Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden 

Bianca Tondo 

Garden Specialist

Even though it is still winter we have seen the first signs of spring in the SAKG garden. Buds are forming on our heavily pruned fruit trees and all the veggies in our garden are starting to grow with some speed again. We have an abundance of leafy greens like pak choy, wombok, and silver beet. Our cauliflowers and broccoli are about to finish. We are looking forward to planting a bigger variety of summer vegetables very soon.

To tie us over to spring we have planted some more lettuce, broad beans, cabbages, spinach, and yes more silver beet! We have promoted the growth of our little seedlings in this cold weather by putting some pea straws down and feeding them with lots of seaweed extract fertilizer. Another “trick” is to covering them with recycled 2 litre milk bottles, which act like a mini greenhouse, tricking the seedling into thinking it is warmer than it actually is!

The Year 3 students have started planting seeds for our summer crops. We have spoken about where seeds come from, looked at the seed pods of the rocket we have growing and responded in wonderment and awe about the tiny seeds inside the seed pod. Students knew they were responding with wonderment and awe by the automatic smile when they saw the seeds and by the cry of “aww” they all let out!

On cooler days we have harvested bay leaves that were cut from the bush in autumn. We are also harvesting some pink peppercorns so they can be used in a grinder in the kitchen.

Wishing the Kingswood Community, a happy, relaxing, and safe holiday.