Over the last few weeks we have been busy harvesting our beautiful spring crops and preparing them in many ways. The gardens were looking very beautiful for our Centenary and many people were amazed at the range of crops.Thank you to all the pupils and volunteers who work to keep this special part of our school growing so well. Many past pupils shared their memories of growing vegetables and flowers in garden patches in the area where our pool is now. Sweet peas, parsnips, carrots and radishes were favourite crops. Some had participated in this work this during the Second World War and others as part of their Manual Training until Remuera Intermediate opened. Only the Standard 5 and 6 ( year 7 and 8 ) boys got to garden and then they went to woodwork classes in Onehunga and later Newmarket. The girls did cooking and sewing classes and one lady remembered having to bring a shirt to school to practice ironing skills! In later years some teachers had little projects in patches until the Enviro Education Programme and Mrs Elmore started up a vegetable garden once again in the pool area.
Lots of different spring vegetables have been picked and eaten. We have been able to eat our first asparagus after waiting three years for the plants to mature. One spear can go a long way when sliced and add its unique flavour to a variety of dishes. As the children say so often " it tastes so different when we eat it straight from the garden". We are waiting for the broad bean harvest to take off and have already
picked plant tips to add to stir fries and have previously used them in
omelettes. Our sprouting broccoli and cauliflower have been producing
well and will keep going for longer than the usual types that make a
single head and then need to be pulled out.
Lots of edible flowers ( nasturiums, heartsease, borage, rocket, calendula,broad bean flowers,violets and rose petals) have been consumed in salads, spring rolls and as crystallised decorations. Herbs and a range of leaf vegetables like miners lettuce, mustard,sorrel, different lettuces, New Zealand spinach, various Asian greens, cabbages and of course silver beet have all been proudly presented to Mrs Crews in the kitchen. Carrots, radishes, turnips and parsnips are all growing well and often give us a laugh when pulled up to reveal surprisingly shaped roots. Also radish seed pods have become a popular nibbling treat and a spicy addition to salads and stir fries. We have left a few radishes to go to seed and they grow quite tall with pretty pink or white flowers that then turn into small pods that when eaten while still young and tender are crunchy with a mild radishy flavour.
We are starting the juggling act of what to plant that will survive the predicted long hot summer. Thank you to Terry Lord from Mt Carmel School who has once again given us beautiful tomato plants that he has propagated. I am aiming to plant pumpkins, cucumbers, courgettes, beans,sweet corn, and more root vegetables like kumara, potatoes, carrots etc. There has been a lot of mulching work in the junior orchard and in other garden areas. We will now work on spreading compost and worm castings from our bins on all the vegetable gardens and then topping that with pea straw etc to keep the soil moist and smother any weeds. The hens also look forward to compost spreading as many of their school friends share juicy worms etc with them.
These fabulous aprons that Karri made for the Garden to Table children have been very handy this week as the Year 5 children have been making pasta. Not only is she a great help volunteering in the kitchen with her son she is very clever on the sewing machine.
