Children learn to grow their own

Salix Homes has been working with pupils at St Joseph’s School in Ordsall to maintain their own garden and vegetable patch in the school grounds.

Earlier this year we launched a Youth Squad at the school, whose aim it is to support the existing school gardening club while learning how to grow their own fruit and vegetables and think about ‘green’ issues in the local area.

The youngsters have been flexing their green fingers and growing a range of produce from potatoes, cucumbers, green beans, sprouts and lettuce.

And the entrepreneurial children have been keen to raise money from the fruits of their labour by selling their wares to their parents. After a successful crop, they decided to hold a table top sale to sell their vegetables and donate the £90 they raised to the Philippines Typhoon Appeal.

Mary Rolfe, our Community Involvement and New Initiatives Officer, said: The Youth Squad and gardening club has been a great success and it’s wonderful to see how enthusiastic the children are about the vegetable garden project.

Not only are they having a great time getting their hands dirty in the garden and vegetable patch, but they’re also learning about healthy eating and after they’ve grown their own vegetables they can’t wait to eat their greens.

Earlier this month Salix Homes’ contractor Emanuel Whittaker also lent a hand and overhauled the overgrown compost area to ensure the garden remains in full bloom.

John Gallagher, Contracts Director from Emanuel Whittaker, said: When we found out the school garden club needed a helping hand to renew the compost station we were happy to lend our support. We got our very own ‘Titchmarsh Team’ to work alongside the children to remove all the old debris and build a new compost area.

It’s wonderful to see the children growing their own vegetables and learning about where food comes from and we hope the new compost area will help them recognise the benefits of recycling and produce a bumper crop next year.

The pupils have even scooped a top accolade for their handiwork when the school was crowned Royal Horticultural Society North West Hub School of 2013-14.

Headteacher Margaret Ambrose added: It’s so important to teach children from an early age about the importance of healthy eating and this hands-on method is a great way to do that. Getting children growing their own fruit and vegetables not only teaches them where food comes from and the importance of eating healthily, but can also teach them enterprise skills and builds community spirit. I’d like to say a big
thank you to Salix Homes and Emanuel Whittaker for helping us with this project.