Bulbs

I've, well the children have, planted a lot of bulbs this winter. I'd never bothered much with bulbs but this has been a bit of a revelation. They're incredibly easy, even for very young children and while you're just starting to plant seeds for the summer, they are really coming through, giving a lot of early colour in the garden. They have really made a big impression with children and parents.

Hyacinths

This autumn has been the first time I've really planted a lot of bulbs. 

One of the parents at a school where I work works at a garden centre and has been kind enough to drop off loads of bulbs that had gone slightly past their sell by date. We've had hundreds of daffodils, tulips but the big hit has been hyacinths, forced so that they will grow in the depths of winter.

They seem to be pretty foolproof and can be grown in very small pots with very little compost. You can also cram a few into a slightly bigger pot for a more impressive display. They seem to flower in early January and although I've seen complicated instructions about keeping them in the dark, most of ours have flowered sitting on  a windowsill.

I often find that children forget the names of plants they're not familiar with, but this one's easy to remember. Imagine you've got a friend called Cynth who you bump into in the street "Hiya Cynth!".

One boy with whom I work has significant social and emotional difficulties and often finds it difficult to focus and concentrate on tasks but he has become devoted to his hyacinth. The TA who works with him created this activity sheet which they have filled in most days.

This is an activity for all ages, most Nursery children will manage it easily enough and the plants make lovely presents to take home.

Cuttings

Growing new plants from cuttings is a great activity during the autumn and winter when there may not be a lot else to do in the garden. It helps if you have a good supply of "parent" plants as we have in the greenhouse at St Johns.

Plants such as spider plants and Aloe Vera are good candidates as are herbs such as Rosemary. There is plenty of advice about how to do this online and we have had really good results, particularly with house plants like spider plants. Children can take plants home and look after them there or keep them in school but, either way, there is potential for them to have their own plant which many really value.

Watch out, they're behind you

We planted sunflowers at St Chrysostom's in the spring. See the post from 14 May about the difficult start these flowers had. When we came back, we found this...

Harvest time

It's been a l

It's been along cold spring so things are a bit late and I was getting worried that we might go into summer holidays before we were able to harvest things. Fortunately the Armitage garden has perked up with the recent sunshine for a nice crop of strawberries, herbs, broad beans, peas and radishes. Interestingly the club members are crazy for fennel and broad beans (not together).

We've been cooking the broad beans in the staff room microwave, toss in a bit of butter and herbs and they've really enjoyed them. One of the group told me she is now asking her mom to buy broad beans and they're eating them at home for the first time.

Spring is here!

Half an hour after we planted our sunflowers at St Chrysostom's on the 13th May!

Making your own bed

 

I've been helping a couple of schools to develop new raised beds for the spring. Children have surveyed school grounds, designed the beds and then done most of the construction. It works out much cheaper than buying beds and gets them doing some applied maths.