Getting Ready for Summer
Term three flew by really fast, and our gardening tasks seemed endless! We've been preparing the beds for spring planting, which included weeding and feeding, tidying up the shed and tools, and clearing out the shade house.
After all those hours of work outside, our relaxing balance was starting the process of planting seeds for our summer crops. This is quite fiddly, but the tamariki are so good at it because they stay focused. They handle tiny seeds, fill punnets with seed-raising mix, and write the vegetable variety names on wooden sticks.
In these activities, we’ve packed in math, writing, and science, all within a gardening session. Many of the seeds we’ve planted were saved from last season's harvest. We had plenty of corn, pumpkin, dill, and tomato seeds. It's great to continue the cycle of planting!
We’ve also started sprouting a kumara, saved from our previous kumara harvest. The tamariki at St. Thomas More Catholic School are already professionals at this, as they’ve been doing it for a while. The kumara has been sitting on a classroom windowsill for weeks, and it has already sprouted. The tamariki have been regularly checking to ensure it has enough water.
Alongside the kumara, the seed potatoes were also on the windowsill, ready to sprout. We watched a video and learned through a Google slideshow about potatoes. Potatoes are so versatile, and I always ask the tamariki what delicious meals we can make with them. The favourite, of course, is always chips!
The spuds have already been planted into two garden beds, and we can’t wait for our most fun harvest at the end of Term 4!
St. Thomas More Catholic School also has two new additions to the school garden: a lemon tree and an orange tree, supported and funded by the Bay of Plenty Legacy Trust, for which we are so grateful. Having fruit trees in a school garden is so rewarding. Over time, we will have plenty of fruit to share. The tamariki dug the holes, prepared the soil, and carefully planted the trees. They even named them “Lemmy” and “Orangy.”
A very special end-of-term activity was planting our much-cared-for seedlings, which we’ve been nurturing for over two years in the school's shade house, back at Mauao. In 2022, we harvested the seeds alongside Josh Clarke, the Mauao ranger, and ever since, the seeds have grown into seedlings. Finally, they’ve been returned to Mauao to support the Mauao regeneration project.
We were blessed with a beautiful spring day. The sun was shining, 23 children with support from the teacher and parent helpers, we set off to Mauao! It was quite a walk to the water tower, especially considering some of the kids are just seven years old, but they managed so well. Josh showed us how to plant the seedlings properly, and then the tamariki got to work planting their own. There was a lot of hole digging, as we had over 30 harakeke seedlings to plant!
We were very proud once all the seedlings were in the ground, as it already changed the landscape. In years to come, as both the plants and children grow, they can proudly say they helped plant them. We enjoyed a well-deserved morning tea break, sitting under a tree and listening to Josh tell the story of Mauao.
Our final task was planting the remaining Karamu and Karo seedlings in the reserved Pips forest, where other schools' seedlings are also growing. Together, we planted nearly fifty seedlings that day !
It was a lovely day to end Term 3, and something we will always remember.
Bring on Term 4!