The Garden He Planted

You need to decide what methods you will use in your school garden. This will also affect what you decide to grow. Some widespread and successful techniques and practices are set out in Horticultural Notes. Many of them are organic approaches, advocated by this Manual see Organic gardening in Horticultural Notes.

You should compare these approaches with your own experience, your resources, the practices in your area and what the children can manage. Ask yourself these questions:. If some approaches are new to you, take advice from local gardening experts. Growing plants takes nutrients out of the soil. In nature, plants usually die where they grow and give back these nutrients to the soil.

But when we harvest crops, we take away what the soil produces, to eat it or to use it. In doing this, we take the richness out of the soil, and we must put it back in some way. This is the point children need to understand. Compost and mulching Manure, compost and mulching put back a lot of organic matter into the soil.

Consult the Horticultural Notes on compost, watering plants and mulching. Roots, compost, worms and bacteria will work together to build up a good soil structure. Once the bed is established, deep ploughing or digging should be avoided as it will destroy this living structure.

Will you need to convince anyone? Crop rotation Different crops take nutrients from the soil in different amounts. They also take them from different levels in the soil. To keep the soil rich it is essential to rotate crops - that is, to have a different crop, from a different plant family in the bed each season. The cycle of changing crops should last at least four years. Alternating deep-rooted crops and shallow-rooted ones also gives the different levels of the soil a rest.

Consult Rotating crops and Intercropping in Horticultural Notes. If you decide that pupils should learn to rotate crops, they will need to make a map of crops planted each season.

The Touch That He Planted, The Garden He Left

It also helps if the class keeps the same plot as it goes up the school, so that the students can control the placing of the crops each year. Multi-layer cropping Growing plants of different heights and habits together allows you to make best use of the soil see Intercropping in Horticultural Notes. Usually the taller plants are perennials such as papaya and passion fruit, while the shorter annual crops go through the rotation.

What tools are used in your area, and how? Do children know the tools and how to use them? Safety with tools is particularly important with children. What precautions should you take and what practices should be established? What rules should be established about keeping tools free of rust, sharing them responsibly and, above all, putting them away after use? You need seeds which are strong and disease-free.

Local varieties will do best. Seeds and cuttings from the community These are probably well adapted to the climate. However you cannot be sure that they are strong and disease-free. Plant them separately, label them, get children to monitor them and see how they do. Bought seeds These are more expensive, but generally it's advisable to buy seeds commercially and use them in the specified period.

Try to get donations from a local seed retailer, but check that they are not out of date: Your own seeds Sometimes you can take seeds from your own plants if they are non-hybrids. This is the cheapest solution and can help to improve plant stocks.

Andy in the garden looking at the tomatoes he planted

It is also very educational: How Large seeds can be planted directly in the soil. Small seeds require a seedbed or nursery bed. This may be a box, tray or bag; a protected nursery bed; a seed tray re-usable plastic ones are the most economical ; or a seed nursery in classroom.

Seeds will then need thinning and hardening off before transplanting. Some standard procedures are described in the Horticultural Notes under Planting and transplanting and Sowing seeds.

He planted the seeds of New York

When Get local advice about when to plant, as the climate of the region generally dictates the best time. You will also need to fit the planting into the school term, and to go on planting over a period if you want continuous cropping. Some of the possibilities are described in the Horticultural Notes under Rotating crops , Intercropping and Companion planting. Regular tasks in the garden are watering, mulching and weeding. These fairly repetitive chores become more interesting when children are learning the right way to do them, doing them together, showing each other how and seeing the effects of their work.

Watering Regular watering is essential for most plants. There are more and less effective ways of doing it. All gardening beginners need to recognize when water is needed, to know how much is enough and to learn to water earth, not leaves! See Watering Plants in Horticultural Notes. Mulching is covering the ground around plants with dry organic material.

