This Friday was the last time we will meet after school due to trips and the school Fun Day. We tied up the tomatoes and harvested some courgettes (loads more to come). The lettuce is growing faster than we can eat it. The kids had a great time digging for our first potatoes which went home with them along with the courgettes. We hope that throughout the next few weeks the kids can take home some more vegetables and that the rest is ready for them in September.
a few days June 16, 2009
This post is a collection of several days. Once we had the plants in the raised beds we were struck with several days of strong wind and some of them looked poorly. R.I.P. melons.
As time went by most of the plants survived the weather and the half-term. R.I.P. chives. The tomatos are looking great. The onions, beetroot, carrots, potatoes and courgettes are all doing well. The basil and sage (not pictured) are also slowly getting into shape.
We don’t forget to have a bit of fun. That can mean having a laugh about a failed sunflower competition, water fights in the rain or just plain silliness.
And finally the garden has paid off and we have had our first harvest of lettuce.
We have also started the great plant hunt to create a Downsell Plant Encyclopedia. We are collecting and pressing all available plants and flowers to combine them into a book that children can use to identify plants around the school.
day 7 May 7, 2009
Back to working on the raised beds. We finished the second raised bed with the rest of our soil and planted tomatoes, courgettes, mustard, and melons. The foxes have so far stayed off our raised beds but we put some netting over them just in case.
day 6 April 24, 2009
Big day today. This week we received 1000 kg of soil for the raised beds and today we filled the larger one. Unfortunately only two members of the club came along. We were however lucky to find some enthusiastic volunteers. All the children helping moved at least their weight in soil today. We began by putting down several layers of cardboard and newspapers at the bottom of the raised beds as a water store. Then came the job of filling the bed with about 800 kg of soil and mixing in some compost. Finally we sowed some broccoli, carrot, beetroot, leeks, and planted some onions.
day 5 April 24, 2009
No club that Friday because we broke up early for the Easter Holiday. Yeeeeaaahh! Just some pictures of what our plants are doing. The cress-heads went home with their creators.
day 4 April 24, 2009
Sorry for the irregular updates… therefore three posts in short succession. The week after our weekend raised bed building effort we inspected the raised bed frames with the rest of the club. We also finished the plastic lining of the smaller bed.
Once that was done we looked at how our vegetables, herbs, and flowers were doing. Not much to see yet so we made some cress-heads.
Saturday Session 1 March 21, 2009
Once again the weather was great to work in the garden. Our wood had arrived for the raised beds so we wanted to get those built as soon as possible. The timber was kindly donated by T. Brewer & Co Ltd and we also received a generous donation from the Timber Trade Federation (London & South East) which allowed us to buy topsoil and seeds for our raised beds. A big thanks to them for giving us the chance to have some raised beds. The three weekend warriors were very helpful and thanks to the expertise of our chief gardening engineer Ben, all went well. Thanks to him for bringing his tools and organizing the wood. We now have two raised bed frames that need to be filled with compost. Can’t wait to plant them.
Day 2 and Day 3 March 21, 2009
On Day 2 we were unlucky because our compost that was meant to be used for some planting had gone missing. We therefore spent the time talking about the future projects in the garden and designing some features of it. On Day 3 we were able to plant lots of seeds including chives, courgettes, melons, tomatoes, mustard, sage, dill, sunflower, and basil. The children each have their own sunflower and we are having a competition to see which one will grow to be the tallest.
day 1 – the mission March 6, 2009
Today was the first day of this year’s Gardening Club. We were on a special mission to replant all the large flowerpots outside the school building. Our new gardeners were up to the challenge and did a great job. The weather could not have been better and it was hard getting the kids to stop at 4:30. Mrs. Sahgal came out to help us as well. We also had some good news. The timber for the raised beds has arrived. Finally we would like to thank Mr. Jones for his car, money, advice and help.
Gardening Club 2009 March 2, 2009
This week will see the beginning of this year’s Gardening Club. Children in Year 3 and Year 5 will begin to work on the garden where we left off the year before. Hopefully this year we will be able to complete the pond and build the raised beds for vegetables.
What the kids have to say. July 5, 2008
We planted some poppy’s and we needed some seeds, soil, water, a pot to plant it in.
How we grow the plants?
We got the pot and we put some soil then we made a hole and added some seeds in the hole and covered it and finally watered it.
Saira (Year 3)
In gardening club I have learnt about growing herbs and growing all sorts of stuff, like strawberries and tomatoes and lettuce. And I am looking forward from eating the lettuce that I have growed. In gardening club it is very fun because they would teach you about gardening and that it why gardening club is fun!
Sonia (Year 3)
We listen insrocktion what we need and what to do.
Put a bit of water each time but everyday. The important thing is:
light, warmth, sun and water.
I like throwing rubbish away and make butifel plants.
I don’t like holding creatcher!!!
