Young Gardeners: Growing gardeners of the future - May 2011

As the weather warms up in the school kitchen garden, so does the students’ eagerness to work each week outside the classroom and learn as much as they can about gardening. Saying that, even on the wettest and coldest days the students have never faltered with their enthusiasm for being outside and doing all the ‘getting ready’ jobs that have been asked of them.

The shed in the garden had to be moved into a position more useful for storing tools, overalls and more. Although the shed is only small it’s well made and on a half term week the garden’s designer John Cavill and three painters who were repainting the school moved it around the corner and under the trees in the wildlife area and all the children agree it’s now much more usable.

The kitchen garden project has quickly evolved; the students are now asking to take ownership of their own parts of the garden and even inventing new ones that were not on the original plan. This means the garden too will quickly evolve and changes will be made to enhance the area with different fruit and vegetables to grow as the children come up with their own ideas. Here are the first of the enhancements.

Gutter gardening with Skie

Skie is unmistakable in the garden as she is the one in the pink overalls. The overalls were given to her as part of a deal that she will be part of a school film produced about the garden. The aptly named ‘gutter garden’ is now solely run by Skie as she has taken the responsibility and ownership of this part of the plot.

We are wondering if gutter gardening is a first for a school garden? Gutter gardening is easy and in the evolution of the kitchen garden this is something that’s been added to afterwards. On the back of three of the raised beds we have fastened wooden uprights and the students have painted them green to match the rest. Between the uprights are large gutters that have been fastened at slight angles, one facing downwards one way and another under it facing downwards the other way. Holes are drilled for drainage and the gutters will be filled with compost and all sorts of salad leaves grown in them. Anything with a shallow root can be grown and some experiments are to take place as to what grows well and what doesn’t. Watch this space!

Swiss chard with Beth and Shaydon

The colour of rainbow chard has caught the imagination of students Beth and Shaydon. They have no growing knowledge of this plant but would like to master Swiss chard. So their thinking caps are on because they don’t just want to plant the chard in the normal run of the mill beds, they want to try something different and with John’s help they will find something. Suggestions from the school have been wheelbarrows, boots and shoes, old tyres and the headmaster’s office!
We will keep you updated on their progress and on how the veg is received by the rest of the school when it comes to cooking and serving it in the school canteen.

Amber’s outdoor tomatoes

Following discussions about tomatoes Amber realised that they can be grown outside as well as in the greenhouse. So she is collecting all sorts of recycled pots and containers to grow a collection of tomatoes in. Amber explained she would like small red tomatoes, big red ones, yellow ones, white ones and more. This will be a great project as the difference between the greenhouse growth and outside growth will be evident and show all the students the benefits of their recycled greenhouse.

Also in Amber’s tomato area will be upside down tomatoes that will be grown out of old plastic paint tins and will have the tomatoes growing from the underside of the pot and not trussed in the greenhouse as usual.

Beth, Georgia and Amber plant shallots

Shallots were the first to be planted in the raised beds. According to the packet they should be 10cm (4in) apart with the rows 15cm (6in) apart so the instruction card is cut to these dimensions and used as a general marker when planting the shallots in the ground. Beth, Georgia and Amber carefully put the shallots in place and although we seem to have misplaced the plant labels for now sticks were used to highlight where the rows are. Shallot ‘Red Sun’ captures the students’ imaginations with their colour alone. They were buried with just the tops on show and now the students can’t wait for them to grow.

The Whitgift Garden Project

At Whitgift Senior School the Inspiring Communities Government Fund made it possible for the school to team up with John Cavill to design and build the garden and help educate the children through gardening. It aims to lift the aspirations of all the children in the school through learning outdoors.

​Follow progress each month in KG and you can also log on to John Cavill’s website at www.simplygardening.co.uk/whitgift.htm to view the latest information.

If you have a school project you’d like us to feature in KG simply contact Steve Ott: sott@mortons.co.uk

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