A no-dig garden, layer upon layer

Last term we transformed our vegetable garden at Tawa Montessori into an insect garden with a bug hotel as our chickens were ransacking our garden. A new garden had to be build, out of reach of the chickens.

Making a no-dig garden is one of the easiest, and one of the most fun and satisfying things we have ever done. The no-dig garden took us one week to make, although it can be done by adults in only a couple of hours of work. At our preschool we wanted the children to be in control and have ownership of the garden, so we spread the work out over several days to keep it manageable for our three and four years old children. Adding the different layers over several days enabled the children to learn first hand about soil - the essence of a no dig garden is that you are basically making your own soil.

After the boxes were made, this is what we did, spread out over the days:

Day 1:
We started with adding the drainage layer. If your no dig garden is on a grass patch you don't need to worry about adding this layer, but since we are building a garden on concrete we decided it would be better to start with a layer of gravel to create a drainage level. On top of the gravel we layed a fiberglass mesh (insect screening), to keep the layers that will follow from washing out through the gravel. We had heaps of fun working together, scooping up the gravel, riding the wheelbarrows and tipping the load into the boxes. Great teamwork!



Day 2:
The following day we added the first "soil" layer. We used alfalfa (lucerne) hay which we sourced from a local horse feeding supplier. Hosing this layer down was another fun activity!



Day 3:
Now we were really getting into it. Every layer added, made our garden "grow", but this layer was a real test for some, as we were now adding the manure. At first the children looked a bit worried at the sound of scooping horse poohs? But with gloves on our hands, and with spades and rakes, it wasn't as bad as it sounds. This layer too got hosed down.



Day 4:
We had some straw that had been outside for several months and had started to decompose, making good stuff for in a garden. We spread this straw out and added some compost from our own compost heap. Again, another hosing to make it wet.



Day 5:
This was the ultimate fun. We added the long awaited bales of straw. There was straw in our hair, straw in our pants, straw in our shirts, and an irresistible straw fight. And then we got to jump on top of it in an effort to compact it down. What is more fun at preschool then jumping in a pile of straw?



Day 6:
We finished it of with another thin layer of compost, nicely raked and watered.



Day 7 and onwards:
Planting, watering, nurturing, weeding. We planted tomatoes, broccoli, beetroot and various companion plants.



Making a no-dig garden is easy and can be done nearly anywhere, as long as the place gets a minimum amount of around 6 hours sun. You don't need boxing, you can put your garden straight onto the ground, although this may cause some run off. If you build straight onto grass, you may want to put down a soaked layer of newspapers first to keep down the weeds. If you build on concrete you may want to add a layer of gravel for drainage first. After that you start with adding alternate layers of fine and course organic materials. We started with lucerne, then horse manure, then compost and mulch, then another layer of straw. We finished with a layer of compost. You can add more or less layers, as suits you. For planting we used seedlings. Watering is crucial as a no-dig garden needs plenty of water.

Our no-dig garden is keeping us busy. It will be interesting to see how everything grows.
- Anja


This post is part 6 of the series "Going Green"
- Going Green part 1 - Recycling
- Going Green part 2 - An enviro care code
- Going Green part 3 - An edible garden
- Going Green part 4 - Composting with young children
- Going Green part 5 - Our very own Bug Hilton

Our very own Bug Hilton

Our gardens play a major part at our preschools. Gardening is one way to develop a positive caring attitude towards nature. Our gardens help us to develop an awareness and understanding of our relationship to our environment.

Gardens are more then flowers and plants. Gardens provide habitat for a wide range of living creatures and many different species of insects. Insects are crucial to a healthy living garden. Bees and butterflies will help our flowers bloom and their presence in the garden adds other dimensions of sound, colour and movement. Many insects play an important role as pollinator or as pest control. By providing the correct habitats we can greatly increase the number of beneficial insects in our gardens and also provide a home to those that are in decline.

A "bug Hilton", or “insect hotel” is a structure made from re-cycled materials such as wood, old pallets, old terra cotta plant pots, dry leaves, bark, straw and hay. Each section of the hotel is filled with a different material that provides a habitat for a wide range of insects.

