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The term has started afresh and a massive 28 children have signed up for gardening club, ageing from 5 to 11. As last year, we’re splitting up into two groups so children will attend every other week.
Weeding
The first two meetings of gardening club have taken place and much has been achieved already. Both groups have had a go at weeding – there were plenty to pull up – and they have all nibbled the ripe produce as they worked. Super sweet cherry tomatoes, golden courgette, crisp runner beans, and the odd late strawberry.
Goodies for the school kitchen
Much of our produce has gone from the garden straight to the school kitchen. What a pleasure it is to show off the hard work of the children, and for them to benefit during their meal times.
Free strawberry plants!
Last week we concentrated on potting up the runners from the strawberry plants. Some of the runners were so long that they had five new plants on them! The newly potted strawbs are now in the green house so that their roots are encouraged to grow before the cold weather sets in.
Juicy toms
Some of the boys decided that they wanted to become “clod bashers”. This involved them kneeling along the edge of the potato bed, bashing the larger clods of earth with hand tools. It certainly kept them happy.
The tomatoes and chillies received a good watering – they are all reddening up nicely. Watch out for school produced salsa!
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Potatos ready
The Newton Flotman School garden has coninued to flourish over the holidays. The late sowing of the runner beans has paid off fas they are coming in to maximum production ready for the school term to begin and the kitchens to benefit. Likewise, the potatos are superb. The green tops of the plants have mostly browned off now, but luckily there has been no evidence of blight.
Caterpillars!
Unfortunately, the brassicas have not faired as well. During the week of my own holiday, the cabbage white butterflies did their worst laying millions of eggs all over the leaves. The caterpillars which emerged from these eggs have stripped the whole plants. All that is left of the broccoli, cabbages and cauliflowers, not to mention the remaining radishes and salad crops, are the sketetons. The lesson to be learnt here is that protective measures need to be taken, either netting the plants or using sprays at the right time to destroy the munching menaces.
