SCHOOL GARDENS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 61, Issue 153, 10 April 1941, Page 6

SCHOOL GARDENS

WORK MADE INTERESTING.

AN EFFICIENT CLUB SCHEME. TOWN AND COUNTRY GROUPS. School gardens are made very interesting for present-day pupils and under the system of garden clubs which is operated through the Canterbury Education Board efficient and worthwhile work is carried out at the town and country schools. Conditions differ ■greatly in different localities, and perhaps hardly two schools operate on the same schedule, but the scheme has produced very good results. Full advantage of the group scheme is taken by the country schools and in several cases lately schools near Ashburton have been able to supply, for instance, a large number of trees for planting on farms as part of the centennial tree-planting campaign. The school gardens were used to a large extent in the raising of young trees, the work in the first place providing valuable lessons for the pupils and the trees later finding their way to farms to form

shelter and ornamental belts. Gardens were a Picture. General gardening work is carried out by the different classes and some of the country school gardens have been a picture this season, despite adverse conditions. Particular interest in this type of work has been taken by the Willowby School, where the lay-out and growth of flowers, A r cgetables and shrubs this summer was commended by passersby and many people who visited the school grounds.

Aiding the work in the gardens is the Education Board’s plan whereby schools are able to obtain quantities of seeds and shrubs from the Board’s own nursery, for it is recognised that the environment of the children in their schools has a great' and lasting benefit on the young people, most of whom take a 1 keen interest in the plots and trees that grow in the grounds. Experiments calculated to give the best results in actual work in the gardens is carried on in the classrooms from time to time and much more time is devoted to this department of the school work than was formerly the case. Judging of Groups. Groups of schools are set up and the judging of the gardens is carried out at regular intervals, local conditions and the size of the schools being taken into account, and in the country areas especially there is keen rivalry for the honours which go with gardens'. There is another section of the garden work which appeals to pupils and which has proved to he a. success. Under this system the children join a club and pay a small fee. They are supplied with plants or bulbs and are given instruction in the growing of these things. The results have been encouraging and in some cases special classes for the flowers grown by these pupils are included in the school flower show schedules.

Pupils of vStds. 4, 5 and G are taken into the group scheme clubs 1 , and seeds are supplied through the ’Education Board. A minimum of 12 members for each group is required. A committee governing each group’ decides on the crops to be grown. Flower plots must bo not less than GO square foot in area and vegetable plots not less than 120 square feet. Each member of the group is given four or five varieties of seeds and certificates are given to those who make a success of their plots, which are usually located at their homes. Record books are kept and in these ai’o set out the nature of the ground, the manuring that is done, the weather conditions throughout the growing period, a general plan of the plot, weeding, germination percentages and the crop lifted. In this work most of the children take a keen interest and it is held that the scheme performs all that was set out to lie gained when it was launched.