There wasn't an obvious place to situate a vegetable garden at Belleville School. Word had got out that I had built a vegetable garden at Honeywell Nursery while my son Lucas was a pupil there the previous year. John Grove, head teacher Belleville, asked me if it might be feasible to try something similar at his school, now that Lucas had a place in the Reception class. I was pretty keen to try, but after a look round decided that the only suitable 'green' area (the beds alongside Webbs Road) was hampered by the almost total absence of direct sunlight.
I reported back that the area most suitable was the main playground which had the drawback of being er, the main playground. There was also the possibility of siting a couple of large planters outside the Reception classes facing Belleville Road, enough to maybe grow some tomatoes and beans in. Having thought that would be the end of it, I was gobsmacked when caretaker Baki Gashi sidled up to me in the playground at drop-off one morning and said he had something to show me. A fence had been built around the 'quiet area' bordering the main playground, and Baki wondered if the enclosed area might be suitable for the vegetable garden. It seemed they don't hang about at Belleville! I said yes, especially if the tarmac could be dug up. This not being possible we went down the deep raised beds route. I thought that if we could built a separate bed for each year group it would encourge the children and teachers to get involved; so we ordered the seven raised bed kits from a company called 'link-a-bord, and the fun began!
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