Week 2

• Our planned shopping trip our local to Mitre 10 in Crofton Downs
• Preparing the soil and planting our seedlings

Our Mitre 10 Shopping Trip

We had been eagerly anticipating our shopping trip to Mitre 10.  We needed to purchase a few items to get us started.  What a wonderful surprise we got when just before we were about to leave, we opened the Starter Pack which had arrived from TUI and found a VERY generous voucher entitling us to all sorts of gardening essentials.

When we arrived at Mitre 10 - Crofton Downs we were very excited.  

With our background research, and the enthusiastic assistance we received from the Garden Centre Attendant, we were able to make some informed choices about what seedlings to plant now, what seeds to raise, and what we may need to give our gardens the best start.

For our initial plantings we decided to get:
Broccoli
Cabbages
Lettuces
Spinach
Garlic
Peas

We also purchases the following seeds to raise in seed raising mix:
Carrots
Radishes
Beans &
Seed Potatoes

Thanks TUI & Mitre 10...... you made our day!

Preparing the soil and planting our seedlings

Not afraid of bit of rain, we enthusiastically started to plan out our initial planting plan.
We spread and dug through the Tui Vegetable Mix and some Sheep Pellets.
We used our companion planting guide to determine what plants would grow best together and how much sunlight different areas got.  It was interesting finding out about how and why some plants grow better beside some more than others.
For our round of planting, we will be using companion planting as tools to support the plants in our gardens.
We made an obelisk out of some garden supports we found and generally got really dirty..... it was great!

            

Our 3 Raised Gardens

This is the garden we have decided to use as a potato plot! 

As our seed potatoes may take awhile to sprout, we will plant some radish seeds in the mean time as they are fast to grow. In October, behind so that they don't shade the potatoes, we will plant some corn.    Marigolds and Foxgloves are beneficial flowers to plant with potatoes too. 

One of our trays of seed potatoes.  Yummy Jersey Bennes! 

In the middle garden we have left a space at the back for our beans. 

We have planted:

• Cabbages
• Broccoli
• Lettuces
• Garlic

This garden had a large existing rosemary bush.  We planted the cabbages next to it because it deters cabbage moths.  When we sow our carrots in September, we will take cuttings to place around the crowns of carrots to deter carrot flies.

In the third garden, we decided to position the Obelisk here because it would be in the sunniest position for the peas

We have also planted:

• Lettuces
• Spinach &
• more cabbages

Our carrots will be sown next to the lettuces with radishes mixed amongst them - to spread them out.

Carrots grow well next to spinach and peas so we figure they should be pretty happy!

Strawberries will be planted in pots and recycled containers.

With the initial planting plan in, we can now focus on raising our own seeds for additional and ongoing planting.

We also have time to focus on areas such as how to make our gardens more sustainable and inviting for birds, and beneficial bugs.

These are some of the areas that we want to develop:

• Water Conservation
• Encouraging birds into the environment.... but not into our Strawberry Patch!
• Recycling, reusing, reducing
• Improving our composting systems
• Planting fruit trees around the school grounds

Week 3

Our planned visit to Home Harvest

We had arranged to visit a local business Home Harvest http://www.homeharvest.co.nz/ who specialise in Organic Gardening and creating sustainable environments.

This is a business operating from a residential home in Khandallah, and it was absolutely amazing.  

We all learnt so much from this visit and we all want chickens in our backyards!

Therese, talked to us about permaculture and creating environments where everything lives in harmony with each other.  

We gained a lot of new ideas and inspirations for our garden project

 A simple and effective way of collecting rain water!

The square foot gardening technique.
This is something we could look into more!

Therese shared with us her extensive planning for her garden.  She discussed permaculture (Planting by the moon), sun/shade, & companion planting.
We could create a diagram of our gardens

 We were shown the bee hives and the honey combs..... food for thought!

This is one of Therese's composting systems.

The worm farm.  There was shredded paper in it - this is something we could definitely do at school.

 What a great use of an old refrigerator basket

Therese had several chickens.  

They had been rescued from battery farms and were now thriving.

We were able to pick them up and feed them.

Their manure is put back onto the gardens and they lay beautiful organic eggs!

From this visit we have come away with lots of inspiration ideas to think about.  

We are going to organise for Therese to come and visit our school soon so she can see our gardens, composting, worm farm, and the other wonderful initiatives we have.