It is excellent for preventing weeds and keeping moisture in the soil. It slowly increases the organic content and prevents the earth from baking into a hard crust. There is some advice on mulching in the Horticultural Notes. What local material is suitable for mulching? Is this something pupils need to learn to do? Weeding There's an art to weeding, too. You must catch weeds before they seed, and make sure you get the roots out or cut off the weed below the surface of the soil. Weeding can be quite a satisfying activity because the effects are visible, and weeds themselves are an interesting study in plant competition.

Some attract beneficial insects; others make a good contribution to the compost heap. Check the advice about weeding in the Horticultural Notes. IPM conserves beneficial insects, protects bird life, saves money and protects the soil. It also encourages children's observation and helps them to understand the whole ecosystem.

Here are some of the main IPM strategies. Healthy plants The first way to fight diseases and pests is by helping plants stay healthy. Some ways to achieve this are:. Crop rotation Rotating crops not only maintains the soil but also reduces disease see Crop rotation in Horticultural Notes. Each kind of crop has its own particular diseases and pests. Some of these stay in the soil after the harvest and lie in wait for the next crop.

The same kind of crop in the same place will probably get the same disease again. Different kinds of plant are much less at risk. Companion planting Planting some crops together helps to control pests. Some destroy harmful organisms in the soil. Some flowering plants attract beneficial insects which destroy harmful ones. For more details see Companion planting in the Horticultural Notes. Attitudes to insects Some insects are good for plants and some are harmful.

Butterflies and bees, for example, should be encouraged as they pollinate the plants; mantises and ladybugs prey on harmful insects. Most pesticides kill all insects, and this is harmful to the plants. Children should know that there are more environmentally friendly ways of dealing with pests. Some pests can be eliminated by simply picking them off when they first appear. Some can be dealt with using a cheap soap and water spray - see Homemade sprays in the Horticultural Notes.

Consult Plant problems in the Horticultural Notes to see what alternative approaches children can learn. What do children need to know about harvesting? Check Harvesting in the Horticultural Notes. Are you planning to store crops or preserve them? This is important if you are growing food to keep or for lean periods of the year. Conserving and preserving in the Horticultural Notes shows a few forms of safe storage and some ways of preserving food - e.

See also Part 9 D below. Something always goes wrong! Even if you yourself are a gardening expert, you are working with learners. You may also be trying out new plants or new methods. But everything that goes wrong is an opportunity for communication, observation, experimentation and learning. As you can see from the Box below, most interesting enquiries spring from problems. Before making final decisions on gardening methods, consult local gardeners and take expert advice. You may find it useful to draw up a list of the approaches you would like to adopt for discussion with the Garden Group, children, parents, etc.

Use a table like the one below. Consult local gardeners and technical experts, and draw on your own experience, to decide what gardening approaches are most suitable for your situation.

1. contes et nouvelles du pays valencien: traduction Jean Monfort (French Edition).
2. The gardener is planting plants in our garden.he planted.
3. Addi Cavanaugh!
4. Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss (Illustrated)?
5. He planted a seed and an idea took root. The result is Red Barns at Kelly Way Gardens.!

Inside the massive farm structure are soaring wood rafters, sugar maple and white pine floors and walls, and seating for up to 44 guests at long, wood tables, made from reclaimed wood. Open shelves are filled with custom-made Vermont pottery and Simon Pierce glassware. The maple countertop is from a defunct local bowling alley. The gardens are open to the public, Tuesday through Sunday. Guided tours will be offered throughout the summer and fall including The Kelly Way Gardens Five Senses Tour, a minute guided walk through the culinary and cutting gardens Thursdays, 3 p.

And, Lewis will lead a series of Art of Cooking Classes, teaching fundamental cooking techniques. The dinners will be held on Sundays throughout July and August. A summertime farm-to-table dinner set in the Vermont hills, overlooking a dream garden, sounds like a fine evening to us. For more information, visit www. Right place, right time. Want to see what readers are saying about our stories? Check out the conversations on Boston.

Setting up and running a school garden

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