Fun in the Gardens – Term 4

This term our kai growers were delighted to be working in smaller groups in the garden, and in the staff room kitchen.  In keeping with the learning theme “Healthy bodies, healthy minds”, we harvested some delicious greens from the garden; 3 varieties of kale, lemons and mint, and added some more fruit to make delicious green smoothies. 

Over a long glass of green goodness the gardeners discussed how much iron, calcium,  fibre and vitamins they were having! 

I have never seen kale disappear so fast!  Mr Skilton timed his lunch well and was served up a glass of green goodness - needless to say, he downed it in one - a hit all round!

We had a battle with the winds this term, fighting to keep our makeshift shade house from taking off! This has meant that keeping a constant supply of seedlings on the go has been a challenge.   Whaea Clare has since given us an upgrade and we have anchored it to the railings on the balcony.  We have got a better watering system now too, and we are seeing results with more seedlings pushing through. 

There are big plans underway for the gardening area, with work to start over the holidays.  This means we are shifting around some of our gardening beds, and needed to enlist the help of our gardeners.  Who knew what mahi these kids could do, in one day we managed to transplant all our strawberries, empty three raised garden beds of soil, and store our worm-rich soil, ready to re-use once the beds are repositioned. 

 We have been harvesting well this term too, lots of silverbeet, kale and herbs.  Before the term is done, we are hoping, weather permitting, to harvest potatoes too!  Seed saving has been a focus in the past few weeks, and the tamariki have taken the opportunity to use their creative artistic skills, decorating envelopes for seed storage, and are hoping to sell some at Christmas on the field… the perfect gift to pop in a christmas card!

All round it’s been a great year in the gardens.  We can’t wait to see what changes happen over the holiday and are looking forward to a very productive year next year!