sprinkling of compost. Woodchip paths were laid on top and everything trodden down and raked, ready for the children to plant up when we started our first gardening club in April 2021.
The only limitation we have at the plot is the lack of water. There is no water supply, so my husband copied a nifty design one of the neighbouring plots had created and built us a wooden frame with a slanting roof and guttering to collect rainwater into the two 1000litre IBC containers. It works very well, looks great and is super fun for the children to use, pulling the lever and filling their watering cans. In the summer when there’s less rain, the lovely residents opposite let us connect our hose and use their water supply.
Magic and awe Living in Somerset, there are some wonderful gardens and festivals to take inspiration from. Previously I worked for Charles Dowding and I will never forget the first time I walked around his beautiful garden at Homeacres. It was like something out of a Roald Dahl book. Cabbages more like baby elephants. Vegetables seemed to have personalities. Brussels sprouts were dancing and the kale waving! I then saw a kohlrabi for the first time. It looked like something from out of space and from that moment, I was hooked on growing veg. It was this feeling of magic and awe that I wanted to recreate for the children at Skool Beanz.
Skool Beanz is divided into areas including fruit and veg beds, a 7-metre dahlia bed, the water-collecting station, ‘Muddy Buddy’ compost heap, quiet wildlife garden with tiny pond and dead hedge, secret den, polytunnel used to grow seedlings and as a classroom when it rains, colourful raised beds and worktables to do art. All the beds are small, child friendly sizes. This makes it easy for them to plant and harvest quickly.
At the start of every club, we have a little meeting and go through the Ground Rulz. These rules were created by the children which usually means they stick to them. Though one rule in particular, ‘Always ask before picking or eating a plant’, goes down in Skool Beanz legend after a boy ate a whole chilli as a dare without asking and had to go home. We don’t grow chillies at Skool Beanz anymore! Before each club I walk around the garden and
The Skool Beanz allotment in August. Planting bright pollinator friendly flowers and vegetables with textures, tastes and smells and painting all the colours of the rainbow is the perfect way to ignite a love of gardening in children.
then write a list on the Jobz Board. The garden always tells me what needs doing, then I tweak the job to make it child friendly and fun. Sweet peas were abundant in summer, and the children could happily be left to cut bunches by themselves with kid’s scissors. Slugs were a nightmare this year, so we did a slug hunt. Wearing gloves and holding a bucket, the children collected as many slugs and snails as they could in 10 minutes against the clock. The child with the most won a prize, such as a wooden spoon plant label decorated as a carrot. When we played this at an after-school club, the children refused to stop and played for a whole hour! *Disclaimer… the slugs and snails go on holiday and get released in a nearby field.
The children help with all aspects of the garden. They sow seeds, compost and prepare beds, plant, nurture and water, and then harvest and eat. By the end of summer, they were devouring
Victoria plums, tomatoes, cucumbers cut into big chunks and shared, sweetcorn delicious raw, raspberries and blackberries. If there is a glut, the produce gets put on our plant stand to share and take home when parents collect them. After this, any spare fruit and veg is left for villagers to help themselves and we have an honesty tin.
Children are never forced to do jobs they don’t want to do and if they would rather sit and do art, there is always an art activity on the board for them to choose, like making a fabric flower or an air-dry clay snail cane topper, decorating a wooden sign or jam jar lid for our hanging mobile ‘Jamdeliers’. Sitting at the table in the centre of the garden, surrounded by stunning veg plants and flowers, with insects buzzing around whilst doing some art, chatting to friends and watching other children garden, is working its magic on them.
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