Sarratt School visit to the Community Garden
On Friday 2nd July, 62 children from reception, year 1 and year 2 came to visit the Community Garden with their fabulous teachers and teaching assistants. They followed a trail with questions round the garden, and were completely delightful in their enthusiasm and considerable knowledge – would you have guessed that these little people were able to talk confidently about life processes, photosynthesis, and germination?
The school has been studying ecology in various guises, and the children’s positivity around all insect life, especially the bees, was palpable. They were captivated by the inside view of the top bar beehive (the hive has a viewing window built into the side so you can see what’s going on without disturbing the bees), and were great at counting and identifying the different flying insects in the pollinator bed.
We talked about the importance of looking after the soil, and they were brave enough to put their hands right into the compost heap, which was almost too hot to touch from the heat of bacterial respiration. They brought along a few things to add to the heap, so they can know that when a plant grows well in the coming years, they will have contributed to that process!
One group were eyeing up the potato plants, so we pulled one up with slight trepidation, hoping there would be more than a few little marble sized spuds underneath – it was like discovering buried treasure – an abundance of golden potatoes, almost gleaming against the dark crumbly soil, and the group (teachers included) let out a collective gasp of amazement! All I had in my pocket was a poo bag, but it served an alternative purpose as a potato sack, and the group were able to take their golden bounty home with them.
They finished by planting up two beds of insect friendly flowers (cosmos, single dahlias, and verbena bonariensis helped by kind volunteers , Sarah, Annie, Kate, and Alan.
A good number got squashed in the minor chaos, but I think we should end up with something lovely in a couple of months , come back and see in September, Sarratt School!