Green shoots: Schoolchildren dig deep to grow veggies at home
Children at St Patrick's Boys and Girls Primary School, Galway, sitting on the benches they bought with their 2020 Big Grow prize fund.
The children at St Patrick’s Boys and Girls Primary School in Galway’s city centre had just finished planting vegetable seeds when school closures were announced last March.
The 33 first and second class pupils were disappointed but immediately suggested bringing their planted seeds home, recalls teacher Jarlath Conboy, whose class went on to win the Innocent & GIY 2020 Big Grow.
“They were still keen on pursuing the growth,” says Conboy, explaining that the project had begun in mid-winter when the class went on a beach clean-up and collected seaweed that would work as fertiliser. “They’d also collected fallen leaves, which they put with the soil in their containers.”
Though many children didn’t have gardens at home, they were undeterred. Nurturing their spinach, pea and lettuce plants along, they turned balconies, windowsills and small patios into miniature gardens. In this, they were inspired by their school garden, which Conboy began when he started teaching at the school three years ago.
“There was an unused concrete patch at the back of the school. We discovered container gardening. We drilled recycled wooden pallets into the wall. We recycled plastic bottles to make mini-greenhouses. We created a vertical garden. What was once a concrete patch became a colourful urban jungle – it suddenly had so much life and was thriving with plants.”
On Google Classroom during lockdown one, Conboy encouraged his pupils to upload photos of their growing progress. “They could see how each other’s plants were getting on. Around April, they transplanted the small plants into bigger containers outside.
When schools re-opened in September, many of Mr Conboy’s class arrived with tomato plants, showing just how passionate they’d got about vegetable-growing. Now in its tenth year, this was exactly the aim of the Big Grow when it first launched – to get children in classrooms countrywide excited about growing vegetables.
The 2020 Big Grow prize was €1,000, which St Patrick’s used to buy three garden benches/picnic tables. “We now have a timetable for the garden. Every class gets a chance to go out there – to do music or reading lessons. It’s something to look forward to when spring comes and we can return to school.”
Meanwhile, the children’s vegetables were donated to Galway & Claddagh Swan Rescue. “It’s nice for
them to see the interconnectedness of things – what they grew donated back to wildlife.”
Schools can now apply for free food-growing kit (exa.mn/BigGrow): five packs of different seeds, compost, growing cups, instructions and fun lesson plans. Kits will be sent once schools resume – in time to start the growing season.
By sharing growing experiences online, participating schools have a chance of being crowned Big Grow Champs 2021 – and winning a school garden revamp.
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