Planting for the Future

The last Friday of the term saw us plant a new feijoa hedge at school. During the previous week two of our students dug the holes and filled them with worm pee, sheep pellets and compost so that the new plants already had good nutrients waiting in the soil for them.

We talked about how to plant a hedge - using a string line, then lining up the plants along it and making tweaks if they aren’t straight. Whaea Clare showed us how to plant the young trees properly, and how to dip their roots in some seaweed fertiliser before planting to reduce transplant shock. We gave them a big drink of water and then we mulched around them.

At the same time we planted three blueberry bushes.

It will be our responsibility to look after these plants. Over the holidays some of the kids checked on them and Room 9 made signs to hang on the fence to warn people to stay off them. When we got back from the holidays they were all still standing and looking healthy. Soon we’ll give them more seaweed fertiliser and do some companion planting around them.

We talked about how even though the students will have moved on from the Intermediate by the time these plants are ready to fruit, they can still stop in when they’re on their way home from college to snack on them. And maybe they can even bring their kids to harvest feijoas and blueberries one day!