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You
don't need a garden to grow food!
The
Museum schools service recently formed a gardening club to allow children to
experiment with growing vegetables, salads and herbs in a variety of unusual
containers with not a garden in sight.
Inspired
by the initiative of many schools who have their own gardens we formed a
small Gardening Club with some local school children. One of our
projects is to trial growing vegetable plants in containers. We hope
those schools without gardens would then be encouraged to grow some food
to eat and enjoy. This project ties in with Science at Key stage 1,
2 and 3.
- Unit
1B Growing Plants (Year 1)
- Unit
3B Helping plants grow well ( Year 3 )
- Unit
9D Plants for food. ( year 9 )
We chose
-
lettuce, both modern and English Heritage varieties,
-
cabbage,
-
tomatoes ,
-
English Heritage varieties of potatoes,
- beans
( modern and English Heritage )
- peas,
- chard
,
-
spinach,
-
peppers
-
herbs .
Using
organic compost, we planted seeds and young plants in suitable recycled
containers, using everything from car tyres to dust bins and even an old
tin bath !
As part of
the Museum's Food Fair we put on a display of this planting. Many of
our visitors showed great interest and intend to try a similar method of
growing. Now the crops are being tended carefully, watered and fed
regularly and pests such as slugs and snails are being removed by hand.
We are also
comparing their progress to conventionally grown vegetables and of course
are looking ,with a certain amount of envy and admiration, at the period
gardens on site. Whilst enjoying the gardening element we are all looking
forward to eating the results of our hard work!
Background Information
The
award-winning Weald & Downland Open Air Museum has over 45 historic building
exhibits and is designated by the Government for the outstanding importance
of its collections. Exhibits include a medieval farmstead; a working
watermill producing wholemeal stoneground flour; exhibitions focusing on
traditional building techniques and agriculture; historic gardens, farm
livestock and a working Tudor kitchen. The schools service welcomes over
25,000 schoolchildren a year for workshops and teacher led visits covering
all aspects of the curriculum.
Note to Editors
For
more information about this project contact Jennie
Peel, Schools Services Manager on 01243 811028 or
education@wealddown.co.uk.
Reporters and photographers are welcome at the Museum.
For
further information call Rachel Neville on 01243 811459 or
schoolbookings@wealddown.co.uk.
Full
details about the services to schools offered by the Museum can be found
on the website
www.openairclassroom.org.ok.
Full details of the Museum and all
of its activities can be found at
www.wealddown.co.uk
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