The Planting Day

Today we did our first planting of the year, but before that we had to tidy up the strawberries.  We took all the straw off the bed and put it in a bag for later.  Then we cut off all the brown and old leaves so that the new ones could grow. 

These seeds are spinach seeds that we planted into the bed where the potatoes had been.  It's Giant Spinach.

Here we are planting the spinach into a row scattering very thinly and being careful to keep it in a straight line.

The we put some string over the row so that we could see where the spinach was before it grows.

After that, we filled some peat pots with compost and put some spring cabbage in them and then popped them into the greenhouse to grow.  After they have sprouted, we will move them into the bed with the spinach.

Meanwhile, my daddy was putting in the last two raised beds that we had emptied out last week.

Well done Daddy.

A Sunny Day in the Secret Garden

Today was our second meeting as year sixes in the Secret Gardening Club.  It was very sunny weather, perfect for gardening and the soil was nice and damp after the rainy day we had a couple of days before.  

First thing we saw was how well the pumpkins were doing ...

Then we finished off taking the soil out of the beds.  Our caretaker, Steve kindly lent us a wheelbarrow to make the job easier.  We made the soil into a huge pile in almost no time at all. Hopefully daddy can now dig the new beds in properly.  

After we had finished that dirty job we planted some onions that my mummy had given to us.  They looked exactly like normal onions just much smaller and mummy said they were called onion sets.  She told us to plant them with the pointy side up and only deep enough so that the tip of the pointy side was above the ground.

And look what we found whilst we were preparing the bed for the onions!  Doesn't it look like an animal?

I would like to say well done to all the Secret Gardeners for all their hard work in moving that soil. 

Our first meeting after the holidays.

Today was our first meeting after the holidays; it was very busy!

First we had to weed some beds ...

BEFORE (pumpkins in the background)

AFTER

                        

Then we had to dig all the soil out of some upturned beds so that they can be put into the ground properly.  It was very hard work and very dusty!

Gabriella found a radish in the soil and tried it.  

It was very hot and spicy as it had been in the ground too long

We had some lovely tomatoes.  We picked them all and tried them.  Lily said "they're much nicer than tomatoes from the supermarket.  Much sweeter"  We put them into a bucket and gave them all to our school cook Janine.  I wonder what she'll  make with them.

Today was so much fun that even some Reception children joined in - Fred and Lauren.

Well done to all the Secret Gardeners.

Our Last Meeting before the Holidays

On the last day of term we did a bit of final weeding and tidying before gathering up the lettuces and new potatoes to share for lunch.  The tomatoes weren't quite ripe, so we had to leave them until September.

We then took the new potatoes and lettuces to our lovely school cook, Janine and she cooked the potatoes and popped them with the leaves to make a lovely salad for the Secret Gardeners.

Growing our own lunch was not bad work considering the Secret Gardening club has only been going a few weeks!  Potatoes taste much nicer when you've grown them yourself ...