The Kitchen-Garden @ Berwick Fields 

Look who’s hanging around in the Berwick Fields Kitchen Garden! This is a great sign! It’s proof that we are not using chemicals to control pests and an indiciator of the biological diversity in our garden. Plus, the ladybirds will take care of the aphids that have been munching on some of our vegetables in recent times! 

The ladybirds have even laid some eggs in the garden – more little ladybird friends on their way to help us in the garden very soon! Watch the video below to learn about the life cycle of a ladybird.

We are growing a new kind of tree in the kitchen-garden. A Rubbish Tree. Is it beautiful?… Not really. But we do hope that it captures lots of attention and gets people talking about it.

The rubbish hanging from this tree is rubbish that we find in the kitchen-garden. Mostly (and unfortunately) the rubbish is found in our compost when we think it is ready to use. This shows that not everyone is being careful in making sure that only fruit, vegie scraps, light paper and pencil shavings go into the compost bins. I don’t want my vegies growing in a pile of rubbish… do you?

Returning to the garden after a couple of weeks away has been very exciting! So much new produce to harvest, so much growth!

We are looking forward to an abundance of strawberries in the coming weeks!

Returning to term 4 in the garden on PhotoPeach

This photograph shows just a tiny amount of the strawberry plants that are flowering all around the Berwick Fields Kitchen Garden – it looks like we will have lots of strawberries to harvest very soon! Over the past weeks we have mulched around the plants to keep the soil moist and the flowers/fruit nice and clean. We have also started to put bird netting over the plants – we have learnt the hard way about how much our local birds love a big, juicy strawberry! 

This week during most of our garden sessions, we have been working hard in the orchard. It’s a lovely place to be at this time of year, with the trees waking up and the first spring blossoms beginning to appear.

We have been removing the weeds and grass from around the base of the trees, fertilising and laying carpet – yes carpet! This is a bit of an experiment – we are not sure if it is going to work, but we are hoping that the pieces of old carpet we have laid around the bottom of the trees (and then covered with mulch) will help to keep the weeds and grass at bay, so we don’t have to do this tricky, hand-hurting job very often. If you have any experience with trying this method or any other methods of keeping the grass/weeds away from trees, perhaps you could send us your advice!

Not much goes to waste in the kitchen-garden. We can find a use for most things, from old couches and old bed ends to old plates and cutlery. Earlier in the term we put a few pre-loved items to good use around the garden and in our outdoor classroom.

Melissa has been busy working with students to create a “wicking garden bed” which is essentially a giant self-watering pot, where the garden bed is designed to draw or ‘wick’ the water up from a reservoir at the bottom. We are hoping this will work really well and be the first of many wicking beds throughout our garden. If so, these will be a great way to minimise water wastage and keep our vegetables watered over the summer. For more info on wicking garden beds, check out this post at Sustainable Gardening Australia.

In August, Berwick Fields had a visit from David Brown – the weatherman of Channel 7 news here in Melbourne. He came to have a look around our school’s Environmental Education programs and our beautiful wetlands area. David also spent quite some time in the kitchen garden and took home some of our freshly harvested broccoli and chillies. You can watch the news clip here:

Finally, after quite some time now, we have managed to get our new apple-crate garden beds set up. These were sold to us quite cheaply – Thanks Montague Orchards!  They are a great width and height for planting in. They’ve also added a new dimension to the garden, lifting some of our planting areas up off the ground. We have mulched around the bottom of the crates to keep the pathways inbetween them weed and mud free. They look fantastic and we are just starting to get planting in them.  

So far we have planted carrot, coriander, rocket, zucchini, pea and rainbow silverbeet seeds in the apple-crates, but over the coming weeks we will of course plant many other varieties of vegetable seeds and seedlings from the spring planting chart.

We have finally finished out signpost, although I am sure we will add many more signs to it in the future. There are no excuses for getting lost in the garden now, with a sign indicating the direction and even the number of metres to our garden “landmarks”. This was a great measuring activity to do with the students, who used trundle wheels to measure the distance from the sign post to their chosen landmark, before checking their measuring and using markers to make their signs.

