The Secret Gardening Club

Welcome to the new Secret Gardeners

2010-10-18T15:26:00.002+01:00

The founding members of The Secret Gardening Club have moved onto secondary schools. A new team of budding young horticulturists is being groomed to take the hoe. Once they've finished planting their broad beans, I'm sure they will be ready to get blogging. Watch this space!

Broad beans, cabbage and pak choy!

2010-06-30T12:49:00.005+01:00

Lots has been happening over the last couple of weeks. So much that I haven't had time to blog!! Lots of new plants have gone in; cabbages, pak choy and tomatoes and we've got pumpkin and bean seedlings ready to go in next week.

Here's a picture of the pak choy going in ...

Look at our red cabbages (sorry it's sideways!)

And finally ... how about our broad beans! They were delicious! We took them to our cook Janine and she cooked them with a bit of oil and parmesan and we shared them then look the leftovers to the staff room for the teachers. They loved them too.

In the next couple of weeks we need to sort out our compost as it's gone a bit smelly in the heat! My mum says we need more grass and cardboard and less vegetable bits as it's all seeping out of the bottom - YUKKKKK.

Newspaper pots

2010-05-10T19:51:00.002+01:00

Today we bought in newspaper and all made some newspaper pots to plant peas, beans and pumpkins in.

We then filled them with compost and popped two seeds in each, but only one for the pumpkins because the plants get so big.

After that we left them in our new shed so that they would stay warm and start to grow.

Meanwhile some of the gardeners were helping to trim the grass around the beds as it has got very high!

Potato planting

2010-05-10T19:02:00.007+01:00

today we decided that it was just the right time to plant our potatoes, which had been chitting at a gardeners house until they were ready.

we also saw how much the strawberries and onions have grown!

then we finished off by doing some watering and weeding.

A special thank you to Georgia, the daughter of Kate who helps out, for helping us with digging up the bed for the potatoes.

the new shed!

2010-04-02T21:01:00.004+01:00

A shed at last!!

On Friday 19 March, the gardening club were very excited to find that we not only have a brand new shed, but everyone also has

a pair of gardening shoes to do their work in!

we also planted some tomatoes and lettuce in pots so we can have our first spring fruit and veg!

we also have to say a sad goodbye to a good friend and valued member of the club, Gabriella(pictured and far left) who has gone to live in Bournemouth. We let her take her gardening shoes with her so that she get everyone there gardening too.

the new pond!

2010-04-02T20:35:00.005+01:00

on Saturday 13 march, we were lucky enough to have a group of helpful parents come in and clean and re-paint the benches and wooden outdoor equipment, they were also kind enough to offer us a new pond!

here is my little brother helping with some digging.

and here is one of the helpers with the new pond.

filling it up...

...and finished!!!

thank you to all the parents and volunteers that helped in the construction of our new pond!

sheds and potatoes.

2010-02-27T11:46:00.005Z

Firstly, I would like to welcome Kate into the secret gardening club as a new adult helper; here she is with some of the others.

On Friday we went out to the garden, but it was too cold and windy so we went indoors to the school hall where we discussed sheds.

Capital Growth has granted The Secret Gardening Club £850 to spend on equipment, and we decided that the first thing we would buy would be a shed for all our tools, and to shelter in when it's raining. This is the shed we eventually chose. We will get the school's Dad's Army to erect it for us in a couple of weeks time.

A shed is not all we wanted though, we had a whole list!

After that, we had a look at some chitting potatoes that we had got from the Potato Council, we put them in an egg box and chose a member to take them home until they are ready to be planted.

Next we had a look at some seeds that we won by entering a competition run by Capital Growth. We were the first school to enter so we got five packets of seeds! I'm most looking forward to eating the tomatoes or lettuce but I'm not too sure about the beetroot or the cauliflower!

Finally we had a top secret meeting about the competition. We have to plant our seeds into old things that we find. We can't tell you what our plan is because it's top secret and some other school might read this!

A shed at last!!

2010-01-29T15:59:00.002Z

A huge thank you to Capital Growth for funding the Secret Gardening Club shed and tools! We might not have been able to garden for the last couple of weeks, but with our lovely new shed we'll be able to shelter inside when it rains.

See you soon!

Snow!

2010-01-11T19:28:00.003Z

we haven't had many secret gardening club meetings recently because of all the snow,

but my mummy went in and took some photos while we were at school. Isn't it pretty!

I hope that the snow will keep the plants nice and warm and watered.

