We are parents and carers at Shawlands Primary, and since March 2021 we have been preparing and working on a school produce garden, growing fruit and vegetables as requested by the children themselves. Taking over an old bit of concrete in the corner of the dinner hall we built the garden around an ethos of reclaiming and recycling, using 9 old baths which were already in the garden, as well as using pallets and waste wood to make the planters. A farmer donated some tractor tyres for planters and the whole project was built on a shoe string! We grew potatoes, strawberries, courgette, peas, jerulsalem artichokes amongst herbs and plants. We try to make the project as child led as possible and have initiated workshops and activities with the children as well.
We have started using a water butt for watering and we are planning to compost all the waste from the garden initially.
Although as you can see in the video above, we have grown fantastic fruit and veg outdoors that enjoy the Scottish Climate, in fact the requests for plants from the children themselves included plants from around the world which need more heat than scotland can provide! Examples are date palms, bananas, pineapples and more! Our school is very diverse and the mission at the garden is to represent food and produce from all over the world.