Science Unit: The Science of Food
Let’s get gardening!
A school garden is a project that needs to be run over at least a couple of months. Pupils could plant vegetables and eat them in a celebration meal at the end of the year or whenever the harvest is ready. Some local authorities in Northern Ireland run school gardening projects as part of Agenda 21 and Health Action Zones.
Information and advice about schools' gardening is available at the following links:
- RHS School Gardening [external Link: article]
- Garden Organic: School Organic Network [external link: article]
- Teachernet Growing schools initiative: [external link: article]
You can grow plants and donate them for sale at Oxfam garden centres. Oxfam also have a resource, Seeds of Learning, to support learning in this area which includes flower and herb seeds.
- Oxfam – Gardening for Africa [external link: article]
Consider what kind of soil is in your garden. This will affect your decision about what to grow. The following site will help you to analyse the soil in your plot.
- BBC Gardening: How to be a gardener: soil [article]
You may wish to explore organic gardening. No chemicals are used to kill weeds and pests. Flowers are used to attract insects which help plants grow healthily and avoid predators. [Organic food is further explored in the Local and Global Citizenship unit.] Decide what you would like to grow in the garden with the help of the following sites and clips.
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- BBC TANDY: Growing Your Own: Digging the Soil [Flash Audio]
- BBC TANDY: Growing Your Own: Planting potatoes [Flash Audio]
- BBC Learning Zone Clip 68 – How fruit grows [Flash Video]
- BBC Gardening: Organic Gardening [article]
- BBC Gardening: How to be a gardener [Real Media Video]
- BBC Gardening: Growing Fruit and Vegetables [article]
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