Edible Gardens in Schools: A Growing Guide for Teachers

1. NEWSLETTER
Summer Term 2007
E
Spring is here! What a fabulously warm RE S!
F D
E
beginning we have had. SE s to
ank in
n y th Seeds ave
Ma ers oh d
If you would like a workshop to help get your gardens ck on wh onate
Tu urt
yd his
shb kindl s to t ou
growing and flourishing this year, please do get in touch.
A y ed y
We can offer a day of garden tidying, seed sowing and ver me se hope sed
seedling planting, or a session on composting and even so ect. I nclo ste!
j e a
build your own compost bins. Costs are £150 for a whole pro d the your t
fin t to
ke
day and £75 for half a day. pac
HOT OFF THE PRESS!
Edible Gardens in Schools has at last published the
teaching resource - ‘Edible Gardens in Schools - A
Growing Guide for Teachers’. This timely new book
and CD are essential for anyone wanting to begin
vegetable gardening at school.
An excellent and comprehensive guide, it will help
teaching staff create and sustain edible gardens in the
school grounds and enable schools to use the gardens
as a valuable resource for teaching many aspects
of the curriculum. The book and CD contain clear
information about the practical aspects of gardening
in school, and include lesson plans, activities and
worksheets to support this work and broaden pupils’
knowledge.
Cont. on page 2....
Schools we have worked with:
Kingsbridge Community Primary Kingsbridge Community College St. Christopher’s, Staverton
St. John the Baptist Primary Diptford Primary Burlescombe Primary
Sandford Primary Ilsington Primary Ladysmith Middle, Exeter
Ugborough Primary Dartington Primary - Brimhay Nursery Highweek Primary
Landscove Primary Charleton Primay Yeo Valley Primary
Stoke Gabriel Primary Stokenham Primary Thurlestone Primary
Stoke Fleming Primary Harbertonford Primary St. Peter’s Primary

2. NEWS
...Cont. from page 1
The fifteen seasonal topics include Companion Planting, Seed
Saving, Nutrition and Local Food. Through games and activities
in the garden and classroom, pupils will learn how to compost
their food waste, the importance of reducing food miles, the role of
different minibeasts in the soil and much more.
The book:
• Clear and straightforward introductions to each of the 15
seasonal topics including Composting, Nutrition, Companion
Planting, Seed Saving and Local Food.
• Charts showing how the activities and worksheets on the CD link
to the national curriculum at Key Stage 2.
The CD:
• Over 70 pages of lesson plans, activities, games and follow-up
worksheets to help schools integrate vegetable gardening into the
curriculum.
The resource costs £16.95 and can be ordered from the publishers:
SOUTHGATE PUBLISHERS LTD.
The Square, Sandford, Crediton
Devon EX17 4LW
info@southgatepublishers.co.uk
01363 776888
Why not: Try planting some edible flowers
in your vegetable gardens; they not only
attract beneficial insects such as bees and
ladybirds but also made a pretty and tasty
addition to a salad. These two pictured
are nasturtiums and pot marigold. They
also help by attracting aphids away from
your veggies!

3. HALF TERM
Planting Potatoes Tips
Now is the time to be planting potatoes. If you haven’t been
able to buy them early and put them on the windowsill to
chit, don’t worry, you can still plant them - different people
say different things about chitting anyway. On the whole, it
will give you a bigger harvest, but the potatoes will still grow
if you plant them straight in.
Plant in individual holes about 15 cm deep, or dig a trench
and lay the potatoes in the bottom. Leave a space of about
30 cm between potatoes. As the plants grow, you will need
to ‘earth up’ which means pulling soil or mulch around the
top of the plants so that only 5cm or so of the plants are
showing. This way, the potatoes will have more space to
grow, they won’t go green in sunlight and it should keep in
the moisture. Do this when they are about 15cm high.
Perhaps try to grow some potatoes in a glass or see-
through plastic container. You can then watch the
development of the plant and see how the potatoes grow.
Sowing seeds
It is almost warm enough to be able to sow all seeds directly outside, but probably safer to sow
the more tender plants inside - for example courgettes, squash, corn and runner beans. If you
have young seedlings inside, start hardening them off by putting them outside for a few hours
each day. This way they will get used to the colder temperatures slowly.
Experiment: why not try hardening off some plants
slowly and put others directly outside without this
process? What difference does it make to their growth?
Write a description of what it might be like for a plant to
be nice and warm inside and then suddenly be planted
in the cold soil without any warning.

4. RECIPES
Purple sprouting broccoli is my favourite vegetable of this season - it keeps on producing lovely
tender shoots for weeks! Here are some recipes to give it a bit of variety:
Buttery lemon sauce
Steam the broccoli for a few minutes.
Melt some butter in a saucepan, squeeze in some
fresh lemon juice and mix well.
Dip the broccoli shoots in the sauce for a yummy
starter!
Stir Fry
Steam the broccoli for 5-10 minutes. Heat some
sesame oil in a frying pan and add the broccoli, spring
onions, pumpkin seeds, soya sauce/tamari and some
chilli if you like it spicy! Stir fry for a few minutes on a
high heat and serve straightaway.
With bacon and garlic
Steam the broccoli for about 5 minutes. Fry the chopped bacon in a pan until golden brown. Add
sliced garlic and fry for a further few minutes. Add the broccoli and braise with the bacon and garlic
for another few minutes and then serve and eat!
Edible Gardens in Schools is a project of Devon Development Education
Charity Number 1102233.
Many thanks to our current supporters:
Contact details:
Telephone: 01364 73058
Email: raych @onetel.com