Kitchen Garden - watering plants

On Tuesday 11th September, we had Project Time both before and after recess and children could choose to do Kitchen Garden with Margaret in either or both of the sessions. 

Today Margaret helped us to learn how to know which plants need watering and which ones don’t.

Some clues that indicate dryness include:

• cracks in the soil
• ants living in the soil
• if you stick your finger in the soil, it feels dry

She then showed us a Moisture Meter which helps us to measure the moisture in the soil and more accurately know whether or not to water each plant.

Instructions for use:

1. Stick the meter in the soil, just part of the way in, somewhere towards the centre.
2. Read the meter:
   Red means that the soil is dry
   Green means that the soil is moist
   Blue means that the soil is wet

Plants that like being in dry soil include:

• succulents
• cacti 
• geranium

Plants that like lots and lots of water include: 

• Vietnamese mint
• bamboo 
• peas  
• lettuce

We then dug up some soil to transplant some Dieties, which are a native Flax Lily. They needed lots of water to recover from the shock!

Kitchen Garden - potatoes!

Recently we had some time with Margaret and Kathy in the kitchen garden. As we were lucky enough to have them for both the morning and second block of the day, children could choose to do Kitchen Garden or Project Time for either or both of these sessions.

In the first session, we prepared roast potatoes. We cleaned the potatoes, picked rosemary, parsley and sage, peeled garlic and then mixed these through the parboiled potatoes and drizzled them with olive oil. In between all of this, we read “The Potato People” by Pamela Allen.













After recess, we admired and learned about the work that was done at the working bee, like the frog pond and plants. We also sowed some seeds and watered our plants on the terrace.






While we were eating our big lunch, Margaret and Kathy passed around trays of delicious roast potatoes. Yum!

Kitchen Garden - worm weed tea, soup and a pea-teepee

We had two sessions with Margaret today. In the first session, we made worm weed tea (liquid from the worm farms plus ‘weed tea’) – a nutritious drink for the garden, made by mixing weeds collected from around the school with dried chicken poo and water. This gave us the opportunity to practice using the wheelbarrow as we collected weeds from the enormous pile near the sandpit. 

 

 

 

 

  

After recess, we fed the garden with worm weed tea and water, fed the chooks (and found three eggs!). 

Then we picked some parsley, spinach and lettuce to add to our delicious garden vegetable soup that we got to eat at big lunch. It was delicious!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While this was happening, Kirsty worked with a small group of children to plant the pea seedlings in pots to form our ‘pea teepee’.

Thank you to Jo and Kirsty for being fabulous parent helpers today!

Cooking with the kitchen garden

Next Tuesday (the 24th) we will be cooking soup with Margaret using some veggies from the kitchen garden and from our pots on the terrace.  Please send a mug and spoon to school with your child so they can have a taste.  If you would like to join in and help, we will be gardening and cooking from 10-10:45, and again from 11:30-12:30.