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Nursery serves as second classroom

txaas_masthead Horticulture Therapy Gardening is restorative. Taking in the fresh air, appreciating a job well done and enjoying nature – all help revive the spirit.

The mental and physical benefits of gardening have been recognized since ancient times. Today, horticultural therapy is used to help people with a broad array of disabilities in rehabilitative, vocational, and community settings.

It is used to improve initiative, language, and cognitive and social skills. Horticultural therapy can also help those with physical disabilities to strengthen muscles, improve balance and enhance coordination.

It’s About Thyme Garden Center on Manchaca Road is helping Austin-area special needs students learn important work skills and problem-solving techniques using horticultural therapy.

The nursery works in partnership with the Life Skills program at Akins High School, which is designed to provide special education students with rehabilitative and vocational skills in a community environment.

Once a week, a small group of Kelsey Williams’ Life Skills students travel by bus to the nursery, where they work with nursery owners, Chris and Diane Winslow and their staff. Depending on the students’ skill levels, students help in the greenhouses, fill and stack pots, sweep and help unload plants. Some high-functioning students are even able to help with planting and transplanting plants.

In addition to their job training experiences, students are interacting with staff and developing key social skills. The nursery also serves as a second classroom where Williams teaches students about plants and conducts science experiments. The students then continue learning about horticulture in the classroom by potting plants and tending their own small school garden.

Williams describes the class as an internship-like program, giving the students invaluable real-life experiences.

“The owners and staff at It’s About Thyme are always so welcoming and friendly with us,” said Kelsey. “The work definitely helps the students, and it also helps others who get to have exposure to these great kids.”

The Winslows have been working with the district’s program for several years, but Chris’ history with horticultural therapy extends far beyond that.

He worked for 26 years as the greenhouse director at Marbridge, a community education and job training facility for the mentally disabled, before retiring in 1998.

Winslow believes their work at the nursery provides the students with a wide range of benefits, both tangible and intangible.

“It gets the kids out of school and into the community,” said Winslow. “They’re getting life skills and training. They work in the vegetable garden and pull weeds and water and learn different skill sets.”

“They’re fun to work with and talk with,” said Winslow. “And it brightens their day a little bit, too”

When asked what she liked most about the experience, one of Williams’ students said she liked the work because growing plants helped her to create something.

“They enjoy being around plants and nature,” added Williams.

Akins has 5 classrooms with a total of 60 students in the Life Skills training program. A few of the other Austin businesses that partner with the Akins Life Skills program include Hobby Lobby and Half Price Books.

For more information about the uses and benefits of horticultural therapy, visit the website of the American Horticultural Therapy Association at AHTA.org.

Local Landscape Designer and Garden Coach Diana Kirby provides landscaping tips at www.dianasdesignsaustin.com and writes a garden blog at www.dianasdesignsaustin.com.

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:07-06:00April 26th, 2014|Articles|Comments Off

January Tip: It’s seed-sowing time in Central Texas

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA Indoors, that is. If you’re eager to try some new varieties of vegetables in your spring garden, now is the time to check out seed catalogs and the seed displays at your local independent nurseries.

Seeds won’t germinate in the garden yet. The ground is too cold. But if you have a greenhouse or a cozy indoor spot to keep them warm, you can start growing now.

When the chance of frost has passed and the ground begins to warm up you’re ready to put your seedlings into the garden. Not so fast, though. Seedlings need to be hardened off before they can be plopped in the garden. That’s a fancy way of saying they need to get used to being outside in the elements since they’ve been babied in the house over the winter months.

Just take them outside into a shady spot for half a day for a few days, then for a full day or two and then slowly move them into the sun in the same way.

Remember, spring winds can be hard on delicate plants, so be prepared to give them some wind break if you need to. And my sweet transplants seem to emit a signal to insects that the buffet is open. You can protect the plants from some of them by cutting a solo cup in half to make a cylinder, and placing it around the base of your seedling until it gets a little bigger and stronger, just make sure it doesn’t block the sun or the water.

Once you have all your seedlings planted, mulch, water and eat.

Read the full article here.

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:11-06:00January 29th, 2014|Tips|Comments Off

Sow seeds now for spring vegetables

txaas_masthead It’s seed-sowing time in Central Texas. Indoors, that is. If you’re eager to try some new varieties of vegetables in your spring garden, now is the time to check out seed catalogs and the seed displays at your local independent nurseries.

Seeds won’t germinate in the garden yet. The ground is too cold. But if you have a greenhouse or a cozy indoor spot to keep them warm, you can start growing now.

Generally, the time to plant seeds inside is about 8 weeks before the average last frost date – for us, that’s about early March in Austin. Areas around the Hill Country usually have to wait just a little bit longer for the ground to warm up. With the unusual winter we’ve had thus far, it’s hard to predict what the next two months will hold for gardeners.

Planting early and indoors will give your vegetables a nice head start so you will have well-established plants to put into the garden when spring arrives. You can certainly put in transplants once the weather warms up, but planting from seed allows you to choose from hundreds of different varieties of vegetables since nurseries can only bring in so many plants to sell.

You can plant in many different containers – you can buy nice plastic flats with multiple planting holes or biodegradable pots that can be placed directly into your garden when it’s time to transplant. Or you can repurpose washed out yogurt containers as long as you punch a drainage hole into them.

Many people are surprised to learn that you shouldn’t use potting soil for planting seeds. Instead, buy small bags of specially-prepared sterile seed starter mix – it doesn’t compact as much as potting soil and gives your tender seeds more room to germinate and grow.

I’ve had the best success with seeds when I used a heat mat. Even in the warm house, the seed mix must remain at just the right temperature, and a heat mat ensures that continuous warmth for germinating seeds. You can find them at many nurseries or online. You can also place your seeds on top of the refrigerator, but I forget about them up there and then…no seedlings. If you place them near a sunny window, remember to move them away from the windows at night because the cooler air by the window will lower the temperature too much for them to germinate. They have to stay warm, day and night.

Be sure that you keep the soil moist. You can water with a spray bottle so you don’t disturb the seeds. As soon as the seedlings emerge, give them lots of light. You can put them by a window or place them under grow lights. Turn them regularly when they begin to lean toward the sun. If they seem long and stringy, they need more light. The first leaf shouldn’t be more than an inch from the soil.

Now you can start watering your plants gently and letting them dry up a little in between waterings. You can move them to larger pots if you need to. It’s also time to give them a little liquid fertilizer like liquid seaweed or fish emulsion.