Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 Eco blog

Year 3

In year 3 we went outside to explore the planters before deciding what we wanted to plant and to discuss the space we have. We worked together to research different vegetables and flowers. We would love to plant: strawberries, potatoes, tall sunflowers and find a special way to use lavender. We chose lavender as we are in charge of encouraging biodiversity and we learned this week that lavender is great for encouraging bees and butterflies into the environment. Hopefully we can find some useful or inventive ways to use the lavender as well!

Year 4

We have come together to decide on the different vegetables we would like to plant in our bed. This was challenging as we strongly needed to consider prowing times as well as seasons so we could successfully grow different things through the entire year. We have decided that we would love to plant cauliflower, potatoes and butternut squash. Cauliflower has a sowing time from spring to winter so now is the ideal time to plant it so it is ready come the summer months. It can take 20-26 weeks to grow. Potatoes, we will start in the polytunnel and then move to the bed in the springtime. Butternut Squash is a winter squash but it needs to be planted between May and June. We have begun to consider how our bed might have periods of rest and how we can ensure we can maximise our produce and bed throughout the year. We hope to share our knowledge of this with the eco team at the next meeting to help inspire the other classes to consider ways in which we can use our beds in the coming wintery months.

Year 5

In Year 5 we have considered all of the possible vegetables that they could plant around the school grounds. We also considered what season to plant each vegetable. After this, the class voted and decided they wanted to grow spinach, corn and pumpkins. We discussed growing times and that in fact we could reap our pumpkin harvest by this time next year and by then we would be in our last year of primary school! We wonder if we could encourage the rest of the classes to ensure we have a strong harvest so that we can support our community, helping us in becoming self-sustainable! We hope to share this vision at our next eco meeting.

Year 6

After a class discussion on the different seasons and studying different information books, we identified which vegetables thrive in what type of weather and temperature. Eventually, we decided on growing pumpkins, sweet peas and corn throughout this coming year.

First, we inspected the planter which we will be using , just to confirm that the ground is suitable for our chosen vegetables, which it was! We then designed how we thought the vegetables would look in the planter and if there was the room they needed in order to flourish… there was! Next we will be preparing the earth ready to grow… we are really excited!!