Garden and Environment

Garden and Environment News

Spring is here and we are excited to notice the signs of longer daylight, warmer atmosphere and the renewal these bring to the garden.

Fruit trees are bursting into bloom, Tadpoles and froglets have appeared, and bees are busy collecting nectar and pollinating again.

This week, Year Five and Six students helped Belinda to remove grow tunnels that have protected from frosts, weed the beds and paths and mulch to build more solid ground underfoot in our rain-soaked garden. Seeds have been sown into punnets, ready for planting in the weeks ahead. Students really enjoyed harvesting radish: white and red, Beetroot, carrots: purple, white and orange, and lettuce. Ms Haddon plans to use this produce with students to make yummy snacks for Hole in the Wall.

Belinda and her helpers have also worked hard to arrange and install timbers to raise our garden beds. More soil has been purchased and these deeper beds will allow better drainage in our very clay-based soil. We hope this will bring greater kitchen harvests in 2023.

Our chicks have grown enormously thanks to food, warmth and lots of love from our students and their families these past weeks. We have noticed the kindness and respect our students show their new pets and the excitement and enthusiasm from both the chicks and the children is a joy to see.

Finally, by the end of this term, students will have brought home their own hand-made ‘Bees wax wrap’. These reusable food wraps/covers are an initiative of Year Six student and Environment Leader, Josephine. Josephine wants to raise awareness of ways to reduce use of disposable plastics, to care for our planet. We would like to congratulate Josephine on her enthusiasm for this project which was supported by a generous grant from the Climate and Health Project at EACH. Instructions for ‘finishing off’ the wrap will be posted to each year level on Compass as students bring them home. 

We are looking forward to the last busy weeks of term.

Kate Newman, Garden/Environment Teacher

Belinda Williams, Horticulturist