PLANTING OUT AT THE END OF MARCH

Belleville volunteers helping with the planting



Lollo Rosso Lettuce, Sage on the right



Brussel Sprouts, planted in time for an Xmas harvest

Fleece to protect against any surprise frosts

Netting to keep the pigeons off the chard



Two rows of parsnips in the foreground

Strawberries in the Year One bed

WINTER TIDY UP

BEFORE AND AFTER A GOOD OLD TIDY UP AT BELLEVILLE VEG GARDEN

Today at Belleville we held a Gardening Sunday. We dug, raked, weeded, sieved and swept to the point of exhaustion. Well, until the place looked all tidy at any rate.

Many thanks to the volunteers who showed up and ensured that we could get all of the tasks finished in the time available.
We put leaves and some of the plant debris in the composter, and filled up about eight sacks with random rubbish, broken plant pots and other gardening detritus.
The strawberry plants we left as they'll die back but regrow next spring. The swiss chard in the Year Four bed is still going strong so that was left alone.

The raised beds are just awaiting a topping of compost, as over the years the soil has settled about six inches. Compost would also add nutrients to the soil as nearly five years of crop growing will have taken their toll.

We're now looking for volunteers from each year group to look after the beds.
Volunteers will be able to grow whichever vegetables they like and we hope to hold further 'Gardening Sundays' to help with this process. 

  
Once planted the veg plants can be looked after at drop off and/or pick up quite easily. Watering and weeding is all that's really required until they're ready to harvest.
Contact Jim Dutton through the school if interested, or leave a comment below.
Thanks!

MID JUNE UPDATE

A happy band of gardeners (and harvesters) on a rare sunny day!

Well the scheme to dedicate each raised bed to a single Year Group has started working pretty well with the help and involvement of our dedicated teams of gardeners! Here are some photos to show you how each Year Group is getting on....not that there's any pressure or anything!

Considering how terrible the weather has been it's all looking great!

Year 1 - a wide variety of crops!

Year 2 - awesome use of the available space

Year 2 broad beans doing very well!

Year 3 - again, very productive

Year 3 lettuces have been a big hit - & no slugs!

Year 4 the wild rocket has gone a bit wild.

Year 5 - post harvesting of the leeks

Year 5 - Roma tomato plant placed between the courgettes

Year 6 - also post harvesting of the leeks

Year 6 - 'Sweet Million' cherry tomato plant between the courgettes

Year 6 - runner beans (and French beans?)

One failure has been this rotating compost bin. It's an excellent machine and would be ideal for a small garden where it could be looked after and rotated properly. If anyone wants it they could have it for a donation to the PTA. It needs to have brown  matter (cardboard, paper etc) added along with the garden waste, and it need spinning every day. As it has been neglected it's just made a bit of a smelly mess. More details about the composter can be read here.

Raised Beds For Each Year Group

From next week, and in readiness for the forthcoming revamped Peaceful Area, each raised bed in the Belleville Vegetable Garden will be allocated to a Year Group.

We're aim to get a team from each year that will include teachers, students and parents, and they will look after their own raised bed from now on, although I'll happily help and keep an eye on things.





[Left] YEAR ONE

Yellow bell peppers and sunflowers

This bed is the closest one to the artroom. Most of the beds already have things growing in them as shown in the photos, but some of these are ready to crop and will need replacing with new seedlings.





 [Left] YEAR TWO

Aubergine, chilli, parsley

In reserve we already have some seedlings: Curly kale, carrots and leeks, and most of these are almost ready for planting.

[Left] YEAR THREE

Swiss chard ('Bright Lights'), parsley and coriander.

All students will be encouraged to take care of their year groups's raised bed, whether they're on a gardening team or not.


Nicola Hedley has a fund donated by Waitrose (which can hopefully be topped up by the PTA if requested) for buying further seedings and tools if required.

[Left] YEAR FOUR

Self seeded cougette plant (touch and go - we need a little more warm weather!), chilli, yellow bell peppers, rocket and dwarf runner beans

[Left] YEAR FIVE

Aubergine, tomato, chilli, strawberries and three pots of baby leeks. These need to be about the thickness of a pencil before transplanting into the ground

[Left] YEAR SIX

Ready for action!

School Food Matters

School Food Matters teamed up with Waitrose to encourage local schools to grow their own veg. They supplied Belleville with plug plants for growing on in the raised beds, and even supplied the paper bags for selling the produce in. Miss Hedley took five of her class to Waitrose today to sell the produce which sold out in just over an hour. She also asked the children to decorate the paper bags and make posters which added a splash of colour to the display!













We even had a visit from BBC London News who were covering the initiative.

RUNNER BEANS - A FRENCH MUMMY'S GUIDE

Speaking to a charming group of French mums at the school gates I realised not everyone knows the traditional way to prepare and cook that old English classic, the Runner Bean.





























There you go - easy!
Steam for 5-6 minutes, max.
Bean strippers will be available at La Cuisiniere I expect.

Garlic Garlic Garlic Garlic!

This year's garlic crop was easily the best yet. We sold all of the crop (about fifty bulbs) at the summer fair.