NMG has completed three (3) LTG Raised Bed Projects in CCISD during the month of September and first week of October.

On September 17, NMGs purchased 54 bags (2 CU FT) of Vegetable Soil from Lowe’s and all the materials to construct four 4 ft x 8 ft x 10 In Raised Beds from Home Depot and pre-staged it at Windsor Park Elementary School. The following day at 1:00PM, 26 NMG and Interns installed the beds in one hour.

The following week, on Friday, September 24, NMGs purchased 54 bags (2 CU FT) of Vegetable Soil from Lowes and three bales of hay from Naylor Farm Supplies and pre-staged it at Coles High School. The day before, six Go Grow Bags were delivered to the Assistant Principal.

These Go Grow Bags measure 3 ft x 6 ft x 1ft with 8 divided bins. These are a new experiential approach to installing raised beds. They are much less expensive than the lumber raised beds and take almost no time to position and ready to receive soil. Landscape Weed Blocking Cloth was laid the entire length of the bed area, then cardboard was placed on top with the Go Grow Bags resting on this substructure. After the Go Grow Bags were filled with soil, hay was laid between all the beds. The process took 45 minutes from start to finish. There was a substantial cost savings realized.

The third project was to finalize the installation of the four Raised Beds installed at Galvan Elementary School by filling the beds with soil. The Beds were installed by NMGs during Spring Break and solarized for the summer months to the vacation break. Soil was purchased on October 1st and installed on Saturday, October 2nd. With the great turnout and all hands approach, the 54 soil bags were transferred from the trailer to the beds in 30 minutes.

Starting in November, the NMGs will conduct a District-wide assessment of all Raised Beds in CCISD to determine their condition. A refurbishment and rebuild plan will be developed to bring all the Raised Beds up to standards and then put them on a phrased upkeep and replacement schedule.

An important component of the LTG Raised Beds Project is keeping the Campuses replenished with seeds, plants and supplies to maintain their beds. On October 30, the NMGs gathered at the JCC to put together Replenishment Kits for the 80 plus Raised Beds throughout CCISD. The team packed seeds into individual envelopes, sorted vegetable plants and other supplies to assemble the replenishment kits. Within three hours they had all the kits ready to be distributed. Team members then transported the kits to the CCISD campuses district-wide.

W.B. Ray High School has participated for a number years in the LTG program.  Teachers and students in the Botany Classes apply their classroom lessons in the greenhouse and raised beds located next to the athletic field.  Ms. Debbie Faught and Mr. Mark Ramirez , Science Teachers are the program sponsors.  Ms. Alene Burch is the NMG Project Director.

Recently (03-11-2021)  the NMG LTG Committee spent an entire morning at the raised beds with Mr. Ramirez prepping them for lay up over the summer months by weeding and solarizing.

Metro Elementary School of Design had two raised beds that had been neglected until Gracie Susik-Lascano decided something needed to be done to revive them.  She got permission from Principal to form a Garden Club.  The PE Coach volunteered to be the club sponsor.  With the support of her mom and dad, they raised the necessary donations to build two additional raised beds, install repurposed tires as flower bed and got three picnic tables.  They contacted the NMG to come see their work and get advise on planting flowers and vegetables.  The NMG have visited twice.  On the second visit each student was given eight (8) tomato plants, a packet of marigold seeds (as companion plants to the tomato plants) and several packets of vegetables seeds to take home plant and care for.

Galvan Elementary School had one raised bed. The Principal and a sponsoring teacher had been raising seedlings in pots and decided they would like to expand their project to include four additional raised beds. During Spring Break the NMG along with Mr. George Woods, Health & PE Curriculum and Instruction Specialist installed the four beds. The frames were installed and weed block material was laid down inside each bed to solarize them during the summer months. NMG will return when school starts in the fall to fill the beds with soil and help the students plant their fall crop.