In the winter of 2023, after some local residents heard of our project to revamp Agincourt Road School’s garden beds, they asked us for help in doing something similar for our neighborhood French school – Charlotte Lemieux Public Elementary School. After discussions with the school administration and principal, Aziza Hajj, we received permission in early 2024 to commence our project.
We planned to take the same approach as we did for Agincourt Road school. Community volunteers would do the heavier work, i.e., garden bed preparation, but we would involve the students in planting and caring for the garden beds which would help foster a sense of ownership of the gardens. Over the summer break, volunteers would maintain the beds until school resumed.
In April of 2024, MAPP and other local volunteers cleared the six raised beds of accumulated weeds and debris. Two teachers, Monsieur Djihad Oulkadi and Mrs. Elisabeth got their students to plant various crops including tomatoes, peppers, zucchini and some small cucumbers. Later, they added some string beans and lettuce in the beds along with flowers to attract the pollinators, such as marigolds and zinnia’s.
The students looked after the beds from planting time in early May until the end of June when the school closed for the summer, during which the volunteers maintained the garden beds by watering and harvesting as needed.
In 2025, we plan to incorporate more native plants into these gardens to help support pollinators and educate children.
Maitland Area Pollinator Projects 
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