About Balboa Magnet's Gardens
In 1999, Balboa Magnet converted a kindergarten playground into an 8,000 square foot garden. This beautiful space, filled with California Native plants and trees, was designed to be a teaching garden for Balboa’s students. Over the years, our scholars have enjoyed learning about California’s unique climate while planting native wildflower seeds, releasing butterflies and mason bees, reading books from our adjacent library and participating in special class outings in this wonderful space. Balboa’s garden is a Certified Wildlife Habitat and an active Monarch Waystation.
Balboa is also home to a productive vegetable garden where we grow a wide variety of organic vegetables, fruits, herbs and edible flowers each year. Our vegetable garden has an ecosystem pond where students are able to observe the life cycles of mosquitofish and aquatic snails. Everything that is grown in the vegetable garden is planted and maintained by Balboa’s students under the supervision of a trained UC Master Gardener.
Balboa Scholars in the Garden
Weekly gardening sessions cover a wide variety of science-based lessons, following the University of California’s Agriculture and Natural Resources standards. Some of the subjects we cover include:
Photos from our weekly gardening sessions can be found in the BSC Facebook Group.
- Seed Anatomy and Dissection
- Composting Basics – Traditional Composting, Vermiculture, Bokashi
- Raising Mason Bees – Solitary Bees vs European Honey Bees
- California Native Plants and the Pollinators They Attract
- Strawberry Science
- Integrated Pest Management – Best Practices
- Shinrin-yoku – Forest Bathing
- Ecosystem Pond Exploration
- Monarch Waystation – Milkweeds and Native Nectar Sources
Photos from our weekly gardening sessions can be found in the BSC Facebook Group.
Balboa's Garden Needs You!
Balboa’s garden spaces are maintained solely by volunteer participation and we depend on the help of parent volunteers to keep our gardens looking healthy. We host volunteer mornings on the Third Thursday of every month from 8:30 -10:30 AM and we hold periodic family weekend workdays in the garden. You do not need any experience to volunteer in the garden and your help is vital to the survival of these beautiful outdoor spaces.
Questions? Contact the BSC at balboacommunications@gmail.com for more information.
Questions? Contact the BSC at balboacommunications@gmail.com for more information.
