Garden Club

Brown paper bag muster!

Garden Club needs a resource that everyone seems to throw out. We are currently using brown paper shopping bags to “blanket” our worms. By using the brown papershopping bag, we can provide two benefits to the worms, first the worms enjoy processing their food in the dark, they feel more secured and less likely to burrow back into their casting if lightly disturbed. Also, the paper bag is biodegradable. The worms use it as a source of food and many micro-organisms join in the feast. If you want to donate your brown paper shopping bags, please flatten and fold within the bag.

Pencil Shaving

Last year I was perplexed by a question, because Elijah A and Alex A in their good nature had collected pencil shavings. They both heard that this could be collected as a source of food for our worms. They had collected the shavings into a jar and gave it to the Garden Club. I knew I had to do some homework to determine whether it would be safe for the worms. I discovered that writing pencil shavings could be processed in the worm farm. However, there were some writing pencils that couldn’t be processed; mainly writing pencils that are painted on the outside, the untreated were OK. The wood content and the lead (it’s really graphite) can be a rich carbon source for the worms. I also came across information about colouring pencils, since they were mostly painted on the outside to show their colour, this rules them out. Additionally, the substances in colouring pencil cannot be determined. We will be looking for volunteers in the new term and seek Teacher approval for each class and begin to collect writing pencil shavings.

Pidgwiggen the Skink 

Pidgwiggen is an Eastern Water Skink that is residing happily in “The Hidden Garden”, we know since the arrival the snail numbers have dramatically dropped. We know that recently we had close call from Army Worms (which are not worms but caterpillars) with their ferocious appetite they are able to decimate a crop of Swiss Chard overnight, which did happen three years ago. We can only thank Pidgwiggen for eating all our crop pest. Recently Pidgwiggen managed to go inside one of the worm farms but only for a few days. We thank you Pidgwiggen for being our natural pest controller.

Why I joined Garden Club?

My name is Savannah F and I am in Year 6. After a two-year break from the Garden Club, I decided to rejoin this year after I missed it so much.

Some of you might ask what’s there to miss about gardening. 

First – I love to learn about plants and trees, in particular how they grow from a small seedling to something big and vibrant. Take for example the way we grow potatoes in our side playground by simply planting seeds, keeping the soil moist and rich with plenty of 

water. 

Second - growing plants is a great step towards keeping our environment safe and healthy. Collecting food scraps round the school and mixing this with soil makes fora rich mixture allowing plants to grow in a more sustainable way. 

Lastly – taking the time to look after the St Martha’s gardens means our school grounds are well kept. Often we do have to sweep, weed and turn soil which has the added benefit of keeping us healthier. 

So if you’re ever given the chance to join Mr Choong and his team, I say DO IT.