Pre-school garden - end of term report

After the dust has settled on the end-of-term mayhem, and before I become completely panicked at the idea of three children at home for six weeks, I thought I'd assess the highs and lows of our first season of the pre-school gardening club.

The Good

• Almost all the children have grasped the fundamental principles of what a plant needs to survive and grow - this is particularly impressive when you consider that some have yet to master the technicalities of using the loo.
• Not only have they grown about 15 different edible crops in their tiny plot, they have also managed to digest a few. This has even been achieved with very few of them pulling faces fit for a gurning competition.
• The children have all been delightfully enthusiastic and love to talk about gardens and gardening - often very loudly and usually about 15 at a time.

The Bad

• My complete lack of planning has highlighted why I am no loss to the teaching profession. I tended to decide what we were doing half an hour before we began which hardly helped the sessions to flow.
• Unfortunately, term came to an end before some crops were ready, including the tomatoes and carrots, so I may have to select some earlier cropping varieties next year - all suggestions welcome!

The Ugly

• My hanging baskets may well be the least impressive and co-ordinated of any in existence. This is partly a reflection of my lack of experience in this area and partly a result of my filling them with a load of bargain basement, end-of-line, no-one-else-wanted-them plants. Worst of all, living opposite I have to view the hanging basket horror on a daily basis.

Future Plans

• We need to do some autumn sowing - any recommendations for crops suitable for a small, shady spot gratefully received.
• The children would like to grow apples, so I'm hoping to buy a family apple tree on a dwarfing rootstock that we can grow in a pot.
• I'm also asking for some funds to buy a wormery so the pre-schoolers can start to compost their food waste every day and also build up a supply of organic matter for the garden.
• Plus, we're going to build a mini wildlife stack to encourage more beneficial insects into the garden.
• Finally, I'm going to make a supreme effort to actually plan a few lessons and perhaps even plant up some hanging baskets that don't make my feel queasy.

Comments

[Dee/reddirtramblings]

I think the fact that you got them interested in gardening is wonderful. I would say radishes, lettuce, spinach, and turnips would be easy fall crops for little ones. There are others, but those come to mind. Your future plans are great too.~~Dee

[JamesA-S]

The holidays are always a problem with school gardens. Never had that when Nigel Colborn was young and children all worked in factories and sweeping chimneys instead of wasting their time with education.
You should plant pumpkins because then they are there when the little blighters get back from holiday and have changed so much as to be unbelievable.
This should also have the gratifying effect of their regarding you with a certain awe and marvelling at your magical powers.
Provided you don't mind nipping across the road to do the watering every so often.

[Dawn Isaac]

Dee - love the idea of turnips and radishes(if not the taste!) so I think I'll put some in along with the lettuce and spinach

James - as much as I love the thought of inspiring awe and wonder, the plot is so small I fear pumpkins might swamp it - unless we can get one to a Cinderella coach size and then we could scoop it out for an extra classroom.