See you soon!

Bulbs

2009-11-30T17:46:00.002Z

The last two meetings have been cancelled due to heavy rain, but last Friday we were back and thank goodness the weather was lovely and sunny!

A few weeks ago we had some very important people from Capital Growth come and inspect our garden. We made some special signs to impress them and it worked! Now we have a certificate and special plaque for the garden telling us we are space number 0122. Hopefully they will try and find us a shed so that we can keep our tools somewhere safe and we can hide inside if it starts to rain!

On Friday we decided to do some planting for the spring. But first we had a look at our broad beans - Look at how they've grown!

After we'd admired our broad beans we started planting some flower bulbs in clumps around the vegetable beds so that they will look pretty in spring and attract insects.

We didn't know what sort of bulbs they were as they were all muddled up but we tried our hardest to put them into groups.

It was quite hard getting them in, but mummy helped using a special hole maker to cut holes in the ground.

We can't wait until spring to find out what we've planted!

After that we did a bit of weeding. We'll be back again next week unless it rains ... or snows!

More Planting!

2009-10-17T12:53:00.005+01:00

Today the first thing we did was look at how well the spring cabbage were going. They have been growing bigger than ever ...

After that, weeded the old pumpkin bed and planted some more onions and garlic in there. Our last crop of garlic seems to have been eaten by something - birds or squirrels?

After planting our alium bed, we added compost onto one of the new beds that my dad put in two weeks ago.

Then Gabriella and I planted some broad beans in it ....

Before we planted the beans, Gabriella ran string in two lines to show us where the beans are growing in their rows.

Well done to all the gardeners for their hard work planting new crops.

Introducing the Secret Gardeners

2009-10-09T19:35:00.003+01:00

Today I have decide to let you meet some of the Secret Gardeners, but first I will tell you what we did today.

Firstly, we cleared the strawberry patch of any grass that was lingering around.

Then we raked one of the new beds ready for planting.

After that we had a look at our spring cabbages - look how they've grown!

Our onions have done well too ... and we cleared the weeds from around them

And now ... I have great pleasure in introducing you to some of the Secret Gardeners ...

Harvest

2009-10-04T15:54:00.003+01:00

Today we dug up the pumpkins and weeded the bed so that we could plant some garlic in there.

Look at our onions! They've sprouted already ...

and here are our pumpkins on display for the Harvest Festival at school. After the festival they will be given to Janine the cook and hopefully she will make them into soup or roast them for our weekly roast. Yum yum!

The Planting Day

2009-09-30T20:39:00.007+01:00

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

2009-09-18T18:12:00.003+01:00

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.

2009-09-16T08:18:00.005+01:00

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

2009-09-04T14:47:00.002+01:00

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 ...

A BUSY DAY!

2009-07-14T18:00:00.008+01:00

Today in the secret gardening club we had a very busy day.We...

weeded

watered

and planted pumpkins!!!

A special well done to the secret gardening club members for all their hard work. Thanks!

(And good luck to our pumpkins too)

New beds

2009-07-03T21:22:00.003+01:00

We now have two new beds in The Secret Garden and we have finished filling one with soil.

We also did tomato watering,

normal watering, radish thinning - with one finger between each plant

and we pinched out the little shoots on the tomatoes.

It was a very busy day.

Thank you to my dad for helping make the beds!

Our 2nd Meeting

2009-06-26T16:19:00.003+01:00

Today was the second meeting of The Secret Gardening Club. We decided to spend the day planting lettuces, radishes and tomatoes. It was a success but it was very hard as there was a lot of digging involved because the soil was hard and hadn't been treated in ages.

Richmond in Bloom

2009-06-22T20:25:00.002+01:00

Today Richmond in Bloom visited our school and some children from years 2, 3 and 5 were chosen to take part in the tour around our school. I was one of them and I got to show the judges this blog and the Secret Garden. I hope they thought it was good.

Weeding Success!

2009-06-13T13:13:00.008+01:00

Today Stephanie Wood (my mum) and Catherine Fox (Charlie's mum) decided to do some work on The Secret Garden and look what they did!

Before and After

Thank you!

Our First Meeting

2009-06-12T21:26:00.009+01:00

Today we had the first meeting of The Secret Gardening Club. Here is a photo of the Secret Gardeners (not including me!)

The Secret Garden hadn't been weeded in ages, so we've got a lot of work to do!

But while we were weeding we found some crops that had already grown ...