Member profile for larryvolpe

Gardening since 1995
  • Name: Larry V
  • Location: San Jose, CA
  • Gardening experience: I'm a citizen scientist
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5th grade teacher in San Jose. I've been gardening with my students about 14 years and at home about 6 years.
  • Member since July 10, 2011
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  • Last updated: July 10, 2011
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Dan Lairon Elementary San Jose, CA

I have been gardening with my 5th students for 15 years. The kids take home oodles of veggies every year then I follow them home and ask the parents to show me how they make their traditional Mexican dishes and then I sit down and eat with them. It's a beautiful... » more
  • Last updated: July 03, 2012
  • Garden type: school

YourGardenShow Busy Bee San Francisco, CA

by The-Busy-Bee
YourGardenShow.com - the social network for gardeners, by gardeners

Coming soon!

Favorite gardening books: Lifetime Heirloom Gardener
Favorite vegetable: tomato
Favorite flower: too many to list
Favorite tree / shrub: ceanothus
Gardening organizations: Local conservation group and Other
Favorite park / arboreteum: my school

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    • larryvolpe replied about 1 year ago
    		Today we pulled a lot of weeds, stepped on a few snails and added some balanced (5-5-5) organic fertilizer. We are prepping the bed to put in corn seeds. Next to the corn seeds will go pole bean seeds (2 or 3 kinds) and in between the corn rows will go winter squash (4 or 5 kinds), cucumbers and melons. And we will see what takes. I have about 12 kinds of tomato seedlings at home almost ready to go in the ground, hopefully next week. With the heat over the weekend, it is not a good idea to plant any seeds or seedlings on a Friday. Monday planting works best. Today we also planted a few CA native evening primroses next to the garlic bed. These late summer flowering (when most other flowers are in hibernation or dieback stage) beauties are bumble bee magnets. We also planted about 8 small CA native showy milkweeds...both natives I started from seeds originally collected in the wild then grown in my backyard where I continue to collect the seeds and share with friends. Hopefully I will one day make the time to write down the names of all the heirlooms we have at school and be able to post them here when I have time in the evening. I can say it's between 20 and 50.
    Sandyfroglegs replied about 1 year ago
    		Your garden story gave me a big grin!
    CreativeGreenThumb replied about 1 year ago
    		Wow that's a huge tomato hornworm.  Looks like he's been eating alot of tomatoes.  Thats cool that you are teaching your students how to grow their own food.  Coming from a fellow educator "Keep up the good work!"
    larryvolpe replied about 1 year ago
    		I have been too busy planting to make any posts. Baker Creek donated over $1,000 worth of seeds to my school, Dan Lairon Elementary in San Jose, CA. I have been going crazy trying to plant as many as possible. Of the 15 trays I have started, I would estimate I have over 50 kinds of heirloom seedlings. Whenever the plants' roots fill the six pk cell or 4 in. pot then it goes into the garden at school and some at home.
    larryvolpe replied over 1 year ago
    		My school garden is also 100% organic and we have 100's of CA native plants surrounding our 600 sq. ft. of vegetable beds. Of course the school district comes and sprays chemicals every so often for fleas or other pests, but since landscaping with natives they have had to spray no herbicides in the vicinity of our gardens.
    larryvolpe replied almost 2 years ago
    		My yard is 100% CA native plants, except for the fruit trees, vegetable and herb garden. I use no pesticides, 100% organic garden. I have a water source for my yard and my yard is registered with the NWF as a wildlife habitat garden.