Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden 

Bianca Tondo 

Garden Specialist

Hello Kingswood Community!

We are well into autumn now and can feel winter knocking on our doorstep. All of our summer crops of basil, cucumber, zucchini, tomatoes, corn, and sunflowers have been pulled out. They have been replaced by autumn-winter crops.

At the end of the last term, some longer crops were planted by grade 5 and 6 students. These include onions, garlic, cauliflower, and broccoli. These crops will take between 18 – 20 weeks to be ready.

Shorter autumn crops of silverbeet, beetroot, and leafy greens were planted also. These crops should be ready in 6 – 8 weeks.

In the garden, students have been using the habit of mind "responding in awe and wonderment", noticing the different stages of growth on our citrus trees. When we look carefully we can see the flower and small marble size fruit growing. We then could see half green and yellow lemons of medium size. We also spotted whole big yellow lemons ready for harvest (but out of reach). 

Sonia and I would like to say a BIG THANK – YOU to Coles and the Stephanie Alexander Foundation. They kindly gave a voucher to spend at Bunnings to further enhance our program here at Kingswood. I am pleased to say we have purchased a Weather Station and some equipment to use in our raised garden beds.

Reflections from Garden Classes:

Year 4B

Today in the garden we fed the hens. It was exciting because the hens were running around and eating the grain while we were trying to fill the bin with grain. We also collected the eggs. We pulled out lots of weeds and we harvested the bok choy. We had fun doing garden.

Year 4C

Today we planted silverbeet seedlings. It was fun looking for worms. It was the first time turning over the soil. We harvested the bok choy. It was the first time in my life that I have harvested anything before. We also fed the hens and collect the eggs.

Year 4S

Today we collected the eggs from our hens. We have never collected eggs before or even touched an egg. Some of the eggs we collected were just laid and still warm. We really liked weeding today because we have never done it before. It was mysterious and interesting. The weeding was very fun. It was satisfying because we could see the progress we were making. We used the Habit of Mind persisting and finding humor while weeding.

Year 4F

Today we let the chickens out of the chicken coop. We patted them and they felt soft, fluffy and feathery. Stopping the chickens from eating our delicious leafy greens was fun. It was enjoyable walking around the garden while rounding up the hens. We also fertilized the new seedlings. The weeding was satisfying because it was making the garden better for the plants to be able to grow and we could see all the hard work we have done. We used the Habit of Mind of persistence while weeding.