Health & Fitness
Novato High School's Organic Garden
Novato High School's Organic Garden is the latest Sounding Board television program produced by Soroptimist International of Novato on NPAT -- Novato Public Access Television.
“Garden Show” -- a televised conversation with Annie Spiegelman, also known as the “Dirt Diva,” will be appearing this month on NPAT.
Novato High School’s Organic Garden is the topic of the program. Annie Spiegelman followed her son’s schools -- Olive Elementary, Hill Junior High, and now Novato High School -- working with the Garden Clubs providing gardening information and helping students produce school gardens.
The Novato High School project has involved cooperative efforts from Rotary Club of Ignacio, Marin Master Gardeners, Native Plant Society of Marin, Point Reyes Compost Company, Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, Renee’s Seed Company, and Sloat Nursery. Hopefully, the Organic Garden will include irrigation in the near future, as currently, hand watering is necessary. The Garden Club currently consists of senior students who will be graduating, so a focus will be to get younger students involved. Interested faculty are bringing gardening concepts into the curriculum. The name may change to the “Dirt Club” to help encourage more boys into the program. They need equipment and supplies. They sell caps to earn money to support the program.
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Annie shares how she grew up in Manhattan and knew nothing about gardening. She learned the hard way making many mistakes and decided to attend the trainings to become a Master Gardener to learn the correct way of having a healthy and productive garden. She now is an organic gardener having a bountiful garden with no chemicals, preparing plant life in a natural manner.
Talking Dirt is Annie’s book written to help new gardeners prevent the mistakes she made. The book is available at Sloat’s Nursery, the Book Passage, and available online at www.dirtdiva.com. Adding a couple of inches of compost each year is all that is necessary to have an organic garden. Compost can be purchased locally if you do not want to make your own.
Find out what's happening in Novatowith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The “Sounding Board” programs on NPAT (Novato Public Access Television) are produced by club members of Soroptimist International of Novato. This blog is a preview of a program that is yet to be shown, but most likely will be shown on Wednesday evening at 7 or 7:30 p.m. and repeated on Saturday morning at 9 and 9:30 a.m. within the next two weeks. NPAT is our local Channel 26.
