The Garden School at Bloom 2012

GARDENING IS FOR EVERYONE, YOUNG AND OLD!
WE ARE EXCITED TO BE INVOLVED WITH THE KIDS ZONE AT BLOOM THIS YEAR.
EVERYONE WHO VISITS BLOOM CAN DROP INTO THE GARDEN SCHOOL AND LEARN HOW TO MAKE A POT FROM NEWSPAPER, FILL IT WITH PEAT FREE, ORGANIC COMPOST AND THEN SOW A NASTURTIUM SEED. THEN YOU CAN BRING YOUR POT AND SEED HOME AND WATCH IT GROW.

I am really excited about going to BLOOM this year, more than usual. We have been involved with Ireland’s premier horticulture and food show since it began. The Garden School has been present on the floral pavilion with a display each year, but this year we will be in the Budding Bloomers section, the Kids Zone.

A few years ago we did something similar to this year’s project, making newspaper pots and sowing nasturium seeds. Everyone who visits BLOOM can make a pot and bring it home filled with compost and complete with sown nasturium seed. And it’s FREE!!!

Bloom takes place in the Phoenix Park on Dublin and will feature 25 show gardens, a floral pavilion with lots of plants for sale, a food village and of course lots of things for kids to do too. This year there is free entry for children. Last year BLOOM attracted 90,000 visitors over the bank holiday weekend in June. This year the show will once again be held on the holiday weekend, from Thursday 31st May until Monday 4th June.

Everyone who makes a pot and sows a seed gets a certificate!

visit The Garden School Website

Visit Bloom family fun page

Sowing lettuce seed on my blog

Spring is here, it is time to get going with growing your own food. On my blog I have been writing about sowing lettuce seed. There is a video too!

http://www.ciaranburke.ie/Ciarans_Website_and_Garden_Blog/Blog/Entries/2011/2/18_Sowing_Lettuce_Seeds.html

Two late comers make our day

“Can we make a pot please”, two tired young faces looked up at me. A little boy with his younger sister were followed by a tired mum, apologising for her children. It was 6.15 pm, fifteen minutes past closing. We were busy tidying up and sweeping our stand after a hectic day showing people how to make paper pots and sow seeds.

Their mother explained that they had been looking for our stand all afternoon. Her children had seen us earlier, it was all they had talked about she said. Their young faces were fillled with hope, how could we refuse.

Hanna went to the storage area to bring the seed, I tipped out compost from the bin and got ready to show the children how to make their pots. They paid attention as I showed them, concentrated hard as they rolled and folded the paper and looked so proud of their completed pots.

“Have you sown a seed before” I asked. Shyly the boy said no, his little sister grinned and shook her head. Enthusiastically they grabbed compost in their hands filling their pots, covering themselves and the floor with compost too. They pushed the seeds into their pots and patted them in. Broad smiles and energy now filled their faces, their mum took pictures and laughed. “Can I being this home?” they boy asked, of course we replied. Their mum asked how much she had to pay, and looked shocked and ecstatic when we said that it was for free.

The mum and her two children thanked us and walked away bouncing with hapiness, the children turning to wave goodbye with their wrapped up pots of nasturtium seeds in their hands. I think that there were only two people happier than the three of them at Bloom at that moment, that was us. We smiled widely, our own tiredness forgotten as we finished tidying our stand. Two children had just sown their first seeds. A perfect end to another great day doing Project Nasturtium at Bloom.

In the pictures below: two past student volunteers on our stand demonstrating how to make pots. The vast majority of people who made pots today were adults, but Project Nasturtium is for everyone. Bottom pic: View of a busy Friday afternoon in the Floral Pavilion from the Penninsula Primulas stand.