At Little Earth we have started planting natives. With these plants we hope to provide a food source of flowers and shrubs for our birds and insects. However, we are in need of more (beneficial) insects to help us with the establishment of our garden. Ladybirds, damselflies bees, and butterflies, to name a few, they all play an important role. Unfortunately, many of our insects are under threat from pesticides, spreading suburbia and agriculture. Providing a secure haven in our garden allows these crawlies an excuse to make our garden their permanent home. They seem to prefer individual tunnels to either lay eggs or hibernate in during the winter months.

Both at Tawa Montessori and at Little Earth we are helping our insect friends by making an insect hotel. We are using old wooden shelf units as the basis. A small rim around the top enables us to add some soil in which we have planted succulents, giving the hotels a ”living roof”. The remaining bottom shelves will serve as “floors”, to which we will add “rooms”.

At Little Earth we recently had a “Bring a Bug” night. Families were invited to bring their dinner of choice and a picnic rug to preschool, and share each others company. In addition, each family could bring a “room and guest” to check in at the hotel. Families could bring bamboo sticks, bricks with holes, ponga logs, wood slices, dry leaves, old terracotta pots, dead wood, straw and hay etc. Anything that creates lots of of crevices, nooks and crannies for the insects to climb into to keep warm in winter or to hibernate in. We already have several guests checked in to the rooms.

		The children check the hotel every day. We wonder what bugs will want to come and stay ...

- Anja

This post is part 5 of the series "Going Green"
- Going Green part 1 - Recycling
- Going Green part 2 - An enviro care code
- Going Green part 3 - An edible garden
- Going Green part 4 - Composting with young children

Composting with young children

During one of our regular walks through our garden at Tawa Montessori we notice that our vegetable garden is in desperate need for some tender love and care. Not only has it been an unusual wet winter, the chickens haven't made it any easier either. With winter growth at a minimum, the chickens will eagerly forage in our vegetable garden, pecking the tiniest sprout shooting up or demolishing a forgotten silver beet plant in no time. Twenty preschoolers patrolling the garden, chasing away any chook who dares to jump into our garden, doesn't seem to make any difference to the chickens. I guess they have gotten used to us.

We also notice that the compost looks at its best. Over the past few months the children have diligently added the required mixture of "brown" and "green" stuff, essential for a good working compost heap.

Brown (dead) stuff, high in carbon, has been added in the form of leaves, collected late autumn and straw from the animal enclosures, enriched with manure.

Green (life) stuff, high in nitrogen, has been added daily as the children empty the "compost bowl" onto the heap, which includes fruit and vegetable scraps. Occasional lawn clippings have been added. There has been enough rain to give the compost the required water and the children have regularly turned the compost, adding air (oxygen) to the heap. Making compost is a great activity to do with children. It isn't hard to do and it teaches the children a valuable life lesson about recycling. It also introduces them to science lessons about life cycles, and decomposing. Our compost looks and feels lovely, rich and mulch, and is ready to be used in our garden.

During one of those long awaited sunny, spring days, we pull up our sleeves, swap our shoes for gumboots, our woolly hat for a sunhat and disappear into the the garden. There is work to be done. The ready compost needs to be lifted out of the pile onto the garden, where it will be worked into the soil. A job, I estimate, that shall take longer no than an hour, especially with so many eager helpers.

But what I forget is that my helpers are enviro kids, children that have been raised in a garden where every creature is noticed and respected, and every moment of awe and wonder is shared. Of course I should know better. With every worm we spot we have to stop, admire the creature, and move it over to another part in the garden where it can do "its good work". Of course, I am proud about the children, as this is a disposition we nurture from the moment they enter our preschool, instilling a sense of awe and wonder for the miracles that take place in mother nature.

Now, don't forget, we are digging in a compost heap, and a good working compost heap has LOTS OF WORMS. So, as you can imagine, what would have been a one hour job, turns into a three day job as our compost heap teams with living things. But does it matter? Not the slightest bit. The teamwork and camaraderie while doing the labour of digging and raking, taking turns, helping each other, moving worms, marveling at other little creatures spotted in our tracks, all these moments and experiences in mother nature are priceless and time less. The children show obvious signs of satisfaction, fulfillment and pride.

