(Vegetable Growing Club > Introduction)
Vegetable Blog
Yippee! Today we harvested our first vegetables! The tiny radish seeds that we planted a few weeks back have now fully grown and are ready for picking! After watering and weeding we pulled up just 2 radishes to take inside to taste. They have a lively flavour that some of us enjoyed and others did not (see pictures!) We are going to sell the rest of our radishes to parents for 5p each - this will help us to raise funds for next years seeds!
Well, despite the winds, the polytunnel is still standing! We were all a little worried when we heard the strong winds during the week! We must have done a really good job of putting it all together! The seedlings are all doing really well now (see the pictures in the photo gallery!) It won't be too long until the radishes are ready to eat! The tomatoes and peppers have all survived being planted out and are beginning to grow very tall!. We have also had to put another tyre on the potatoes already as they are growing so fast! Next week we are hoping to plant some sweetcorn and courgettes! Yum!
The seeds are definately starting to grow! A few carrot seedlings and plenty of radishes are now visible in the veg beds! We planted out the tomato and pepper plants today as well. They will really enjoy the warm conditions in the polytunnel! We have also put some seed potatoes into to old car tyres and covered them with soil. When the shoots come up we will put another tyre on top and cover it with soil again. This will encourage the potato plant to produce lots of lovely potatoes! There are strong winds forecast for next week - we're all hoping the polytunnel will not fly away!
Week 6 - By Luke and Mr. Frost
Today we put up our small polytunnel. This is where we will grow the fruit and vegetables that like to stay warm and sheltered from the weather. We had to get all of the pieces organised and then use lots of communication skills to put the frame together. It was raining very hard but we were all determined to finish the job! When the frame was ready we had to work as a team to put the cover over the top of it. We all needed to hold on just in case there was a gust of wind! We then moved some heavy pots of lavender and strawberry plants onto the corners to hold the whole thing down. All of that rain meant that we didn't need to water our vegetables!
With 2 out of the 3 beds ready we decided that today would be a good day to plant some seeds. Radishes and lettuces have gone into one of the beds and root vegetables (carrots, parsnips and beetroot) have filled half of the other bed. Courgettes and sweetcorn will be added to this bed during May. The final bed is reseverd for the brassicas (cabbages and brussel sprouts).
We have had good news and bad news with the seeds we planted in week 2. The tomatoes and peppers (that are growing in the stationary cupboard!) are huge and ready to be moved outside. However, the peas and cabbages outside are not very healthy. We think, even though they have had water, it might have been too hot for them in the courtyard. Oh well. It's all part of the learning process and we've lots more peas and cabbage seeds to plant!
In week 4 we had to put all the soil in the flower beds. It was really hard but it was good to work together. On Tuesday soft egg came out to our school and made our flower beds. We had lots of tools like: Spades, Buckets and a Wheelbarrow. On Friday more tools arrived at school that were for our use.
In week 3 we used a machine called a Rotivator. A Rotivator is a powerful machine that is heavy to use. When it was my go I found it quite hard to push it but Humphrey, the owner of the Rotivator, helped me because he was an expert at using the machine. Humphrey was very generous to come into school and help us, as it was in his own time. Click here to see the pictures!
We started planting today! We spoke about what we wanted to plant and decided as a group what we would grow. We had lots of the seeds that we needed already and we were all fascinated to see how small they are! It is hard to believe that they will grow into big plants. We then split into 2 groups - 1 group helped me to put together a mini greenhouse and the other group put the compost and seeds into the pots with Mrs. Greenwood. We labelled the pots, gave them some water and then put them in the greenhouse. We put the tomato and pepper seeds inside as it is a bit cold for them outside. Now we need to keep them watered and watch them grow! Click here or on the Our Vegetables tab to find out what we are growing!
This week we found out what was going to happen in this club. We were told that there was going to be lots to do! We thought about as many vegetables as we could - there are lots that we have never even tried before! We then thought about all of the problems that we might face over the next few months. Slugs, pigeons and August (when we aren't here!) are going to tough! However, we also thought about things that might help us and agreed that we should encourage insects, birds and slug-gobbling hedgehogs into our garden.
At the end of the session we went outside to see where the new patch is going to be. Hopefully the wood for the raised beds and the soil will be delivered early next week. There is going to be nearly 3 tonnes of soil to move! Feeling strong?
