We took advantage of the mild spell today in order to clear out our raised beds. The Year 6 Garden Team dug out and composted the lettuce, broccoli and cauliflower crops left over from the summer plantings. After removing any weeds, they dug in some soil improver and raked over the the surface ready for planting in the spring.
It is a bit early for us to sow many crops yet as we are expecting some frosty weather soon. Some crops such as garlic and broad beans actually benefit from a cold snap (known as a stratification period) so are fine to plant out in winter. Most other vegetable crops that we grow in our school beds like to have warmer soil to get them off to a good start.
There are still plenty of jobs to be getting on with at this time of year. We still have some hedgerow shrubs to plant before the the tree planting season comes to a close in March. We also plan to add some more willow to our willow bed.
Any pots that are to be reused need to be washed out and disinfected to prevent any lingering diseases being passed on to new plants.
Walkways can suffer in the wet winter weather, so it is a good idea to add some bark chippings or similar to prevent the paths from becoming too churned up. Cardboard can be placed under the bark chippings to stop them sinking into the soil. The cardboard will eventually decompose into the soil.
It is also a great time to look through seed catalogues a create a planting plan for the year. A good indoor activity is to create information signs to tell people information about what is planted in the gardens. We will be collecting some twigs around the school grounds to turn into plant markers. The children can try their hand at pyrography to write the names of the plants on the twig markers.
It is a bit early for us to sow many crops yet as we are expecting some frosty weather soon. Some crops such as garlic and broad beans actually benefit from a cold snap (known as a stratification period) so are fine to plant out in winter. Most other vegetable crops that we grow in our school beds like to have warmer soil to get them off to a good start.
There are still plenty of jobs to be getting on with at this time of year. We still have some hedgerow shrubs to plant before the the tree planting season comes to a close in March. We also plan to add some more willow to our willow bed.
Any pots that are to be reused need to be washed out and disinfected to prevent any lingering diseases being passed on to new plants.
Walkways can suffer in the wet winter weather, so it is a good idea to add some bark chippings or similar to prevent the paths from becoming too churned up. Cardboard can be placed under the bark chippings to stop them sinking into the soil. The cardboard will eventually decompose into the soil.
It is also a great time to look through seed catalogues a create a planting plan for the year. A good indoor activity is to create information signs to tell people information about what is planted in the gardens. We will be collecting some twigs around the school grounds to turn into plant markers. The children can try their hand at pyrography to write the names of the plants on the twig markers.
