Kitchen Garden News

I knew that inheriting the school’s garden beds may be a challenge. Not knowing what they have been topped up with over the years has proved to be a trial. We have had the odd success, but the failures have certainly outweighed them.

So, last week the children and I got to work and conducted some soil investigation work. The classes were giving 3 soil samples to look closely at – we looked at structure, texture and what we could see in the soil. Our samples came from the kitchen garden, the kindergarten beds and from my own vegetable garden. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly our kitchen garden soil was the poorest, with the children deciding that it was very sandy and contained a lot of small woodchips. They also discovered that it doesn’t hold together when damp. All red flags that our soil needs some TLC.

Although this is annoying, it’s a great learning opportunity for the children. On the bright side we have all of winter to get things shipshape and ready for Spring planting.

Lucky for us we have some thriving silverbeet and swiss chard that the kindergarten children planted which we can use in the kitchen. Some of the students from 2/3 made delicious silverbeet and ricotta rolls for their class for morning tea. I couldn’t believe how fast they ate them. I am constantly amazed and proud of the children for giving all the things we cook a go. It's truly heartwarming.