Abdelwahab (Year 3)
It was good when we lern to plating the flower and when we takeing out the wedds. Like Berk vs. wedds. we listened to instrusctsain we need. but i hated the fox poo and the slugs and snails that was just nasty. I coudn’t belive it.
The important things for the plants are
water
sun
I hate holding worm, slugs and snails.
Berk (Year 3)
I hated when the straws were covered in snales and I liked the things in the garden and I liked planting the pumpkin and I hated when Miss Madam Roche showed us the snail and slug. I love the gardening teachers. i liked looking after the tettace and taking care ot it.
Amina (Year 3)
How plants grow
Plants need seeds, soil, light, water. You need to water every plant wene they are dry and if the plants die it is no more.
Plant can be pumkins and all kind. Gardening club is a realy nice place to do gardening because if some stuff grow you can eat them and enjoy them with your friends and family. and you can give some and make a shop and sell all your fruits and vegtable to make some money.
I sometimes don’t like gardening club sometimes because some creatures destroy them and if you go on holiday.
Hafsa (Year 3)
Plants need water, sunshine fresh air. they give us oxegen. I planted lettece and they grow qukily. I am looking foward to eat the letice. The snails and slugs are enemes. I my favorite part was when we planted the plans.
Christian (Year 3)
I have fun at doing gardening. i like looking after the pumpking at my house but then I hade to give it back. I like gardening. We need about one month to make the pond. We are going to have frogs.
Ani (Year 3)
Day 5 June 14, 2008
Today we started transferring some of the plants to growing bags and larger pots in the garden. Some of the tomatoes were put in the growing bags earlier during the week and are doing well.
We transferred thyme, mint, strawberries and pumpkins.
Those fingernails tell a story of hard work.
Day 4 June 14, 2008
Today was a rainy day and we spent it sowing more seeds in the classroom. Some of the seedlings did not survive the mid-term break so we started of a few more.
At the speed we are working school will start after the summer break just in time for the harvest.
day 3 May 26, 2008
Back to the garden today. At first we had a look at the how our seedlings are doing on the classroom windowsills.
Inspecting the plants,
lots of tomatoes, a mix of vegetables and flowers
and many other plants.
We then went out into the garden to work on preparing the soil. The children added more compost to the sandy soil so that someday plants may grow in it.
Nobody is perfect. We had forgotten to plant the pumpkin seeds, so we finished the day by starting those off.
And finally we would like to thank the teachers and children that volunteered to take home the seedlings and water them over the mid-term holiday.
day 2 May 26, 2008
There are sadly no pictures from day 2. We planted loads of California Poppies and created lables for the individual seedlings. Good news for the pond project. We will be able to borrow a pneumatic drill that will make it easier to get through the concrete and building rubish.
the saturday session May 10, 2008
Seeing the amount of work to be done, we planned an extra work session on Saturday. Ani, Berk and Ismayil joined us and turned out to be real weekend warriors. They stayed for the whole three hours and battled with rock hard soil, snails, weeds and the heat.
The future vegetable patch is now slowly taking on some shape. Below are the before and after pictures.
The place the herbs will planted is looking great.
And this is one of many flowerbeds.
The work was so hard that a few times the adults tried to hide in or behind the bushes just to get away.
Thanks to all the helping hands today.
day one May 9, 2008
Today saw the beginning of our garden project. The lucky 15 children had their first taste of what it means to create a garden. The kids willingly took up the fight against bushes…
and we even celebrated the first harvest…
… of weeds. The weather seemed to know we were up to something and summer kicked in just in time.
A garden has more to offer than plants and the children soon discovered ladybugs…
…the remains of an animal…
… and of course some worms. At first only the girls were brave enough to touch them but soon everyone wanted one for a pet.
Why? May 4, 2008
So why are we doing this? Before the kids take over the blog I will give a short overview of the ideas behind the project. Children living in a large city often don’t have the chance to spend much time outdoors. They are never able to build a relationship with their environment. The garden enables the children to take responsibility for their environment and profit from the results. The experience of growing vegetables gives children a chance to see that a garden and plants are more than something beautiful to look at. They are able to witness the growth of, and harvest the food, which they usually see cellophane rapped on a supermarket shelf. The pond as a habitat with many creatures and different plants offers further insight into the complexity of the natural world. As various life cycles occur in the pond throughout the year children will benefit during every term. The garden is designed to be an ongoing project for children to work in and learn from. All year groups can use the garden as a resource for curriculum subjects such as Science, Literacy and D.T., but more importantly it’s good fun.
In the beginning… May 4, 2008
The work on the garden will soon begin. Some tomatoes and herbs have been started of in the classroom. Just to give you an idea of the work ahead of us I will post some pictures. In the middle of the garden you will see a round patch where our pond will hopefully appear. Some concrete under the soil has made that a bit more difficult. Other pictures show the future vegetable patch and flower beds. Some bushes will have to be relocated to make space but with 15 eager helpers joining the project this Friday no hurdle is too great. 
