by eal | Mar 22, 2019 | Garden Updates, Uncategorized
This week we mainly worked on our zen garden at the rooftop garden and were split into three separate groups. One group was responsible for gathering sand to put on top of the soil as a base to prepare to apply the special “zen” sand while another group were working on both watering and weeding the rooftop and the lower gardens as usual.
The main group worked on the zen garden by adding swirls and designs to the sand as well as creating patterns with rocks until we unfortunately discovered that the pandan plants that were planted last week had died due to the watering system malfunctioning so the decorative plants may be put on hold until we find a solution to the issue.
by Ethan
by chris | Mar 18, 2019 | Garden Updates, Uncategorized
The Monday team have been working at the rooftop garden for nearly a term! Despite only working once a week, we have actually made quite a lot of progress.
Of course, we did quite a lot of watering and weeding. We tended to these two things every session, and even got all the old beds with only weeds growing in them clean.
One of the very important things we did with these cleaned beds was preparing them for new plants. Working in teams, one weeding the beds and another transporting soil, compost, and mulch from the other side of the school using wheelbarrows and pots to be laid out in the beds, we made them looking good and ready for new plant life again.
beetle baby
pepper
Using the new beds, we experimented with planting eggplant and chilies. Unfortunately, after two and three weeks of allowing them to take root, we haven’t seen a bud sprouting, which meant that the seeds failed to grow. This might’ve been caused by overwatering after the planting – learning from the mistake we’re sure to never overwater again.
After the eggplant and chilies, we planted leek and bok choy in the new bed. Hopefully they will sprout and grow, and give us a bountiful harvest!
(Boyi Li)
by chris | Mar 18, 2019 | Garden Updates, Student Experiences, Uncategorized
A visit from our neighbours
A few weeks ago, two IB students from Dover Court, a school nearby, came to visit our service, Incredible Edible and took some samples to create their own garden at their school. They came to one of our Monday sessions, and we took them for a tour of all the produce we grow and explained to them a bit about our mission and how we started Incredible Edible at our school.
We first started by showing them what we grow at school, and what grows easily in Singapore, for example, we gave them some samples of dill, Moringa and okra to grow in their school, as these are all fast-growing foods that are easy to produce. We talked about the origins of the Incredible Edible Project and that it actually started in England, and a parent from our school brought the idea to UWC. The project aims to bring people together over local produce, and some groups who participate in Incredible Edible rely solely on the food they produce to eat. We then took them to the other main edible garden we have on campus, which is the one the Wednesday team usually work in. We gave them samples of basil, mint and some other herbs that are grown in the garden.
Before they left, we exchanged emails so that they could contact us with any concerns they might have in growing produce or building a community of gardeners. One question they asked was how we got people to join in with the gardening, and we told them how we run it as a service and that we work with middle schoolers and some primary school students as well. Overall I think it’s really good that we were able to spread the Incredible Edible project to another school in Singapore and I hope to spread the initiative to many other schools in Singapore so that we can all take part in Incredible Edible.
(Kyla McHugh)
by eal | Mar 17, 2019 | It's Edible!, Uncategorized
One of the groups made a delicious pesto made with some of the fresh ingredients grown in our gardens, such as, the laksa leaves and the chilli’s. They had some obstacles, but since they made two batches of pesto, they managed to correct their mistakes. The pesto was served pasta (prepared by Sodexo) and even some teachers and maintenance people tried it!
As we are planning to make a zen garden in the upper garden, one other group helped out with clearing out the upper garden, like weeding it and making the ground even, preparing it to be made into the garden.
And because we are making a zen garden, of course we need sand, so two girls helped bring up the sand. And more about the zen garden, others helped carefully dig out some of the Pandan plants (and possibly dill), and transport it to the upper garden for planting.
By Inaya
by eal | Mar 10, 2019 | It's Edible!, Uncategorized
This week we did a lot of different things. We first planned who was doing what, and split into groups. One group did some weeding as usual, in the lower garden. We cleared out the weeds in a couple of the beds that contained lime, mint, and dill. We also pulled out the Laksa, because it was not doing very well, and it could make more space for new plants.
One of our groups started to plan a new tool rack to access our tools more easily. It is going to go in the lower garden where the tools are currently, but it will help be more organised. They are planning to build it in the Ideas Hub later, when they have decided on everything.
We also are going to make a sort of zen garden, in the upper garden, along the walkway . Before planting and building it, we first needed to draw out exactly what and where everything is going to go. So far, we are going to put plants that look kind of spiky and nice. Since we are Incredible Edibles, we have limited plants because they all have to be edible, but we had some ideas of what to put in it, like lemongrass and pandan.
Another group continued the vertical garden from last week, but we found out that there is a piece missing, so we need to find it or get a new one to build the whole thing. Near the end of Service, we harvested some of the dill that was getting really tall in the lower garden and some of us brought some of it home. Next week we are planning to make a pesto pasta using Laksa leaves!
By Anila!
