No doubt a-boot it

Today, my bestie Erica (you may remember her from this post) is back to share with us a super cute gardening project. Given my decidedly ungreen thumb, I'm pretty stoked she's stepped in for this post, haha. Erica is a high school teacher at a really awesome school in New York City (What up, East Side!). She rallied some of her stellar eleventh graders and this is what they did:

Reduce reuse recycle: I am an ocean lover stuck in the cement jungle. Luckily, I also teach at a school that has its very own garden. It's our source of all things green. 

My fantastic students and I work against the odds (and budget cuts) every week to turn this garden from an abandoned lot into a space for learning, growing, and lots of hard work.

Our latest project combined my passion for recycling and our budding green thumbs. (Teachers use a lot of puns... forgive us). When I asked the 11th grade to bring in their old rubber boots, they gave me the weird look they usually do when I tell them about my next project idea, but then nodded and smiled (Vanessa: In my head, Erica is totally Miss Frizzle). A few amazing kids brought in their boots and we were ready to get to work! 

NYC girls love their patterns. 

I gave the kids the general idea: cut a few holes, mix soil and compost, add in the plants! 

And away they went! 

We bring it full circle -

You may be thinking "I hope this woman doesn't quit her day job to be a full time gardener... those plants are a little puny." BUT we deserve some serious garden credit - every plant you see here was grown from seeds in compost that we made in our own garden with our own food scraps! 

I'm a really really big fan of recycling. 

Feel free to use more bountiful and mature plants if you tackle this project. 

We ran into a few issues of the holes being too large, so go for wider/shorter holes in your rain boot planters. This will also make it easier to water your little garden without losing soil out the side. 

That's it! 

*Special note: It hasn't been all fun and games in this space and we still have a long way to go. Our garden was badly vandalized while our school was evacuated for structural repairs and then we lost our willow tree during Hurricane Sandy. But we are far from giving up and are so blessed to have this amazing living space in a very stinky man-made city. If you are (or know of) a non-profit organization that sponsors important educational opportunities like ours, please let us know! 

Keep it green! ~E

Isn't that so fun? I think these would be great on a front porch or apartment balcony. You could even have them on a fire escape or window ledge, if you don't have any outdoor space. 

Thanks for sharing, lady!