|
Post by derekbrooks on Jul 11, 2019 21:54:51 GMT
Last Thursday I was told that there were two more garden clubs before the summer break but when I went today I was told that this was the last one. Because of this I decided that we had better dig up the potatoes. There were five children and I wanted to show them that all potatoes don't come from Tesco. All five children helped. As I cut down the haulms they put then in the compost bins and as I dug up the potatoes they collected them and put them in a bucket.We only had time to do half of them. They all took a few home but the rest will be going to the school kitchen. There were some calabrese ready so they took those home too. During the holidays I will still go every Thursday on my way home from Blackleach to feed the tomatoes and tie them up and remove side shoots if needed.
|
|
|
Post by derekbrooks on Jul 18, 2019 21:58:49 GMT
Last Thursday I told you that garden club was finishing for the holidays but I will still go every Thursday on my way home from Blackleach to feed the tomatoes and anything else that needs doing.I will still tell you on this page what I have been doing at school . Apart from feeding the tomatoes, many needed tying up and I decided to stop them so that they wouldn't grow any taller because they have reached the top of the polytunnel. I also put longer canes on the cucumbers. Half of the potatoes had been dug up last week and I intended digging up the rest but I didn't have time this afternoon so I went back and did them this evening. I also harvested the onions which were in the same bed because the bed needed weeding. I went over the whole bed after to get any potatoes that I had missed before so all the bed has been dug and weeded now. I left about 7.45 and went to the allotment.I brought the potatoes home and I will wash them before taking them back to be used in the school kitchen.
|
|
|
Post by derekbrooks on Jul 25, 2019 21:50:53 GMT
Called at school on my way home from Blackleach at 3.00 to feed the tomatoes as I intend doing every Thursday. Removed a lot more side shoots. Some needed tying up again but there was no string.I'm sure I diIdn't use it all last week. I went back this evening with some of my own string and did the necessary. I also did some weeding on the root crop bed which was rather overgrown but didn't finish it because it started raining. There are several crops ready for harvesting, broad beans, cabbages, cauliflowers and chard. The school has broke up today for the long holiday so it's a shame these crops weren't harvested before then they could have been used or taken home by somebody.
|
|
|
Post by derekbrooks on Sept 6, 2019 22:18:55 GMT
Yesterday I received some bad news from Gina who I run the garden club with but it isn't as bad as it could have been. I decided not to tell you about this until I knew what was happening but we were afraid that the garden club may have come to an end. We normally start again after the long summer holidays but Gina said there wouldn't be any more this year. The problem is due to funding but she said they would try to get more funding to start it again next year. I have not to order any seeds till next year till we know if it is going to continue. All the gardening time we have been having is an hour on Thursday afternoons. Gina used to be given some other time to do gardening jobs but not any longer because the headmistress has her doing other jobs. The small beds that the children used to look after are now overgrown with weeds . We have kept the four main veg beds growing but nobody has any time to harvest the produce. Lettuces, for example have just gone to seed. It is a real shame because I think that gardening is something that children should be learning about. It is a healthy pastime and there is an end product (something to eat)but the headmistress doesn't seem to agree.I will keep going to look after the tomatoes in the polytunnel and I will have try to find time to keep the main veg beds weeded in the hope we can start again next year. Will some of you please reply to this and tell me what you think of the situation.
|
|
|
Post by derekbrooks on Feb 7, 2020 23:16:16 GMT
I received some good news about school this afternoon .If you look at my last post about school last September, you will see that the garden club was in danger of finishing but Gina phoned me to say that it was carrying on after half term. I have been worrying about it for a while and would have been very upset if it had finished. Many schools would be thrilled to have the facilities that we have-a large polytunnel and veg beds to grow things in and it would be a real shame if they weren't being used any more. Carol Klein wrote in last weeks Garden News that "every child should have the opportunity to sow seeds and watch them grow" and I entirely agree so thank goodness they will be able to do so in our school again.
|
|
|
Post by derekbrooks on Feb 8, 2020 22:33:27 GMT
Thanks for saying that ,sweet pea . This afternoon I took two bags of compost to school that I got from the hut this morning, a Clover multipurpose and a Sinclairs potting. I weeded and forked over two of the veg beds but there weren't many weeds. I brought all the tomato pots home to wash them. I also brought home the seeds that were left from last year. This evening I made a list of them to see what we need for this year. There were only four packets that I thought we were short of but I made an order out to Dobies for them ready to post tomorrow. I then made out a sowing and planting plan for the season starting in March.
|
|
|
Post by derekbrooks on Mar 5, 2020 21:35:28 GMT
Garden club started again today. As you know, I am at Blackleach every Thursday till 3.00 so I will now go straight to school for 3 30 from now on. I have made out a sowing and planting plan but it doesn't start till next week. There were five children today and Gina took them to trim "Fred the head". I have toId you about this before and showed you a picture of it.It is a mound of earth covered with grass with eyes, nose, ears and mouth to look like a man's head. I was not needed to help with this so I decided to fork the manure into the veg beds. There are four beds in which the crops are rotated in the same way that I do them on the allotment .The root crop bed Bed 2 ) doesn't get manured but I had put a bag of manure on each of the other three beds. Bed 1 is for potatoes so I started with this but I decided that there wasn't enough manure on so I took what I had put on bed 4 and forked it all in ,so this bed has had 2 bags. The bag that I had put on bed 3, I forked into half the bed. I will take 3 more bags to put on the rest of bed 3 and bed 4.Some beds on the allotment have rather too much on so I will get some off those to take to school.
