Chatham Primary School

Kitchen Garden

Kitchen Garden Update

 

On Tuesday 23rd of July, students in Years 5 and 6 were back in the garden! We had a list of maintenance tasks to undertake and we discussed some garden tips for a successful fruiting garden.

 

Here are our top 5 tips:

  • Washed, dried, crushed eggshells can be sprinkled in garden beds to deter slugs and snails.
  • Ground, dried coffee and cooled ash from the fireplace can be sprinkled into garden beds to keep ants away and add nutrients back into soil.
  • Soak banana peels for a few days in water, then pour water into soil, which will add in potassium. 
  • When watering, try to focus on the roots of the plants so that the water can reach where needed.
  • Cutting back plants can generate more growth and stronger roots. 

Following this, we then split up into small groups and began our work of weeding, topping up soil on our potatoes, checking in on our beetroots and carrots, clipping back our broccoli, re-tying our peas (and tasting what we found!), harvesting rocket and planting in our broad beans. We also discussed the difference between our coriander and parley herbs, and noticed that when crushed, they both had a distinct different scent and at closer inspection, they both had a different leaf structure. 

 

One of our students, Michael Heng, added in small scarecrows he had made to keep away some of the birds that have been munching on our plants. Michael also made some Australian native animals, which fitted well into our Chatham Garden landscape. Thank you, Michael, for your artistic flair.

 

Next week, we are back in our Kitchen classroom, cooking. We have created recipes around harvesting three vegetables that are growing - cauliflower, spring onion and beetroot. We cannot wait!

 

Also, keep an eye out for a special message soon from our Environment Leaders, Michael, Elizabeth and Reesey, who will be running a fundraiser to purchase new chickens and fox proof our chicken coop. 

 

Our kitchen garden is continuing to flourish in these colder months!

Thank you, 

 

Leda Semercioglu

Kitchen Garden Coordinator