March has been a strange month for all of us. It started very well. We got some early seed potatoes at the end of February and we began to chit them on the window sill upstairs. This encourages shoots to grow and speeds up the growing process. We received our seeds from GIY Ireland and were getting ready to work hard in the garden for the next week or two. However on Thursday March 12th we received the news that we were to close the school that day. Luckily the girls of 5th and 4th classes had brought in their gear to help dig up the beds in the garden. So we quickly set about digging the beds as fast as we could. We turned the soil and added some fertilizer to two beds. We planted 6 potatoes in one of the beds at the side of the path that is part of the school project with GIY Ireland. We then planted another twelve potatoes in one of our vegetable beds at the side of the school. Both beds were covered with fleece to protect the seeds and young seedlings from frost.
In order to keep the garden ticking along, Mrs Lynch and her able assistant Mark managed to plant peas and beans in the beds on March 19th and again cover them with fleece. More planting needs to be done- more peas,beans and some mange tout will be sown in the next week. We will try and keep growing despite the current crisis. If anyone needs advice on how to sow seeds in their own garden contact the school through the email address.
Just a quick update. we didn't manage to source more beans, peas or mangetout but we planted some strawberries in the two gutters that we had left over from last year. Hopefully when we get back to school there will be some juicy strawberries on the plants. Fingers crossed for a little bit of rain!!!
