently ran out of materials to assemble trellises for the snap pea porch pots. We’ve still been sharing those container gardens but y’all will need to get creative with your own trellis-building!

Yum! Cascadia Snap Peas freshly-harvested from a school garden

If you have any circular metal tomato cages around, those are just right for trellising snap peas in a bigger pot (they also work well for cucumbers and other vining plants – not just tomatoes!). They often are available in some fun colors, too.

Metal tomato cage

Here’s a great photo from One Hundred Dollars A Month of a tomato cage being used as a snap pea trellis. They’ve gone the route of flipping theirs upside down, but that leaves some pretty pokey bits sticking out and in our experience it works just as well right-side up.
(Don’t get confused if you visit their site and see gardening tips – they live in Maine so the climate and seasons are somewhat different than ours in the Pacific NW.)

These peas are growing in pots with tomato cages for trellising

This Pea Tripod Tutorial from Seattle Urban Farm Company is pretty simple and could be done with smaller/shorter sticks fairly easily, to make it fit into a container garden.

Finished pea tripod from Seattle Urban Farm Company tutorial

Our friends at Common Threads Farm in Bellingham have also put together this Pea Trellis Design & Building Activity that is pretty cool.

Trellis from instructions by Common Threads Farm in Bellingham, WA

What are some of the creative ways you have built trellises or other supporting structures for plants in your garden?

2019 LCSG Garden Bike Tour

Visit five school gardens on May 18, from 2:30-5pm; some snacks are provided; helmets are required. RSVP here for the free ride!

We will have cold filtered water to fill up your reusable bottle.  If you don’t have a bike, helmet, or water bottle, let us know and we will try to fix you up.
There will likely be plants left over from the May 11 Plant Sale – bring cash, check or card if you want to do some shopping after the ride.

School Garden Volunteer Training plus a new offering: Pruning Workshop – Fruit Trees & Grape Vines

Hello folks!

On the mornings of February 8 and 9, we will offer, as we have for many years, our School Garden Volunteer Training. If you are interested in helping out with our local Longview/Kelso school gardens, or are developing a program in your school or community, this class is for you!  These identical classes run from 9:00 to noon – choose Friday 2/8 or Saturday 2/9. This class takes place at Northlake Elementary and is free as always.

 

On those same two days, in the afternoon, we are offering a brand new class: Pruning Workshop – Fruit Trees & Grape Vines. We will do some learning in the classroom and then head out to the orchard to do some hands-on pruning. These identical classes run from 1:00 to 3:00pm – choose Friday 2/8 or Saturday 2/9.

This class takes place at Northlake Elementary and is free of charge.

Register here for the Volunteer Training and/or Pruning Workshop in February 2019

FREE Volunteer Training with School Gardens – Sept 8th & 9th, 2017

The first Volunteer Training of the new school year is coming up very soon!
School Gardens staff members are looking forward to meeting new
friends, as well as welcoming back familiar ones.

Two identical sessions are offered:
– Friday, September 8th, 9:00 to noon –
OR
– Saturday, September 9th, 9:00 to noon –

Register by sending an email to ian@LCschoolgardens.org and
specifying which day you plan to attend.

Spring 2017 Garden programs begin March 6th, 2017

Weekly Spring Garden programs begin on Monday, March 6th, 2017
– this means a lot of good things, including weekly volunteer opportunities!

If you haven’t volunteered with us before, please email our Volunteer Coordinator julia@lcschoolgardens.org and
we’ll get you plugged in with the garden or activity that’s right for you and your schedule.

Every hour you’re able to contribute as a volunteer – whether it’s on a weekly, monthly, or even an
annual basis – makes a difference in the lives of kids and families in our community.

Produce Sale every Wednesday through September

Produce Sale SUMMER

Each week produce is harvested from 16 gardens for Wednesday sales at Northlake.

Student farmers are eager to sell you their berries, tomatoes, peas, greens, herbs, and cut flowers; as the summer progresses we’ll have peppers, figs, grapes, squash, cucumbers, plums, and more.

Low prices –

Beautiful produce –

Top-notch customer service

 

Starts June 22!

 

Click the image for details. Contact Ian if you still have a question.