Caring for your School Garden during the Holidays
- How to Care for your School Garden during the Holidays -
Through the holidays, you don't want all the hard work you put into your school garden to go to waste.
Though you may need a rest from school, the plants in your school garden don't take a break so it's vital to keep caring for your school garden over the holidays
Plant them up
Preparation is key!
Prepare before the holidays by planting out any young seedlings that are in small pots or cells because they won't need as much attention.
This is due to nutrients in the soil and the reduced likelihood of drying out.
Container plants can be moved into shadier spots
This will help stop them from drying out if exposed to full sun constantly.
Take your pick
Caring for your school garden can involve doing things in advance.
Harvest as much as possible just before the holiday starts.
The crops can be given to students or teachers. You can also store them to preserve them for a later date, if necessary.
This means nothing goes to waste.
It also means you make the most of your crops without leaving them to spoil.
Grown up
Sometimes caring for your school garden can simply mean helping plants to continue to do their thing.
Ensure tall and climbing plants like beans and peas have ample support to keep growing over the season.
Bamboo canes and obelisks should be checked as regularly as possible.
This is to ensure they are providing the right care.
Put on layers
It can be ideal to mulch the beds with straw, compost, or composted bark.
This will help to retain water and suppress weeds around summer plants.
Pop-in
Hopefully you will still have access to your garden to do any necessary tasks - there just may be less of you.
This means you can still harvest, prune and water plants to keep them growing their best.
However, if someone else is taking charge of the school garden over the holidays, it's ideal to make a list of instructions.
This way you can make sure the garden keeps ticking over, and things are taken care of.
Take Notes
Whilst all the pupils aren't there, you don't want them to miss out on any big garden news, impressive harvests or problems in the garden.
Therefore, it could be great to keep a gardening journal. This way you can take note of what in the garden over the holidays.
You can even take pictures to help you keep track of progress.
This will be an exciting thing for the children to return to, and a way to see the rewards of their hard-work
The start of the school holidays doesn't mean that all that hard-work in your garden has to be put on pause.
There are plenty of jobs to prepare the garden for the end of term, so get the kids involved and ensure you take notes and photos to show them the progress in your school garden.
Why not let us know what you think? Feel free to comment on your tips and tricks for maintaining a school garden throughout the year.