Friday 28 June 2013

The Joy of Gardening

Below is our little nursery garden. The tomatoes have done really well in the grow bags, even though one of them had nine in it. I went to get some more compost and pots last weekend. I go at the weekend and then drive to school to drop it off as it is preferable to trying to find the time in the week. I have a key fob and can park just outside the gate at that time. Yesterday I had the help of many little gardeners re-potting the tomatoes. I love doing gardening with the kids in a different way to many other things, I think because it is a real and useful thing that I really believe they should know about. All are offered a chance to join in but not all want to. I have a core group who are always there and they are the ones who have done the most work in our little patch, and who can do things independently. I hope they will do it for themselves if they can. I am really looking forward to doing more next year when we have a larger playground. I have no idea how it will be arranged or used yet. Things are very much up in the air at the moment so I am not going to worry about it until September. This year's little garden will go home with me, the children, and one of our lunchtime supervisors who wants the courgettes and has room for them. She is a very good gardener and cook. Yesterday she made fresh vine leaves stuffed with rice and brought them to school still warm. She uses her own vine leaves. Delicious!

 I found a foxglove at the end of the garden yesterday. I didn't know I had any. I like the way it has grown up with the ferns. Perhaps it will self-seed. I think there used to be one there. This is an interesting site on the flower. It includes the information that the marks on the petals are where elves fingers have touched them.
The yellow flags in the pond are at their best at the moment. Like my other irises, they don't last long, but they are beautiful while they do.

4 comments:

Chirasree Banerjee said...

After reading your post , I remembered a quote by Alfred Austin
"The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just on the body, but the soul".

Leenie said...

Good for you--teaching those little ones the joy of gardening. That will certainly be very useful and worthwhile knowledge for the children to carry with them. I saw foxglove growing in the wild in the rain forests along the coast. It is a very interesting flower I've had growing in my own garden. Fun to learn a little more about it.

snoopydogknits said...

Such pretty flowers. I love seeing the yellow irises amongst the reeds at our local water park, where we take Oscar for his runs. We have a small garden with vegetable plot at school, that the children look after. I agree, it's a really useful love to develop. Have a good week. Ros

Tracy said...

LOVELY to see your garden growing, Sarah! It's been such a nice summer so far. We revived our veggie patch--and eagerly awaiting salads in a few weeks! BEAUTIFUL image with the yellow iris/flags at the end. Happy Days ((HUGS))