[galen]

Gone and done it now, volunteered to help run the school gardening club (years 3 to 6) starting this September. 

I know a fair few members on this site (fisher, nellie.b, peapod, peanut, veggienut, sunshineband and daveyboy to name but a few) run school gardens / clubs and have spent a long time over the past week researching the numerous posts on the forums and the various links so I think I’ve the formulations of some initial plans.

My main question though is how you actually run them. There will be 2 of us running the club, I’m not a teacher (the same as my co organiser although they do actually work at the school) and so can only donate a few hours a week. Do you have formal clubs or do you just have a garden where pupils can come and help? Initially I was thinking of an afterschool / dinner time club but then thought we could get caught out by the weather. Is it realistic to just run a drop in club (I think we could cover 3 possibly 4 lunch times) or might that become a bit chaotic?

Also I have a couple of queries regarding crops – the school has a fairly large group of Nepalese children and was wondering if there is anything we could grow to interest them as well. I know they use lots of our staples and was thinking of growing Snake / Yardlong beans (longest bean competition?) but has anyone tried to grow Mooli (I know Mr Fothergill’s sell the seeds) and if so is it easy?

Having spoken to an ex army chef I’ve also been told they use quite a few chillies in their cooking but have a feeling there would be too many complications in trying to grow those! Shame really, you can get some very pretty chilli plants 

[stooby doo]

Hi galen,

I can't comment on the running of the club but I'm growing Mooli for the first time this year.

I bought Radish F1 Mino seeds from Suttons and they are doing extremely well at the moment.
I sowed them indoors in cardboard tubes initially similar to Parsnips and planted out later.

I sowed 8 seeds in a tube each and all 8 germinated within a a few days.
Within 7 days they were a few inches high, I couldn't believe how fast they took off.

Good luck with the club.

[galen]

Cheers stooby doo, sounds idea for kids then, a nice fast growing crop! 

[Goosegirl]

Never having been involved in anything like this, I would say "keep it simple" and get to know the people involved (adults and children) before you put too much work in yourself. A very good point about the weather - formulate both indoor and outdoor plans so the weather doesn't set you back. Lunchtimes won't give you all a lot of time - it's more of a time to eat and unwind, so perhaps an after-school session would suit better. Why not get your Nepalese children, plus the others, to make a short-list of plants they want to grow. You could then have a session with them to say - yes, that would work here, or no - it wouldn't because.... then they would learn how to grow veg more successfully in our climate, rather than just bung seeds in and nothing happens and then get fed up ( er-um - see other posts on here as to our own  current successes)! Easily-grown things, as Galen said, is radish; also cut-and-come-again lettuce, mung beans and cress on wet paper, dwarf French beans (remember those experiments at school, plumules etc?). Also, let them know that you always need to plan for the following year, so you can prepare other available areas for that with a veg plan - in a beautifully-coloured wall chart designed by all involved to stimulate their imaginations for next year. Give each one, or a group, a veg to research that they would like to grow and eat (3-6 year olds - get them to ask their parents or let them loose!!). Stimulate their imagination but temper it with commom-sense from you - good luck1

[Yorkie]

Just a slightly off-topic reply: will you need a CRB check?  If so, get it done sooner rather than later to avoid any potential backlogs at the CRB.

[galen]

Just a slightly off-topic reply: will you need a CRB check?  If so, get it done sooner rather than later to avoid any potential backlogs at the CRB.

Not sure but think I will, kind of thing (along with H&S issues etc) got to get sorted, one of the reasons I volunteered so far in advance!

[Mrs Bee]

When I did gardening club at school I did things which would come to fruition before the summer hols. We did radishes 'cos they were quick, spuds in sacks, runner beans started early and planted in pots in a sheltered place until the weather warmed up and early carrots and spring onions. The strawberries were good too as we ate the strawberries and then the children rooted the runners and took their own plant home.

You could also grow trailing tomatoes in pots so the children could take the pot home during the school hols.