|
|
|
Post by derekbrooks on Mar 12, 2020 21:40:36 GMT
There were five children again today . Two girls worked with me in the polytunnel and the others did some weeding on the small beds with Gina. We began the sowing and planting plan that I had made out.One girl planted 15 onion sets in drinking cups. I had to show her the right way up to plant them and told her to feel each bulb to make sure they were solid and to discard any that were going soft but they were all O.K. The other girl sowed lettuce in cell trays . I gave her six trays each with 6 compartments. Told her to make a small hole with her finger and put three or four seeds in each then cover them over. We had three varieties of lettuce (Lakeland, little gem and all the year round )and she did a tray of each and labelled them.
|
|
|
Post by derekbrooks on Mar 19, 2020 21:38:00 GMT
There were only two boys today. Gina said the others had been on an outing and were too tired to stay for garden club. We sowed 15 cauliflowers, 15 cabbage and 8 sunflowers in drinking cups. They did some more weeding on the small beds after and I did some on the root crop bed.
|
|
|
Post by Cat on Apr 6, 2020 17:30:56 GMT
I am so glad the garden club is still running. I am a firm believer that all children should know the basics of growing and where our produce comes from - and a little hard work hurts no one! Our school has been busy planting and we have enrichment lessons twice a week for the farm and growing ground as well as an after school club for gardening only. I don't think it is as well organised as your club is but I am sure it is still enjoyed by all involved.
|
|
|
Post by derekbrooks on Apr 6, 2020 20:53:04 GMT
Hi Cat Our school is closed until further notice but Gina is carrying on with the planting programme. I intend going when I can but because I am isolating myself, I have not been for a while. Also, I don't feel well enough to go yet.
|
|
|
Post by derekbrooks on Mar 30, 2021 21:20:54 GMT
I told you last Saturday that I was going to school this afternoon to work with children for the first time for a year. I didn't know what to expect and what we would be doing. It turned out to be a taster session to introduce children to gardening. Nearly 30 children came out but only 6 at a time .One of the teachers had brought a box of wild flower seeds and Gina decided that we would sow them in some of the small beds but they needed weeding first so that is what we got the children doing. I forked over the beds to make it easier for children to get the weeds out . We did 6 small beds , then broadcast the seeds over them and I raked them in. We have a new head teacher and I had a chat with him and Gina about the future and he is going to try and get an after school gardening club going after the holidays like we had before the lock down. ( school closes tomorrow for two weeks) Gina will phone me when we can start. There are 4 veg beds and I organise them on a rotation system , the same as I do on my beds on the allotment. When the children had gone home I forked over what will be the root crop bed. I had manured all the other beds a few weeks ago.
|
|
|
Post by derekbrooks on Sept 28, 2021 18:20:59 GMT
There is no Garden club at present but I was told last week that one of the teachers would be taking some children out at 1.30 on Tuesdays (different children each week) just to look at the gardens and I was asked if I would like to go so I went today .There were about 6 children and I told them I was feeding the tomatoes and I let them do it in turns. We then picked some runner beans and I showed them the 4 veg beds and explained the crop rotation system to them .I didn't know how long they were staying out but they went back in school at 2.00 so there wasn't time to do anything else. I had taken some winter onion sets for them to plant but there wasn't time. When I got home I planted 20 in 3 inch pots like I did with my own.I will take them back when they are growing and let the children plant them.
|
|
|
Post by derekbrooks on May 17, 2022 22:12:27 GMT
Gina, from school , phoned me about 2 weeks ago saying that Garden Club was starting on Thursdays after school 3.30 till 4 30. Thursday is very inconvenient for me at present because I am at Blackleach till 3.00 and then I go to hospital to see Rosemary so I haven't been to it yet but said I would go when I had anything that needed planting. She phoned me again a few days ago and said that there were eight children and they were each having their own small beds .When there has been a garden club the last two years children have not had their own beds because the headmistress has changed the children round too often. We have a new headmistress now so I hope she won't do so. I think this is a much better plan because each child can grow each crop from sowing or planting to harvesting. Gina asked me to get some potatoes for the to plant in their beds this Thursday. I also got some onion sets for them and I took them both to school this evening and left them in the polytunnel. However, the children's beds are nowhere near ready for planting. They are full of weeds and need a good forking over and weeding. Children can do weeding but these beds need more work than a child can do. I did start forking the over but it started raining so I came home. I phoned Gina to tell her but she didn't answer.
|
|
|
Post by derekbrooks on May 27, 2022 21:54:44 GMT
I forgot to tell you yesterday what we did at garden club .This was the first time I had been. There were eight children, four boys and four girls and they we all given their own small beds. I had weeded the beds ready for them. They planted a row of potatoes along the back then a row of onion sets in front of them.
|
|