Things are going well
this year: We got £1000 from Scottish Natural Heritage's Better Places
scheme last year, which enabled us to get the extra bed and also plastic mesh
embedd ed in the grass to give us firmer footing in wet weather. The Year 5's
organised a fundraising tuck shop, which brought in £240 for seeds, more
tools, hose reel, and posh compost bins. The parents organised a Garden Fair,
for which 40 parents raised hundreds of seedlings at home. These, plus garden
jumble, raised over £200, most of which is going into a fund (started
by the Garden mums) to buy bike racks for the school.
Harvesting
onions |
We have won a Bronze certificate in the Glasgow City Council Rosebowl award.
This also brings £150! The (usually rather sophisticated and cynical)
Year 7's picked a mixed salad of spring onions, lettuce and rocket, with sprouting
seeds, just before the end of term and apparently were enthusiastic about
eating it.
Harvesting
potatoes |
The Year 4's had baby broad beans, lightly boiled, on the very last day of
term. Our less-than-successful outcome looks like being our pumpkins, which
are barely growing at all, in spite of the sunshine. We have an open session
every Wednesday throughout the hols for weeding, watering and harvesting,
which anyone can drop in for.
Although the garden has gone more smoothly this year, partly due to extra
mums helping. We are thinking of trying to get the school to get the Year
7's to do some sort of survey/statistical work next year as anecdotal evidence
suggests that some kids who had never gardened at home before are now growing
flowers and vegetables in their own gardens! I don't know if the hardened
non-vegetable eating kids are having their eating habits changed much however.
Dr Nina Baker
Kelvindale
Primary School, Glasgow