| | Published May 22nd, 2013
| Joaquin Moraga Garden Takes Shape
| | Submitted by Joan Danilson |  | | Students and families at Joaquin Moraga garden BYOT party. Photos provided
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With the addition of the Earth Stewardship class in the sixth grade wheel rotation, the mission to provide a lasting gardening program at Joaquin Moraga Intermediate School continues to grow, with students and their families planting more than 100 native garden plants May 4 at a BYOT (bring your own tools) party.
The project to create an outdoor classroom space to promote learning and creativity in gardening and general horticulture became a reality with the support of a $15,000 grant from the Bonita Garden Club of Oakland, a charitable organization that saw promise in the school. Improvements included a 500-square-foot shaded patio space with a seat wall and tree for shade, grading and mulching of the garden surface, a new native garden section, an upgraded irrigation system, a stockpile of compost, bark mulch and wood mulch for the use of students on future garden projects.
The multi-disciplinary Earth Stewardship class incorporates all gardens, particularly the new one, as project sites for students to design, plant, decorate, and use as models for their studies. This course provides students the opportunity to work collaboratively on site, synthesizing many concepts and ideas they learn in the regular classroom, while having a hands-on experience.
Help from community members including landscape architect Lenore Morgridge, contractor Chuck Conover and his crew at Conover Landscape, and JM teachers Elaine Guttman, Dawn Lezak, and Harvey Kamian, made this garden possible.
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA