The Kitchen-Garden @ Berwick Fields 

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.