Greenhouse improvement project

The Green Thumbs are a group of students from grades 4-6. We meet every Thursday to plan and put into action our environmental projects. These include
• weekly composting of lunchtime waste
• planning assemblies regarding environmental issues
• raising awareness on global issues such as clean water, climate change, energy efficiency/reduction
• Every year we raise money to build one or two wells in India
• We manage a greenhouse and vegetable garden
• All plants are grown from seed and cared for from germination until planting time
With our colder Newfoundland weather, it is difficult to grow large amounts of seedlings as we have only one trolley of growing lights. We have had a greenhouse since 2003 and with the help of a funding partner (Newfoundland Power), we now have heat and lights in the greenhouse. We now operate the greenhouse from April to December.

Update (November 21, 2011)

To date we have started purchasing equipment for the greenhouse. With several stores offering gardening tools at reduced prices, we were able to purchase our rain barrel at half price. We also purchased several hoes and shovels. We have a volunteer lined up to install eavestrough on the shed beside our greenhouse to begin collecting rain in the spring.

Once the winter comes, we will begin ordering supplies such as heating mats, soil testers, a compost thermometer and growing spheres.

We are excited to be able to plant our seedlings a little earlier this coming spring.

Update (February 20, 2012)

We have received our growing spheres and are now excited to learn how they work. Once the snow has gone, we will get the eavestrough installed and set up the rain barrel.

Update (June 13, 2012)

Our Greenhouse Improvement project is mostly finished. With the money we received we were able to buy several new supplies for the greenhouse (ph meters, compost thermometer, heating mats, soil moisture testers, shovels). We also purchased a rain barrel and eavestrough to be installed on the shed behind the greenhouse. With the help of a volunteer, this was recently installed and we are waiting for rain to see how it works!