It’s been quite a while since we’ve updated the garden blog – sorry! But it’s been quite a while since we had a moment to do so! Hopefully the following posts will update you on (almost) everything that has been happening in the Kitchen Garden @ Berwick Fields.

 Our students harvested some beautiful sweet chillis yesterday – it seems that Berwick Fielders are very good at growing chillis, they just keep growing and growing and producing beautiful fruit! This harvest weighed in at around 475gms.

As usual we also collected the eggs, washed the eggs and dated the eggs. Part of this process is weighing the eggs to find out the average weight of our eggs for the week – just like you would see on the side of the carton in the supermarket. We are also keeping a graph of this information so that we can see if there are any patterns in our chicken’s egg laying over time.

Earlier this year we began to save the seeds from one amazing radish we grew in 2010. There were SO MANY seeds on that radish that we are STILL working on saving them! This week we have had groups of students relaxing and chatting as they work to save the radish seeds. We have also been using the electronic scales to weigh the seeds and using teaspoons to estimate how many seeds fit in one teaspoon – the answer? Approximately 96!

At the end of last term, groups of students built some ladders for peas to climb and some “bean cages” that will hold up our growing boadbeans when they get too tall to stand up on their own in the wind! They will be please to see that some of our broad beans are growing really well! Unfortunately the peas we planted at the end of last term haven’t popped up – perhaps it was too wet for them. Last week we planted some more peas in their place – hopefully these ones start to shoot up soon!

We’ve also been doing some measuring with the trundle wheels this week too! It’s the first step in making a signpost for our garden that will direct people to key areas of the garden such as the Outdoor Classroom, Hothouse, Orchard, Herb Garden etc. Students used the trundle wheels to measure the distance from the signpost to their given area and measured again to check their accuracy before making a sign from some old recycled fence palings (thanks Mrs Ferguson’s Nanna and Grandy for saving these for us!). Hopefully by next week we will have these signs attached to the signpost – and there’ll be no more excuses for getting lost in the kitchen-garden!

If you are looking for some activities to do in your kitchen-garden, check out our new “Things to do in the Kitchen-Garden” page. There’s a few of the activities we do at Berwick Fields for you to read about and many more that will be added in the coming weeks. Don’t forget to leave some feedback if you find these useful! Happy gardening!

It’s the beginning of a new semester in the Kitchen-Garden, and that means a new bunch of gardeners! Over the last two weeks, our new gardeners have been learning about how a typical session in the garden runs and also going for their garden/wheelbarrow licences! If you would like to know more about our garden/wheelbarrow licences, click here:

This last week in the Kitchen-Garden has been a little different! It’s planning week at Berwick Fields, so the usual grades haven’t been visiting the garden. Instead we’ve had 1/2K and 5/6G working together on some fun activities!

Today the 5/6 children buddied-up with a 1/2 student and gave them a “smelly tour” of the garden – showing their buddies lots of different plants that smell nice (and sometimes not-so-nice!)

Then the buddies worked together to make their own perfume!

You can read more about how we did this activity here: Perfume Making Activity

The students also made advertisements for their perfume, giving it a name and creating a magazine ad to encourage people to buy it. Which ad attracts you? Leave a comment at the end of this post and let us know!

Which perfume would you choose? on PhotoPeach

The adults in the garden went “shopping” at the end of the lesson, seeing which ad attracted them them most and sniffing the different smells. We each chose a different perfume to wear for the day. The advertising certainly made a difference to our choices!

Ps… I think the Thyme perfume really worked for me – definately looked younger by the afternoon I wonder if anyone else noticed…?

It’s been a very productive week in the kitchen garden!
Hover the mouse over the pictures to find out what is happening!

the chickens have been good but they eat a lot, they love to be held, they love steping in there poop, they love sleeping under the tree in the chicken coop, they like laying eggs and they lay 3 to 10 eggs a day.

this is all about the garden, the plants and we are going to tell you about everything. the garden has been excilent, we now have 9 chickens, this is jess and ash singing off.

The garden has changed so quickly this week!

It’s been all about CONSTRUCTION! AND PUDDLES!!

After huge rainfall over the weekend lots has grown in the garden, including the puddles! So this week was a bit muddy! Apart from working hard to fill in some big puddles of water and refresh the muddy pathways with fresh gravel…

We have saved some bricks that were removed from the school building to make way for an extension and recycled these by using them as garden edging - which we have been needing for such a long time!

Melissa has also worked with students to completely transform our herb garden area – creating new paths, new edging and even the beginnings of a pond with a bridge over it. This section of the garden is looking amazing!

We have built a few new garden beds using recycled materals and have planted these out  with brocolli, cauliflower, spinach, leeks,onions and kale. As you can probably see in the photos, this is our trouble spot in the garden, where we are still trying to develop garden beds (on what is very hard clay soil) and really utilise the space properly. Our garden is really big now and beginning to take quite a lot of work to maintain!… We’ll get there

We have also done lots of measuring and constructing work to plan out and prepare a long bed for a forest of snowpeas and broadbeans. A fabulous group of 5/6 boys were doing some great problem solving as they were trying to figure out how to best keep tension in the strings they had tied to hold up our broadbeans and for our snowpeas to grow on. They have done lots of sawing and tying – and have made some unique and useful garden edging which also serves to keep tension in their string – very clever!!!

During our work we also found what we thought was quite a huge worm – 13cm long and 1cm fat!

 It’s been a really great week in the garden, with lots being achieved and lots of physical work to keep us warm out there! Well done Berwick Fielders!

This week we harvested the purple sweet potatoes and loads of beautiful chillis which have been hung to dry so that we can store them for the future – don’t they look fabulous hanging up!?

Our very own radishes!

We also harvested some really special radishes! So special because they are the result of our first seed-saving attempt last year. We resisted eating our biggest and most beautiful radish of 2010 – instead opting to let it flower and go to seed. There were thousands and thousands of radish seeds saved from that one big radish and towards the end of last term we planted some of them. After a good mix of rain and sunshine over the holidays, the radishes were ready to eat! They were also DELICIOUS!!! Such juicy radishes! Radishes are a really fast crop to grow – they only take around six weeks from seed to tummy!

New blinds

This week we  also used our new blinds on the outdoor classroom which were installed late last term. These have given us a welcome bit of shelter when it’s windy or raining out in the garden.

BUT Our main work in the garden this week was focused on our mums! Students were busy making Mother’s Day gifts using the herbs they have grown.

Bathsalts for Mum

At the end oflast term students collected herbs from the garden and hung them to dry in the seed-saving shed. The dried herbs smell fantastic! This week we used these dried herbs to make some gorgeous smelling bath salts for our mums.

We had some great discussions about the uses of herbs and how many people use herbs to assist with health (and yummyness!)   The herbs we used this week were rosemary, chamomile, thyme, lavender, mint, and lemon verbena. Many very thoughtful students chose their herbs based on what they thought their mum might benefit from – such as chamomile to help Mum to relax, or lemon verbena to help her feel energised.

Bathsalts are really easy to make and you can get most of the ingredients from your local supermarket. They make a really special gift. This is the recipe we followed but there are many variations. 

Basic Bath Salts Recipe
equal parts Epsom Salts and seasalt
Dried herbs or essential oils of your choice to fragrance.

Week 8 was the last official week of gardening for term 1. But that didn’t mean there was any less work to do! Infact – there was even more work than usual!

We spent the week madly preparing our garden beds as best we can for the next season’s crop to be planted – some things will need to go in during week 9 (before the holidays) so we don’t have much time!

As usual there was plenty of harvesting to do – cabbages, the last of the tomatoes, leeks, potatoes,  varieties of beans and over 36kgs of pumpkin – which means we have harvested over 100kgs of pumpkin in the last two weeks!

 There’s also been a few more eggplants, the occassional cucumber and loads of basil, parsley and oregano sent to the kitchen for pizzas!

There certainly has been a bumper crop this term!

Highlights this week have included:

This week we have also been:

 collecting and hanging herbs from our garden in anticipation of making some lovely gifts for Mother’s Day,

collecting dried bean pods from our bean plants to seed-save for planting next year

using our home made compost from our whole school composting program to improve the soil in our garden.

