Launching www.buddinggardeners.co.uk
by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
The aim of www.buddinggardeners.co.uk is to encourage and inspire both schools and their children to grow their own whilst it sets out to break down the barriers of involvement such as time, space, knowledge and funding.
Teacher Resource
Whether schools have room to transform a barren playground into a full-on gardening plot or just simply want to experiment on the windowsill of the classroom, help is at hand with plenty of teacher resources. Hints and tips on getting started and simple “how to” steps on all the processes from ground preparation, composting, sowing seed, tending to plants and harvesting
are all available. There is even a “jargon buster” page with a glossary of gardening terms explained whilst on-line support exists from Martin, The Head Gardener of the Harrod Horticultural Kitchen Garden Project.
School Gardening Competition
Keeping it fun has been the focus too and there is the opportunity for schools to post their project progress on the website, class learning with fruit & veg fact sheets and fun activity suggestions from planning what to grow through to celebrating the harvest. We’re encouraging a bit of competitive spirit too with competitions catered for all project sizes with £1,000 of gardening equipment to be won!
Special School Discounts
What about the sensitive issue of funding? Well www.buddinggardeners.co.uk is doing its bit to help by offering schools special discounts on selected gardening products to get them started or to help sustain projects.
So why not visit www.buddinggardeners.co.uk today and see for yourself how Harrod Horticultural is encouraging the development of young positive minds and healthy bodies for a brighter future. And with a bit of luck the gardeners of tomorrow too!
While this program, theoretically, and also practically, is aimed at schools and pupils, it would be a very good idea, in my opinion, to extend this in order to teach children – through the website, or a website – as to the growing of fruit and vegetables, as not every child will have the opportunity at their school to do this.
On the other hand I am sure that there should be a way of creating a school garden – a large one even – at nigh on every school in the country, whether in the country or in the inner city, and everywhere in between.
Even and especially the hard standing in school playgrounds can be used by use of builders bags, for instance, filled with soil = instant raised beds. They do that in the United States in community garden projects and I am sure our schools could be equally innovative.
© 2011
Full Disclosure Statement: The GREEN (LIVING) REVIEW received no compensation for any component of this article.
