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Post by derekbrooks on Jun 16, 2022 22:13:46 GMT
Garden club started again today after 2 weeks break for half term. There were 3 boys and 3 girls. We have not bought any seeds since before the lockdown 2 or 3 years ago. I still have these seeds but with them being 2 or 3 years old I don't know if they will still be O.K. so I took some of my own seeds. I had plenty of French bean seeds left so I took these and each child sowed a row in their own plots . They also sowed about 20 in pots. I also took 4 varieties of lettuce seeds and 4 cell trays of 10 cells and they sowed a tray of each variety. I told them to sow 3 or 4 seeds in each cell. When they grow they can plant them in their own plots or in the main veg beds.
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Post by derekbrooks on Jun 23, 2022 21:44:29 GMT
Like last week there were three boys and three girls. I had two girls working with me and we planted the cabbages, sweet corn and courgettes and cauliflowers except four which we hadn't time for. The root crop bed hasn't been weeded so the other children started doing that .Before we went home, I got all the children together and explained the crop rotation system to them.
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Post by derekbrooks on Jun 30, 2022 22:19:51 GMT
One boy planted the four cauliflowers that they didn't have time for last week. Another boy planted 6 climbing French beans on the wigwam of canes I made yesterday .The lettuce that were sown in cell trays 3 or4 per cell needed thinning to one per cell so another boy did those. The rest of the children were weeding their own plots.
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Post by derekbrooks on Jul 7, 2022 21:27:06 GMT
I just had one boy working with me today(Alfie) .Gina had the rest of the children litter picking. The root crop bed had been weeded last week and raked over. I put some fish, blood and bone on and raked it in. I have some seeds at home belonging to school but they are three years old. Because garden club has not taking place regularly for three years we have not bought any new seeds. Some of these seeds may still be O.K. but I don't think it is worth risking them so I think I will throw them away. So today I took five packets of my own seeds from which I have used some myself, swedes, turnips, carrots, beetroot and radish. So I showed Alfie how to make drills across the bed and told him to sow the seeds evenly and thinly along the drills then cover them up,so he sowed a row of each of these seeds and I watered them.
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Post by derekbrooks on Jul 14, 2022 22:12:04 GMT
Today was the last garden club till September. These children in the garden club are in year five and Gina has asked if we can have year six next time then we will have the same children. It's no use for children to have their own plots if they can't harvest and eat the things they have grown. So we want them to be able to harvest the vegetables in September that they have sown and planted now. A few weeks ago they sowed some French beans in pots and some lettuce in cell trays. The lettuce were thinned to one per cell last week or the week before. Today they have all planted some lettuce in their own plots and two boys planted the French beans in one of the main veg beds. The two boys swapped over and they planted a row each.
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Post by derekbrooks on Sept 29, 2022 19:45:49 GMT
Today, I went to the garden club for the first time since the summer break. It did start last week but I didn't see any point in going because it was pouring down with rain. Because I have not been for a while there is plenty of weeding that needs doing. There were eight children today and they were the same children that we had before the holidays. They all dug up some potatoes from their own plots.We harvested some turnips, radishes, cabbages and climbing French beans and the children took them home. The main potato bed is full of weeds and needs weeding before we can dig up the potatoes. I can't go next week so Gina said she would get them to weed this bed and we will dig the potatoes up the week after.
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Post by derekbrooks on Oct 13, 2022 19:13:34 GMT
I couldn't go the garden club last Thursday but I went today and we dug up the potatoes. They were early potatoes, which, of course should have beed dug up much earlier but we haven't had chance. I forked them out and the children collected them in turn and some other children washed them. The children each took three home and the rest went in school for the teachers. There were a few weeds in the bed so I stayed a bit after the children had gone, to finish weeding it.
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Post by derekbrooks on Mar 16, 2023 20:29:15 GMT
Garden club started again today so I went on my way home from Blackleach at 3.30. The polytunnel has been repaired and there is a new shed. The old shed had gutters on and a pipe to run the rain into a water butt. It also had brackets on the side on which canes were put. These need fixing on the new shed. I suggested that the water butt be filled with the hosepipe as a temporary measure. There is a lot of rubbish in the polytunnel that needs throwing out or tidying up. The children did some of this tidying up.There were six children and they were all given their own small plot .They did a bit of weeding but it started to rain so that is why they went in the polytunnel. I took the seeds that I had ordered and some onion sets but because there was no water available we decided to leave sowing and planting till next week.
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Post by derekbrooks on Mar 24, 2023 19:09:56 GMT
Yesterday, I forgot to tell you what we had done at the garden club. There were 8 children (2 more than last week). Three of them worked in the polytunnel with me and we planted the onion sets in pots,about 50 altogether.Some of them will be planted in one of the veg beds when they have grown enough and the children can plant some in their own plots.
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Post by derekbrooks on Mar 30, 2023 19:51:14 GMT
We have two weeks off from school now. There are seeds that we could have sown today but I decided that they would be better left till after the holidays because they wouldn't get watered. Some of the children did some tidying up in the polytunnel and some did litter picking.I forked over and weeded what will be the root crop bed.
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Post by derekbrooks on Apr 21, 2023 20:49:59 GMT
I forgot to tell you yesterday what we did in the garden club. Two children worked with me in the polytunnel and we sowed some cabbage and cauliflower seeds into drinking cups, 15 of each with about 3 seeds in each. The rest of the children worked on their own plots ,weeding.
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Post by derekbrooks on Apr 27, 2023 20:07:31 GMT
At garden club today, two children helped me to plant the potatoes. We did four rows of five potatoes.The other children were weeding their plots.
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Post by derekbrooks on May 4, 2023 20:33:16 GMT
At school today two children worked with me in the polytunnel and we sowed lettuce in two cell trays and peas and sweet corn in drinking cups,15 of each. The other children were weeding their plots. Each child planted one potato in their own plots.
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Post by derekbrooks on May 11, 2023 21:01:38 GMT
It rained all afternoon so we couldn't do anything outside. Two children worked with me in turn and planted all the 28 tomatoes. I had previously filled the pots with compost ready for them. We also sowed some French beans in pots.The rest of the children were making scarecrows with Gina.
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Post by derekbrooks on May 18, 2023 20:29:39 GMT
In garden club this afternoon the onion sets which we had previously planted in pots were planted out in the beds.Two children planted two rows in one of the main veg beds in front of the potatoes. Each child planted the rest of the onions in their own plots, each child had about 3 or 4.Before they were planted, we put some fish, blood and bone on each plot and raked it in. Each child also planted another potato in their beds.They had each put one in before. One girl sowed 12 courgettes in pots in the polytunnel and another girl thinned out some lettuce seedlings in cell trays to one per cell.
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