Students, parents, teachers, and community members gathered together on a Sunday afternoon to plant trees at Fountain Hills Charter School. The trees and their planting locations were selected by the students and the students took part in all of the hard work of planting. They used a jackhammer and shovels to loosen the ground and dig the holes. They picked the rocks out of the soil and then mixed the soil with compost, sand, and vermiculite. They planted the trees and then gave them a lot of water. This made it so the water could get deep into the ground to make the tree roots stronger. The trees are getting new growth, with more leaves, blossoms, and fruit.
Here is a link to the photos on Google Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/RgUsEdgsmpSRgARF6
Note: Although it might look like we planted the trees in the ground with the pots, it was just to form the hole, then we removed the pots to plant the trees.
I took a couple of my students with me to pick out trees to put in the courtyard of the school. We wanted fruit trees that don't get too big. They selected 6 dwarf fruit trees - 2 lemon, 2 orange, 1 peach, and 1 strawberry guava. The students placed them in the locations where they want them, but we still need to get the trees into the ground. We might have room for a few more trees in the courtyard as well. We would also like to plant some native and shade trees in the playground/field area.
Here are some photos of my students picking out the trees:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/6ytXMTUZbJuPQZrG9
We are also planning to plant some trees at Fountain Park in the area where we are redesigning a butterfly garden. We are redoing the mural wall behind the butterfly garden and want to wait until it is finished before we plant too much. The wall is 6 ft high x 300 ft in length. The mural painting should be completed mid-late March.
We have made arrangements to plant a memorial tree at the new fire station and an honor tree at Town Hall.
We also plan to plant a memorial tree in honor of a local teen who was recently killed in a car accident.
I will send more photos when we are getting the trees into the ground. Thank you for your patience and support!
Students at Fountain Hills Charter School helped decide what trees to plant in the courtyard of the school. We discussed that they wanted fruit trees so they could have fresh fruit. We wanted dwarf trees so the fruit will be easier to reach and so we can plant more trees in the small courtyard. A couple students went to Home Depot with me and picked out the trees they wanted. We needed to get ones that I could fit in the minivan. We liked that the lemon tree attracts butterflies because we are working with Flying Flowers Butterfly Garden, the Mayors' Monarch Pledge & NWF's Community Wildlife Habitat Certification for Fountain Hills.
The students unloaded the trees at the school and placed them in the places where they want them planted. Once we get some compost and other planting supplies, we will get them placed into the ground.
