Garden planning on a wet day!

It was such a cold and stormy day today that we couldn't get out in the garden, so we took the opportunity to talk about drawing plans, and all the things we would include in an amazing garden.... And then set to work with the paper and pens!

At the end of the sessions we were able to share lots of ideas for growing, eating and playing areas: great imagination everyone!

Look at all the weeds!

We started back on our edible garden with a big weeding job on our hands.... All that rain and the weather staying warm certainly made great growing conditions!

We loaded the weeds into buckets, and when they were full, we tipped them into the compost bin, which means that they will get recycled into great compost and go back in the garden sometime... Making the soil even better.

Everyone did a great job working together, and it didn't take long to clear most of the weeds. We also managed to clear up the litter that had got caught in the garden.

So what's still growing?

Once we had cleared most of the weeds, we could have a hunt around to see what was still growing. We found a golden courgette, some beans and three cherry tomatoes. The tomatoes weren't quite ripe, and no one was keen to try the courgette raw, so we decided just to pick some beans, give them a wash and see what they were like: sweet and crunchy!

Hunting for edibles around school...

We finished off the afternoon with a hunt around school to see what other edibles we could find. We spotted an apple tree that had no apples, but the label told us it was a 'Granny Smith' apple tree. 

We also came across this bush covered in little red berries. We all knew that we should never eat berries unless an adult had told us it was ok, but we were curious to know what these were.

Microgreens

Last week we had a bit of a group change around, as the juniors were on the Life Education bus in the afternoon. So as a one-off, the group started some micro greens for themselves. We chose cress, so that it would be ready this week, to take home, and the children have done a great job at keeping their pots watered and cared for... And this is the result!

Finishing the potting.

A rainy day for our last session for the term... And a few more of our seedlings needing bigger pots! So we spent the afternoon helping each other pot the last of the plants we had started from seed. The plants seem to be very happy living up under the tree nursery, so we shall leave them there over the holidays and plant them in the garden next term.

We also had a quick look at the edible garden to see if there were any more snacks available, and the children could identify all the plants: very impressive!

Sunflowers!

No club this week because of the long weekend.... But our sunflowers don't care! They are looking great.

And the nasturtiums are happy too.