Kids Gardening Workshop

The sun was shining for our inaugural kids gardening workshop on Monday 16th January - our aim was to inspire kids and their parents to get growing at home and so several eager and willing little gardeners turned up with their parents for an interactive session with our resident gardening expert, Nicki Murray-Orr.  The workshop kicked off with a session on identifying the various herbs, veggies and edible flowers in the kitchen gardens and then harvesting a bounty of fresh produce for the chefs to use that day. With carrot pulling being the firm favourite, the kids also harvested rhubarb, capsicums, tomatoes, beans, salad greens and edible flowers, all tasting the delicious fresh produce for themselves as they went along. Nicki got everyone to experience the compost heap first hand, looking at what we use and the "lasagne" effect required to make great compost whilst being able to answer parents questions about worm farming and how to create your own on smaller scale. Then onto an interactive session on seedling planting with each participant involved in planting their own sunflower seed and Nicki giving invaluable tips and techniques about planting and transplanting. Everyone got to keep their potted sunflower seed, together with a dwarf bean and calendular flower that we had lovingly grown in our glasshouse as something for our budding little gardeners to each take home to kick start their gardens . Parents gave us great feedback about the session being very informative and fun for adults and kids alike. The kids were amazing and it was inspiring to see how involved and interested they all were. They have promised to send photos of their seedlings in progress so watch this space!