It's the time of the school year again to roll up our sleeves as we prepare those beds and plots for our garden in school. Each class section needs to do its best to develop and produce a lush and thriving garden. and the grand prize this year is a 50-inch Smart TV for our classroom, a reward given to the best garden in school!
Students with the lead of their teacher-adviser are like busy bees hustling and bustling in their garden. In some sections, students are on a teamwork to help each other prepare their garden while in other sections it's their teacher who is really hands-on in the gardening! You may think they work this hard for the reward's sake but NO. At least for me, it's a big NO.
Sure, the reward is a huge motivation there but for me, gardening is more than just a competition, especially if it's at school. Gardening is my perfect academic break after a long day of teaching and learning. Aside from that, it's a good way of establishing cooperation and collaboration among students while cultivating their love of gardening and nature itself. Not to mention the fresh produce of our garden that we will be sharing very soon with each other by the time we harvest the fruits of our labor.
Our Garden Preparation: Starting with a clean slate and a hopeful heart.
My garden journey this year is a bit simple and aesthetic compared to the previous years. In previous years, I always incorporate my creative side into my gardening. I made decorative pots, I even painted them with bright colors and put artistic designs on them before transplanting my veggies to them. I also had a lot of trivia posted on my garden and more decorative stuff just to make my garden attractive. But this year, I prepared my garden straight away with no dramas.
First off, we started by pulling off these tall grasses which had grown so much during the rainy vacation. I only have a small space garden but these gardens have fed hundreds of tummies already since I started tending it.
I still have a few old veggies left in my garden but I told my students to pull off everything so we could start a new one except my lemon grass.
If before, I only used the terraces (my garden has four layers of terraces so I really need to utilize the space) to plant various vegetables and used plastic pots to maximize space, now we are cultivating the ground too, so we can use every inch of its space for our vegetables.
Over the years, I didn't use the ground, because it had been a playground so its soil was hardened by countless feet of children running and playing here, but this year I'm trying my luck to cultivate it hoping to see new life in this hardened earth.
We tilled the ground and added animal manure to it. Thank goodness my students were also very hands-on not hesitating to get dirt on their hands, maybe because I'm watching? Haha. We only used animal waste as our fertilizer. I'm determined not to use even a small amount of chemicals and commercialized fertilizers to make sure of a pure and healthy harvest.
For our fence, I'm sticking with my old fence, with no repair and no replacement. Before I always had a new fence with a new color each year, but this year I'm making everything simple and utilizing whatever is still useful. This is my resolution for 2025. We also built a trellis to utilize this corner of my garden behind the stage. I'm thinking of planting beans here, hopefully, it will thrive
It took us about three days for the soil preparation and another day for transplanting our seedlings. I had assigned my students already to what veggies they are to plant so when the garden is ready we will be transplanting the plants automatically.
So for now, I'm showing a little update on our little garden, from being empty to now with growing plants. I'll be sharing my next update soon about my veggie's growth and harvest.
Last competition I won 2nd place, but this year, I have zero expectations. Win or lose, the real reward is watching our garden flourish. For now, I'm just enjoying our garden and can't wait to share with you a hot soup from our garden's produce. Till then lovely gardeners! See you on my next #gardenjournal.💚
📚She is a public school Teacher on weekdays, a Jill of all trades on weekends, outdoorsy on holidays, a mother, and a blogger in between. 😉
🍃She's in love with nature and the simple life of the countryside. As a lifelong learner, as she is, she is attracted to learning opportunities and growth. ❤️Join her as she shares life's simple joy and its beauty through traveling, exploring nature, the wonders of creating things through some of her DIY, the good things about countryside life, a glimpse of being a Public School Teacher, and more!
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they look very compact in gardening
Hey, I love to see the teamwork the guys are doing. Even better when it comes to planting vegetables.
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teaching teenagers about the importance of plants and vegetables allows them to do fun outdoor activities, not only that, there is a lot of experience and knowledge that can be gained.