And after three days of work we now have a lovely rich garden bed, ready for planting, wasn't it that we also have five eager chooks waiting in anticipation... Any suggestions?
- Anja


This post is part 4 of the series "Going Green"
- Going Green part 1 - Recycling
- Going Green part 2 - An enviro care code
- Going Green part 3 - An edible garden

Going Green part 3 - An edible garden

Gardening, cooking, serving and eating, composting— these are truly basic things, but the lessons they could teach are drowned out by the clamor of the media and the insidious temptations of consumerism. Kids today are bombarded with a pop culture which teaches redemption through buying things.
School gardens, on the other hand, turn pop culture upside–down. They teach redemption through a deep appreciation for the real, the authentic, and the lasting—for the things money can’t buy—the very things that matter most of all if we are going to lead sane, healthy, and sustainable lives. Kids who learn environmental and nutritional lessons through school gardening—and school cooking and eating— learn how to lead ethical lives.

—Alice Waters

As a silver award member of Enviroschools we are committed to creating a time and a space to nurture the inner spirit of our children and their natural love and respect for the earth. We introduce the children to the interconnectedness and interdependence of everything on the planet, developing tools for environmental responsibility, ecological understanding and recycling awareness. An edible school garden, where children develop an understanding of how to grow their own food is a great way of reconnecting children with the natural world, giving them an understanding of he process of growing fresh fruit and vegetables in a hands-on manner.

Most children enjoy being outdoors and love digging in the soil, getting dirty, creating things and watching plants grow. At our preschool children can water and weed the garden, plant and pot seedlings and compost, recycle and mulch. An edible garden is a garden that contains flowers, herbs, seeds, berries and plants that you can eat. Any preschool garden should have at least a few edible plants. Children love plants that grow quickly, plants like sunflowers, corn and strawberries and an edible garden provides many opportunities for the children to learn about nutrition and health. Children love to try foods they have grown themselves or foods they have been involved in with harvesting.

Most vegetables, flowers and fruits can be grown successfully in containers, hanging baskets, pots, or barrels. At our preschool we use a variety of open garden beds, raised garden beds, pots, old wine barrels and we even filled up some old car tires. Our edible garden is forever growing. Recently we were given some berry bushes as a farewell present from one of our preschoolers. We had a lovely afternoon preparing the soil, digging holes, planting the bushes and watering our new garden friends. Our edible garden now includes mandarins, lemons, apples, pears, blueberries, cranberries, strawberries, olives and many herbs and vegetables.

Our children learn many skills being outdoor at work in our garden. They are learning responsibility when they are caring and tending plants. They learn about science, botany, nutrition and health as they learn about sources of food. Creativity, discovery, reasoning and confidence are other dispositions nurtured in our garden. Giving children experiences in the garden makes learning more real, meaningful, enjoyable, and most important, memorable.
- Anja

- Going Green part 1 - Recycling
- Going Green part 2 - An enviro care code
- Going Green part 3 - An edible garden

Alice Waters, “A World of Possibilities,” in Margo Crabtree ed. The Edible Schoolyard, Berkeley, Learning in the Real World, Center for Ecoliteracy, 1999), p. 15. 71 Author’s Interview with Rochelle Davis, Illinois Healthy School Campaign, July 9, 2004.

Going Green part 2 - An enviro care code

Our Living World

- Care for the Environment, all Living Creatures, and Each Other -

Our preschool is a proud member of Enviroschools, a New Zealand initiative similar to the Ecoschools organisation. Being an Enviroschool is a commitment of our preschool to work towards becoming a sustainable community. In December, 2007, we were the first pre-school in the Wellington region to receive a silver award. The award recognises the achievements of our preschool in looking after the environment and incorporating environmental education into our learning programmes and running of the pre-school. To receive the award we had to meet several criteria related to organisational preschool management, operational practices, physical surroundings and a living curriculum.

One of our projects was the creation of an Enviro Care Code. An Enviro Care Code is a set of written guidelines aimed to keep our beautiful environment undisturbed as much as possible. The Enviro Care Code is an important aspect of our Enviro-Nature programme. It sets out the guidelines and principles that are important to our preschool.

The care code will only have value if it is meaningful to our preschoolers, our three and four year olds. Therefore it has to be a concrete meaningful code which our children will understand and embrace, rather then an abstract adult written code. For this we are using a care code board to display experiences through photos, text and artefacts. Everyday experiences are highlighted to make the concept of caring real for our preschoolers. The care code board acts as a visual reflection tool as the children see photos of themselves or drawings they have created.

