Dean's garden blog...

Dean's message                               

Hi, Dean here, I am going to tell you a bit about my garden and what I have planted and harvested. I have 4 types of vegetables in my garden. Beans, carrots, spring onions and rocket and don’t ask me about my rocket but tell you later. 

I’m going to plant new plants, when my soil is ready, I’m going to plant cauliflower, lettuce, tomatoes and radishes. My garden used to be my family’s herb garden but I have turned it in to a vegetable garden. The best thing about my garden is that it gets full sunlight all day and it’s fun to garden in. Now for my rocket, also known as “my weeds”. I planted it a long ago, now it is HUGE so I cut some down and made rocket pesto and the rest I’m going to give to the soup kitchen. I am having so much fun gardening. I can’t wait to have a carrot from my garden.

 

What to do with rocket

Make a rocket pesto. Here is a recipe for rocket pesto pasta.

·         30g chopped walnuts

·         3 cloves garlic, minced

·         30g coarsely chopped rocket, stems included

·         handful coarsely chopped fresh basil

·         1/2 cup (125ml) olive oil

·         30g grated Parmesan cheese

·         salt to taste

·         1 pinch cayenne pepper

·         250g spaghetti

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Directions

Preparation:25min  ›  Ready in:25min 

1.      Combine the walnuts, garlic, rocket and basil in a food processor or blender. Process just until they are coarsely chopped. While the machine is running, add the olive oil in a thin stream. Transfer the pesto to a bowl. At this point the pesto can be frozen. Thaw before proceeding.

2.      Stir the Parmesan cheese, salt and cayenne into the pesto.

3.      Cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain the pasta, return it to the empty pot and toss it with the pesto, adding a tablespoon or two of water if necessary to distribute the pesto evenly.

4.      Transfer the pasta to a serving bowl or to individual plates, garnish with additional Parmesan cheese and serve.

My garden helpers...



Tips from Thomas...

• Keep pests away: Plant Marigolds, onions, garlic or parsley in your garden. It keeps pests away and is also good to eat :-)

• Make your own organic bug repellent:

marigold petals or leaves (4)
garlic (3 cloves)
water (2l)
milk (500 ml)
onions (1)
parsley leaves (5)

Chop up and crush all the ingredients together and add to the liquid (milk and water).
Pour into a spray bottle and spray over your plants to keep bugs away.

• How to make your own mulch:

Dirt
Hay
Sticks
Bark
Water

Layer the above starting with the dirt, then hay, sticks and bark.
Water the mixture and you will have a good mulch to grow your plants in.

Messages from Matt...

·         Cut the top off your carrots and put them in water, they will start growing.

·         Grow your peas in a tepee made out of sticks

·         Grow potatoes in tyres by putting soil into the tyre and as the potatoes grow bigger add another tyre on top and fill with soil.  

·         Cut tomatoes right at the bottom of the stem to make it grow taller and not wider.

·         Cut the roots off spring onions and radishes to make them grow again.

·         You can cut the runners off strawberries and re-plant them.

 

Matthew has been hard at work in his own garden and has a wide range of foods to show for his hard work, see pictures below:

 

 

Families for Food Security Competition.

Not only are we working hard at putting together a second and bigger garden at our school, Matthew Ellis, along with many other St Francis College families, is growing his own garden at home.

He has entered our "Families for Food Security" competition, where families need to develop and keep record of their own family gardens at home.

In October they will present the school with a portfolio of their garden, showing especially, how they USED their garden's produce on a day to day basis and also how they plan to continue to grow, expand and USE their garden and its produce in the future.

Below are some pictures of Matthew Ellis' thriving garden. Well done Matt!

Saskia Boonzaier gardening blog.

The Grade 5 & 6’s at the College have been working really hard to transform the barren piece of ground behind the staff room block. They have moved the rain tank with the help of some willing adults!

Pulled out old thistles and weeds.

Made the first raised beds out of old building leftovers – lots of sawing and hammering.

Then they added old pieces of cardboard and watered them.

Covered the cardboard with soil ready to plant seeds.

More pictures will follow soon as the beans, radishes and coriander that were planted start to sprout!

 

While the new garden was taking shape, the existing veggies still needed to be tended.

 

 

All of the plants harvested are donated to Aggie’s Soup Kitchen in Sea Vista.

Well done and keep up the good work.

Blog thanks to: Saskia Boonzaier

 

 

Our School Garden is well on its way...

St Francis College children working hard to get our school garden started.

Mielies!!!

Eating Mielies from our garden tonight!