Holy Name Primary School Forster eNewsletter

Holy Name School Garden News

Hello everyone and welcome back to Term 2 and our wonderful Holy Name School (HNS).

The first days of Autumn in Term 2 at HNS's garden were met with great curiosity by the students as they searched to discover what had happened during the school holidays. With shrieks of delight, they discovered that many carrots, lettuces, rocket, parsley, rosemary, basil and onions had thrived and were now ready to be harvested, especially the first zucchinis. They enthusiastically picked a varied and bountiful harvest of fresh and chemical free produce.

Then, they proudly donated their harvest to the generous volunteers at the Catholic Care Community Kitchen, Parish Hall, Catholic Church, Forster.

As an era ends, we say “Goodbye and thank you, Pope Francis.”

Upon harvesting the carrots, the students observed that some carrots were stunted in growth. This caused much laughter as the oddly shaped carrots looked quite comical. It also sparked many questions and conversations as to why? With some research, we all discovered this happened because the soil was too hard for the carrots to grow properly, so with gloves on and trowels in hand, the students purposefully dug into the soil, loosening and aerating it. We're in the process of collecting sand from our school's sandpit to dig into the soil to improve the soil quality, with the hope of growing and harvesting better shaped carrots in the future.

The students were pleased to discover that the newspaper and mulch which they placed on the garden beds in term 1, had "done the trick" in suppressing weed growth. However, leaving a few garden beds without newspaper on them has proven to be educational in teaching the comparison, the names of garden weeds and the chore of weeding a garden.

HNS's gardeners had the pleasure of being introduced to a welcomed visitor to their garden, Mr Michael Gleeson. Mr Gleeson is an esteemed Class Teacher who previously worked at HNS, and everybody enjoyed him visiting us again. With his happy and engaging manner, he kindly demonstrated to students how to pinch out suckers on tomato plants to make their stems grow straight and tall, while also helping the plants to put all their energy into growing and ripening the fruit.

Thank you, Mr Gleeson.

With the creating of garden signs to identify plants in the garden, the children enjoyed locating the correct plant to match the sign. This activity resembled a treasure hunt!

The students have now also planted dwarf bean seeds and more carrot seeds, with the plan to separate and transplant new carrot seedlings so that we can stagger their growth, ensuring there is always a supply to harvest.

It was wonderful to watch a group of Year 4 boys enjoying the garden atmosphere by playing UNO cards in the garden. A great choice as a class reward.

Thank you to everyone who has brought coffee grinds and eggshells into the garden to be used to deter bugs and pests. Our garden needs a continued supply of these, so just place these together in a zip-lock bag and leave them at the school office. Your donation is very appreciated.

As a new era begins and we say, “Hello and welcome Pope Leo XIV”, it reminds us of the wisdom in The Book of Ecclesiastes 3:1 - " For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under Heaven.”