When designing the care code, we started with a simple statement, based on the kaupapa (philosophies) of our Enviro-Nature programme and we presented this as a living document. Illustrated with photos, articles, children's comments, pictures and observations from the children, the code becomes more meaningful. The key, however, is how the children are exposed to it. They will only learn how to care if they experience caring.

Showing the children what caring means, role modeling and supporting them in their efforts, is a much more meaningful experience than just written words. We focus on observation, patience and respect for all living creatures, in and outside the classroom. When the children see a creature they think is interesting, rather then putting it in a jar, they call out to their friends and teachers. We immediately drop our work and gather around quietly, to listen with our ears and observe with our eyes. This not only teaches our preschoolers to respect nature, but it also introduces them to the virtues of stillness, wonder and calmness. A photo, or a verbal recollection from the children written out and displayed on our care code board, assists in recalling the experience later, and allows the children to share their experience with their parents and peers.

"We leave the web. We do not break it. The spider has to catch the fly and eat it." (M, 3 yrs old)

"We water the garden. The plants need the water for drinking." (E, 4 yrs old)

Our care code is ongoing, As the board gets full, items come off and go into a folder to be kept as a reminder. Our blog also has become a valuable reflection tool as parents read our blog, and acknowledge and share in the children's experiences. It also opens up discussions between parent and child. The Enviro Care Code is now a part of our admission terms and conditions agreement which parents sign when enrolling their child at our preschool.

Maybe you and your child can create an Enviro Care Code for your home? Share it in the comments section, we would love to read yours.
- Anja

- Going Green part 1 - Recycling
- Going Green part 2 - An enviro care code
- Going Green part 3 - An edible garden

Going Green part 1 - Recycling

As a member of Enviroschools, the New Zealand counterpart of Eco Schools, our preschool is committed to work towards becoming a sustainable community. Being an Enviroschool means we are committed to creating a sustainable physical environment that fosters greater understanding of the interrelatedness between all living things and a concern for the particular place we live in. It promotes and acknowledges our preschool's long-term action for the environment. We start environmental education at a young age with hands-0n experiences.

As an Enviroschool we raise our childrens' awareness of environmental issues through talking, sharing and doing. Young children learn what they are taught and it is important to teach them basic skills that will influence and shape habits. Habits, such as recycling, are then reinforced over their entire lives.

To recycle means to collect and remake an item into the same thing or into something else. The recycle symbol means that something can be recycled or that it has been made from recycled material. In order for something to be recycled, however, it needs to be saved and taken to a place called "recycling centre".



At our preschool, we collect our recyclable items in separate bins. Once they are full, the children put everything in bags, which can be tricky when your are only three years old! The bags are then put back in the recycling bin and taken to the kerbside, to be collected by the recyclers. The "trip" to the roadside letterbox, to put the recycle bin at the kerbside for collection, is a major highlight, as the children feel very responsible carrying out the lot.

Waste reduction and recycling is part of being a green school and our children are totally involved, as it is integrated into our curriculum and part of our whole school environment. Not only does recycling teach our children eco literacy, environmental awareness and social responsibility, it also teaches skills in classification, matching, sorting, sequencing and critical thinking.

Teaching young children about recycling doesn't have to be elaborate or complicated. Keeping it simple is key to making it successful. Young children easily learn to distinguish between glass, plastic and paper, the three main properties we separate from our garbage to be collected by the recycling people.

A good children's book to share with your child about recycling is "George Saves the World by Lunchtime" by Jo Readman and Ley Honor Roberts.

It is a story about a boy who is determined to save the world, but is not quite sure how. A trip to the recycling bank, charity shop and local farmers’ market show how recycling and re-using materials, and using less petrol and local produce can really help save the world.

At home you can take recycling a step further by talking to your child about waste reduction. You can teach your child about the use of trees to make paper products and looking at all the packaging in the supermarket when you are grocery shopping together. You may even want to start your own vegetable garden, pointing out to your child how you are saving trees by not having to buy the packaged products in the supermarket.

Children love to be involved and to be active and the feeling of helping out nurtures their self esteem and worthiness. Recycling is one action that teaches young children responsibility and respect for planet Earth. But remember, you are your child's greatest role-model!
- Anja

- Going Green part 1 - Recycling
- Going Green part 2 - An enviro care code
- Going Green part 3 - An edible garden