We also took part in the Macmillan sponsered grow a daffoldil in the spring and the children collected donations for the charity. We did amazingly well for a school in a not so affluent area. Nearly £2,000. I was blown away by the support.

Also any veg started off in pots that are not hugely large and heavy can be taken home for the hols to be looked after. A bit like taking the schools hamster home for the holidays but not so traumatic if it dies  

[sunshineband]

Good fer you Galen 

Get that CRB check then get organised with the growing bit

1. Will the ground be suitable for children to work? If not, you could get it ready and cover it with weed suppressant membrane until you are ready to start.

2. If you are not starting until September you need to think what will crop quickly, or overwinter. Radishes, carrots, spinach, salad leaves and salad onions all grow quickly, and it will not be too late to put in cabbages as small plants to grow  for next spring, curly kale or cauliflowers too.

3. If there is a caretaker at your school, try to get him invloved if possible because he/she can water and pick produce during the holidays

4. Our garden runs on a sign up to drop in basis of no more then ten at a time if I am on my own at lunchtimes, coupled with the occasional half a class in lesson times and sometimes strange plants materialise and it turns out one of the teachers crept out with their class to add to the melee 

Best of luck 

[angelavdavis]

I got involved in setting up a gardening club for a local primary school ten years ago and really enjoyed it. When I handed it over to a teacher after three months I missed it terribly (had to go to work sadly!)

Pumpkins, strawberries, potatoes, herbs, sweetcorn (swift started early on a warm windowsill), salads, courgettes, carrots and peas are all good things to grow (either because they can be harvested during term time, eaten in situ or are fascinating to grow/harvest.

I would recommend you do a sunflower growing competition, the heads can then feed the birds in winter time and you can then include a "garden birds" lesson in the process when there is little happening otherwise in the allotment. The children can build a windowsill light reflector in their art lesson to grow seeds on the windowsill also now ready to start seeds off. It is also worth seeing if you can get funding for things like pocket compasses or magnifying glasses so you can do a lesson in early spring before planting starts where the children work out what way the plot faces and where the sun comes up and goes down and where best to plant things, etc. You can also talk about the bugs and worms in the soil and what they do, etc. Same for what type of soil - get them to analyse the soil type by pick up soil and squeezing it in the hand to see if it sticks together (for clay) or not. You can also create things like measurers made of old cut up plastic cartons that children can put down a planting hole to check they are planting seed at the right level. The measure can just be marked with the word of the item you are planting and the top of the soil level.

I know there is a grant sponsored by Southern Water for allotments and community gardening groups which is for up to £5k so, if you are in a SW area it might be worth a try. Usually it is managed by the local Community Foundation - worth checking with the local council to find out who yours is.

I would also contact the local garden centres to see if they are willing to donate.

We also have the Friary Gardeners here who are a local gardening trust which help teach people with learning disabilities life skills as well as gardening skills, they are always happy to grow plants for community and school projects if asked. If you have something similar, you could ask them to start plants off for you if you have limited resources initially.

I am always amazed what efforts local people will go to help a community project so it is worth getting the local paper on board and writing a little "help needed" article.

When you set this up, ask the school what their rules are about photos featuring pupils. See if they will organise for the parents of participating pupils to sign an agreement to use photos for press articles or grant applications so you can take photos to send to potential future funders. It really helps being able to feature real photos of your project when making applications.

Oh and there will always be children who aren't that keen on the nitty gritty, so just get some cheap colourful watering cans that they can fill from the water butt as I used to keep children occupied for hours watering anything green within the vicinity when they were bored with planting!

As you can tell, I am pretty keen on children learning about gardening because it encompasses so many subjects and if you can grow food, you will never go hungry!

[Salmo]

Not a school gardening club. My allotment has a day in the Autumn term when all the classes at the local primary school come for a visit. They identify crops, find a few bugs, cut or dig a selection of vegetables. These are taken back to school and served up for lunch next day.