And of course we have done our usual maths activities – collecting and weighing the eggs, reading and recording the rainfall, temperature and wind direction.

What a busy term one!!!

This week, it’s been all about….

 We harvested over 72kgs of pumpkin this week!

We also harvested 9.8kgs of corn, 6kgs of spring onions, some potatoes, a few leeks and some carrots.

Harvesting has been a big job these last few weeks, with plenty to do! It is definately the students’ favourite job. They also love weighing the produce and recording how much we have harvested – practising those all important math skills. We are also learning to clean up the produce properly, ready to be sent into the kitchen soil-free!

When we are not harvesting, we are working really hard to prepare our garden beds for the new planting season which will start very soon – it’s almost time to put in our winter vegetables. We’ve also planted some radish, spinach and carrot seeds.

Another favourite job in the garden is taking care of the chickens and collecting the eggs. We write the date on each of the eggs, weigh each egg and find out the average weight of the eggs collected for the day. We are graphing the results, seeing if we can track changes in our hens’ laying over time.

Click to see pumpkin recipes from the Berwick Fields kitchen

We also recieved a delivery of new watertank garden beds this week. We are beginning to further develop our herb garden- located directly outside the kitchen so it’s easy to pop out and grab some herbs!

As we further develop areas in our garden and prepare for the next planting season, it is becoming more and more important that we have a plan of what is happening in the garden. This week we drew a map of the garden and have begun to use it to show what’s being planted and when, the pH of the soil in the garden beds and when it was tested and what we plan to use areas for in the future. It’s also a great way for our students to practise their mapping skills.

The Sun’s were making more scarecrows.

The Raindrops were getting the chicken’s eggs and weighing them for maths.

The ladybugs were measuring the tomatoes to fit some new plants in.

Today in garden we made a lot of scary scarecrows we also lat the chickens out and the chickens had a dirt bath.We also skeched the garden.

 We have been interviewing groups and asking them what they have been doing.  One group is trying to make a scarecrow.Today we made a scarecrow with crazy hair.

 Some people have been sketching some thing in the gardren like chickens,the food and sun flowers.

This week we have been putting soil into new garden beds.
Giving scarecrows new clothes.
One group is planting carrots and lettuces.

Once again there has been lots of harvesting from the garden this week!

Our harvest included chillis, broccoli, red cabbage, cabbage, rhubarb, purple beans, eggplant, leek, tomato, salad onions and cucumbers and carrots.

We always try to weigh our produce as we harvest it – helping us to learn about mass and measurement. Some of the groups working with Melissa were looking closely at grams as a unit of measurement – how many grams in a kilogram, how to convert kilograms to grams and back again, how to add kilograms and grams etc.

We also found some really long yellow beans!

At the moment, if we were to purchase chillis or leeks at our closest supermarket, the leeks would cost $2.49 EACH, the small red chillis would cost $19.98 per kilogram and the large green chillis would cost $14.98 per kilogram! …And our leeks and chillis are much more beautiful than the ones at the supermarket!

Other groups followed up on our pH experiments and did some soil testing on our garden beds. It seems that most of our garden beds are around pH 7, which is neutral – and quite good news! We also tested our compost and areas of the garden that we built with the existing soil – these were close to neutral too! Great!

 It looks like we also have lots of pumpkins and butternut pumpkins coming up for harvest soon- mmmm pumpkin…. yum!!

the butterfly group is feeding the chickens and getting nice and durtty

the sun sines are pulling out weeds , mulching and havesting.

the bumble bees are makeing a worm farm with compost and sawdust.

  the rain drops are plantting sweet pices.

larst but not less the butterflys are doing the blog

On 28-2-2011 34k did some soil testing and some science experments.

We are the news reporters.

The suns have harvested  beetroot and they have also harvested some green chillis, tomatos and found some eggplant, cucumber and spring onions.

Week 3 has been busy out in the garden.  The students broke off into groups that they will work in for the duration of semester one and completed one of a variety of activities.

Click to see tomato recipes from the kitchen.

Click to see beetroot recipes from the kitchen.

