What's best

Roll Roll · « **on:** March 18, 2009, 19:56 »

Our local primary school has four raised beds which they had built late last year. At the moment their is one very small rhubarb plant and a couple of strawberry plants.
As I always grow more plants than I have room for, I have said I will supply all the plants for the kids to plant out, What would you recomend??
The kids looking after the beds are aged between 3 and 6. The beds are in a sunny spot sheltered on three sides by classrooms.
Other than planting out, the teachers will have little involvment in the growing of the veg/fruit, so they should be low maintance.
Any ideas?

Jay Dubya · « **Reply #1 on:** March 18, 2009, 20:09 »

Hi, i think it best to stick to veg. that dosn't take up too much room ie. give spuds a miss, things like radish, french beans, beetroot, spring onions and salads give fairly quick results and maybe a row of runners.

Keep on a childlike troshing J W

Faz · « **Reply #2 on:** March 18, 2009, 20:22 »

Anything that has a nice colour is likely to interest the kids too, so maybe some of the red coloured salad, or a mixed packet, would be good.

Stripey_cat · « **Reply #3 on:** March 18, 2009, 20:56 »

3 is still pretty young, and not all of them will have great manual dexterity. Large seeds and transplants that'll survive being squeezed are the way to go. In fact, if you can grow on to 3" pots, so they can dig holes and have an adult turn the plant out for them, that'll give you a much higher survival rate. Seeds will probably do OK so long as you can restrain them from waterlogging the soil, compacting it hard after sowing, watering every half hour after you sow, and digging them up to see if the roots are showing yet. It's probably a good idea to have some spares coming along so you can pull a discreet switch when they do manage to kill things.

Fast returns, and silly things (veg the wrong colour, edible flowers etc.) seem to appeal to youngsters.

titch · « **Reply #4 on:** March 18, 2009, 20:59 »

We did some spuds in a tub last year - was pretty successful, enough for us to cook for the kids to try them, and they had so much fun rooting through the earth for them (we tipped the whole thing out into a black buildiers mixing tray

......... i guess little carrots, runner beans are great but need to get them in early otherwise by the time they have beans to eat they will have broken up for the summer , what about herbs that they can use with things ie put in breads, and the cut and come agian lettuces

we too are growing things at our pre-school to be honest the biggest problem is growing things that will be ready to eat before the holidays come

one of our bean plants didnt make it (too much water the children decided and not enough holes to drain)..... this was a learning expereince too so if it goes wrong they can think about why (it also links nicely to the eyfs - the teachers will know about that one, in terms of thinking skills and communicating thoughts)

sorry, thought i was at work for a minute

celjaci · « **Reply #5 on:** March 19, 2009, 06:49 »

As mentioned above one of the issues is getting stuff ready before the school holidays, so it can be Early Spuds, Lettuce, Broad Beans, Courgettes etc

You could also plan on stuff which will happily stand over the school holidays to be harvested at the start of next school year - Carrots, Beetroot, Red Cabbage etc

Jay Dubya · « **Reply #6 on:** March 19, 2009, 20:23 »

Hi, just a thought you know how big a courgette gets when you miss one, perhaps you could do it on purpose and the kids culd have a bigest courgette contest.

Keep on a troshing J W

nicchick · « **Reply #7 on:** March 19, 2009, 20:35 »

How about rainbow chard? I think potatoes would be good in a bag or pot, my neighbour has a little boy and he loved rumaging around for little spuds like treasure. He also liked growing chillis but they wouldn't eat them as they had grown them and they were their babies!
I've just remembered that my son had never seen asparagus growing and ate it raw at a local farm along with gooseberries which are still his favourite.
Funny - the time thing, they are young and want things fast. I'm old and have just planted some truffle trees which will take minimum 4-5 years to produce, if ever! As my mate said "that makes us friends forever!" yep! Nic.

andreadon · « **Reply #8 on:** March 20, 2009, 10:19 »

i just wonder if the school would let you do some kind of "summer holiday club" where the kids can come to check on their veg, say, once or twice a week throughout the summer holiday?
then you wouldn't have to worry so much about planting stuff that will be ready before the end of july....

flea · « **Reply #9 on:** March 20, 2009, 10:36 »

you tend to find once the school is locked up at the end of term, thats it until September. i too am having the same problem, with deciding what to grow at school, due to time constraints and holidays. Have decided to mainly go for things that dont need much attention on a day-to-day basis, or things that grow quickly.

so far, were growing lettuce, radish, carrots, tomatoes and french beans. would have grown potatoes, but due to only having one bed, that is 1m x 2m, i though they would take over a bit. same with courgettes, the plant would just be too big for the plot

also the main problem is growing enough of each item, so every child can eat some, and also each child will want to plant something too, so that again, is proving a headache. I think we are gonna have one big plot of lettuce, or hundreds of bean plants

Flea

andreadon · « **Reply #10 on:** March 20, 2009, 10:51 »

you need to get in well with the caretaker - when i was in infant school, our caretaker, mr kelly, would open up the gates for a couple of hours if we needed it.
or you could ask the head if you could have a key to the gate (not the school, just the gate) for the holidays for the purpose of tending the veg plot.
you'd have to make sure you took the tools home with you so you could get to them.

sounds pretty, though flea!

Roll Roll · « **Reply #11 on:** March 21, 2009, 09:46 »

:)Thanks for the advice all. I think I know where to start now.

What's best

Roll Roll

What's best

Jay Dubya

Re: What's best

Faz

Re: What's best

Stripey_cat

Re: What's best

titch

Re: What's best

celjaci

Re: What's best

Jay Dubya

Re: What's best

nicchick

Re: What's best

andreadon

Re: What's best

flea

Re: What's best

andreadon

Re: What's best

Roll Roll

Re: What's best