Papatoetoe West's School Garden

School garden update

• School name: Papatoetoe West School
• Region: Auckland

Planning

Some gardens have been in place for many years here at the school. The main vegetable garden area was developed this year with the help of some wonderful volunteers that donated time and materials. Each class in the middle school have their own garden that they plant and maintain. More recently, new kitset gardens have been constructed and placed by the students. We have discussed the direction of the sun, as well as aesthetics such as making a pattern with the gardens.

Planting

This month we are planting summer crops including lettuce, sweetcorn, tomatoes, zucchini, onions, potatoes, pumpkins and capsicums, along with sunflowers and marigolds. The children enjoy a variety of fruit and veges - their favourites are strawberries, sweetcorn, tomatoes, carrots, apples, oranges, melons and lettuce.

Harvesting

At the moment we are harvesting beetroot, broad beans, carrots, kale, spinach, cabbage, celery and tasty herbs including thyme, chives and parsley.

The harvests are put to good use and used to cook lunch during our Garden to Table sessions. The students have particularly enjoyed kale chips, fritters (beetroot and spinach and a Indian pakora with mixed veges), beetroot and chocolate muffins, and flatbread pizza with vegetables and herbs.

Maintenance

This month we are focusing on making sure our garden is in tip top shape before summer. We have been busy weeding, watering, fertilising, mulching paths to keep grass down, pulling out old crops and topping up garden beds with compost.

Sustainability

We are taking steps to make our garden sustainable and eco-friendly. The children helped build a compost bin out of pallets so we can compost our weeds and food scraps from the kitchen. We hope to start using this compost on our gardens next year. We have worm farms too - for the children's lunch scraps. We also have a rainwater tank for watering the gardens. Some students have created gardens out of recycled materials such as pallets, old recycling tubs and old desks.

Top garden tips for spring:

1. In schools wait to plant tomatoes - we want a late harvest - not during the break when only the birds will get to enjoy them!
2. Keep new seedlings covered with bird net or bottle cloches - birds either dig seedlings out in their search for worms, or they eat the seedlings. They get especially hungry in the holidays when there are no crusts from school lunches left for them to eat.
3. Plant potatoes in tubs or potato bags - plant your seed potatoes down low and keep filling up the bag or tub as you go. When you are ready to harvest, it is really easy to tip bag over and gather your harvest.

Products used in the garden this month:

• Tui Potato Food - to keep our potatoes growing well.
• Tui NovaTec fertiliser - to give our plants some Kai.
• Tumbleweed Worm Farm & Compost Conditioner - to make sure our new compost bins will make good compost.
• Annabel Langbein Delicious Gardens Mexican Feast seeds - we are trying the Mexican collection to make a three sisters garden.

Click here to try Papatoetoe West's delicious Beetroot and Chocolate muffins here!

Tui & Garden to Table

We are excited to be supporting Garden To Table as our school programme this year. Garden to Table is a trust, which runs a gardening and cooking programme in schools across New Zealand. As participants in the Garden to Table programme, seven to 10 year-old children spend time in a productive vege garden and home-style kitchen each week. There they learn skills that will last them a lifetime, and discover just how much fun it is to grow and cook their own seasonal vegetables and fruits.

Tui is providing starter packs to each of the new schools, and seasonal packs during the year.