DIG FOR SCHOOLS! (#NationalGardeningWeek)
This week is the National Gardening Week; “the country’s biggest annual celebration of gardening.” The Royal Horticultural Society is encouraging people across the UK, to get out in the garden, spend time with plants and nature and enjoy the increase in mental and physical well-being that gardening can bring.
At Andover Trees United, we are all about encouraging people, especially young people, to get out into nature and spend time with plants, so we thought we could take this opportunity to reach out to all the local gardeners and growers to see if you can help Andover school children to get digging in their school garden.
We work closely with 25 schools across the town and surrounding villages providing nature-based activities and educational experiences which encourage connectivity with the natural world. Each year we bring the school children up to Harmony Woods for tree planting season in the autumn however we also encourage schools to have their own tree nursery bed within the school grounds for teaching purposes and to connect the children with the wood in advance of them coming up to plant.
In addition to this, we also run an annual wildflower project called Wildflowers: Sow, Grow, Plant. which concludes each year with a community planting day up at the wildflower meadow at Harmony Woods.
And new for this year is the Raising An Organic Culture project which is a partnership between organic food producer, Mr Organic and organic farming co-operative Abel & Cole. The project has supplied organic tomato seeds and education packs to encourage children to get growing and learn about what ‘organic’ means beyond the food on their plate.
Many of the schools we work with are already well supported by their own communities with gardening clubs and activities however many are not and we are increasingly aware that more help is needed.
We are therefore looking to put together a gardening team, members of which would support one school, or a number of schools, for a couple of hours either regularly or occasionally. The minimum would be 3 times a year but there is scope to do this once or twice a month if you have more time to spare.
All work is done with and to support the teacher or teaching assistant and the pupils and students.
Tasks could include:
Digging over the nursery bed
Adding compost to condition the soil
Planting tree whips
Weeding
Identifying and labelling
Wildflower seed sowing, pricking out, potting up and planting
Tomato seed sowing, potting on, pruning and supporting
COVID guidelines will be adhered to at all times.
DBS checks
We currently have funding for DBS checking volunteers and will arrange this for you if you do not already hold a current certificate.
No experience?
If you are not an experienced gardener but are keen to learn and have time to spare, we can team you up with those who are.
To find out more or to offer your time, please email volunteers@andovertrees.org.uk.