Garden Club

Growing Pains and Green Gains at the Garden Shop!

Exciting times are blooming at our nursery! Our wonderful new team is settling in beautifully and mastering their weekly routines with fantastic energy and growing confidence.

Of course, a little garden drama keeps us on our toes. We recently faced a few sneaky greenhouse intruders who decided to treat our prized plants like an all-you-can-eat buffet! But here at the shop, we believe in working with nature, not against it. Instead of neutralising our uninvited guests, our team safely collected and relocated them to our sweet potato patch.

Even better, we are cheering on a major lacewing proliferation across the Greenhouse Garden! These tiny, beneficial heroes are stepping up to the plate, and we expect the local pest population to drop significantly very soon.

Thank you for supporting us through every season, sprout, and surprise. Stop by this week to say hello to the team and see what is looking lush and ready for your garden!

Wild Wonders in the Hidden Garden!

The Hidden Garden, where we let nature run the show! Yes, some plants encounter a few bumps, but a little help from our invertebrate buddies or a quick human intervention always saves the day.

Take our famous Seville Orange Tree. After a dramatic battle with leaf miners, a few gentle doses of white oil it is on, it’s way to recovery.  It will move to a prime sunny spot in school, instead of the Hidden Garden.

Our wild strategy is paying off big time. The garden is buzzing with helpful huntsman spiders and speedy skinks. Thanks to this fierce security patrol, pesky caterpillars and snails barely stand a chance against our crops!

While we haven’t spotted our elusive celebrity, the Eastern Water Skink, this term, we are sure it is tucked away somewhere safe, warm, and cosy in the undergrowth. Almost all the thriving plants in our Greenhouse Garden; actually, started as cuttings right here. Proof that a little wildness goes a long way!

Pic of the Week

Alex A from Year 4 has had his Aloe Vera plant from last year, you may have remembered that he bought it at our Garden Shop, over that time it has grown new plants, and it has flowered.  The flower will surely attract Native Noisy Miner Birds; they will snack on the plant’s nectar.

The Great Sweet Potato Secret Recipe!

Move over master chefs, the garden club is cooking up a storm! We are building a brand-new sweet potato bed, and the recipe is delightfully wild.

First, a huge shoutout to Luke B from Year 4 for delivering the ultimate secret ingredient: fresh lawn clippings! We have mixed those with recycled school cardboard, shredded paperwork straight from the Parish Office, and loose dirt leftover from our recent sweet potato excavation. It is the ultimate nutrient buffet!

All this teamwork is digging up major rewards. We have officially harvested a whopping 4.2 kg of sweet potatoes so far! Our student farmers will keep digging for gold right through to the end of term.

Once the final spud is pulled, the real science magic begins. We will start a fresh cycle of cooking up rich new soil and planting the next generation of sweet potatoes. Watch out, supermarkets the garden club is taking over!

When is the Garden Club?

Garden Club happens on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, right after the gates open. We meet at the bubblers on the Churchill Avenue side of the school.

Garden Club is completely FREE to join! It's a great opportunity to learn to be a lateral thinker with limited resources, get first pick after a harvest, and see some fascinating creatures.

The information shared here is based on our experiences and knowledge, but we are not gardening experts. Think of it as friendly advice from one garden lover to another. Please remember that all gardening activities should be done with adult supervision and that you're responsible for your own safety and decisions.