Maintaining the school garden is all about doing little jobs often! It’s not that hard if everyone pitches in.
THE WEEDING TEAM
The Weeding Team should weed once a week.
If weeds are allowed to get too big, they steal the nutrients from the other plants, bring bad bugs into the garden and smother everything. Plus, if they are allowed to flower and produce seeds, the weeds will keep coming back for years.
One year of seeds brings seven years of weeds!
The weeding job involves pulling out any weeds that shouldn’t be in the garden, roots and all. If the roots are left in the ground, they will just regrow. Put the weeds in the bin and not the compost. If they are put in the compost, their seeds may be spread throughout the garden later on. Find out more about weeds.
This job gives a great feeling of satisfaction when the Weeding Team stands back and sees just how good the garden is looking. The Weeding Team should wear gloves, hats and sunscreen and should have buckets and small garden hoes so that they can turn the top soil over after they have pulled the big weeds out, this will stop new seeds from germinating.
USEFUL CLASSROOM MATERIAL
Download these tags to use on the classroom garden roster.