There was loads of harvesting to be done, with almost 8kgs of tomatoes and a basket of beetroot being delivered to the kitchen. Students also harvested plenty of eggplants, cucumbers, strawberries, spring onion, leeks, fennel and salad onions!

Some of the students were also involved in some garden science as we learned about pH. Using red cabbage as a pH indicator, we tested some different household substances to find out if they are an acid or a base and practise reading the pH chart. This activity is really easy to do and it is great fun watching the pH indicator solution changing to the different bright colours! It was a great introduction for next week when we will be testing the pH of our soil.  This activity is easy to do at home and is really fun!

Another group of students used some of the old bricks that were left over from the building of the kitchen to create a new garden bed. There was some confusion about whether we were building a garden bed, or a castle – but we think it’s a great way to recycle our old bricks! We talked a lot about the pattern that we see in brickwork all around us, such as on our school building, and how this pattern will help to make the walls of our garden bed stronger.

Melissa also worked with a group of students to build a climbing structure for a pumpkin vine. There was plenty of opportunity to practise our maths skills and loads of teamwork needed!

Brenton had a team of hardworkers giving the hothouse a good clean up, ready for the rest of the year. He’ll be working with students to grow lettuces, sweetpeas and raise seedlings to plant out in the garden.

 Mulching is not glamorous, but it is an important and regular job in the garden. It helps to keep the moisture in the soil (keeping the plants and the worms happy) and the weeds away. Donna’s group knew there was plenty of mulching to be done this week whilst we still try to catch up on these jobs since the summer holidays!

Sylvia worked with groups of students to save the seeds from our largest, toughest radish in last year’s crop. We will plant the seeds this year – infact, we will be planting some of them next week!

Melissa got a group started on some new worm farms that will be housed in old bathtubs!

And also worked with another group to extend our Yellow Brick Road which shows students the way to the compost bins. It is important that the whole school know how to compost properly if we are to be able to use it in our garden. 

It’s the end of week two – and our work in the kitchen-garden is well underway!

In week one, students began to complete their garden license exam. The students manouvered a wheelbarrow safely around a set course and completed tasks to demonstrate that they know how to carry, use and store the tools safely. Donna and Melissa were our examiners – watching each student carefully to see that they are capable of working in the garden safely and respectfully. CONGRATULATIONS to all our students who have successful gained their license!
Students also completed a pre-test in week one, to find out what they already know about some of the many things we will be learning about out in the garden this year. At the end of the semester, we will complete the test again and see what we’ve learned!

 In week two, students organised their garden journals and began to record the weather – including the temperature, wind direction and the weekly rainfall. Students will be using the rain gauge, weather vein and thermometre each week for the semester to see if we can identify weather patterns and to practise our math skills. We also toured the kitchen-garden to see what’s new, what’s old, what’s happening with the compost, and where the tools are stored.

In the week before the students returned to school, some of the teachers spent time in the kitchen-garden discovering just what happens out there!

This morning Brenton harvested our first tomato for the season! He has taken it home to ripen up a bit more on the window ledge before he eats it - to keep it safe from those hungry birds!

Lots of tomatoes are starting to appear and it won’t be long until we are harvesting lots of red, juicy tomatoes to use in the kitchen in first term!

It was also time to harvest the chickpeas! We pulled out the chickpea plants last week to lay them out in the sun and wait for the pods to dry. Since then, Mrs Ferguson’s back deck has looked like a chickpea factory!  Today I noticed that the pods had started to split, which meant they were dried enough to collect the chickpeas. So here’s some photos of what’s been happening to harvest our chickpeas this morning!

It really is a bit of a shame that the Berwick Fields students are not around to see what happens in the kitchen-garden on the summer holidays. The plants love the sunshine and really get growing! There’s been some great harvesting happening.  Unfortunately the produce won’t keep until school goes back – but the garden’s holiday caretakers won’t complain (it’s a hard job but someone’s got to eat it!) !

We’ve had some lovely carrots, sweet-corn, huge cucumbers and beautiful eggplants. There were also still a few cauliflowers to enjoy and some red cabbages, beetroots and iceberg lettuce.  The chickens are laying overtime so we’ve also been enjoying delicious free-range eggs!