Children at Holmsdale love helping to plant, care for and harvest flowers and vegetables. The photo shows potatoes being harvested. This is a focus area for development at the moment; we have just installed a new greenhouse and raised beds and are working towards the final level of the RHS School Gardening Awards.

The children enjoy harvesting the fruit trees, including apples, plums and peaches. They learn a lot from watching the changes through the seasons, discussing these changes with staff, and finding out what plants need to grow well, comparing this to how we care for our pets and ourselves.

Wherever possible we use the flowers, fruit, vegetables and herbs we grow. For example, our cook uses apples we collect to make apple crumble, cooks the beans as a vegetable side dish and includes the courgettes in lots of dishes, from curry, to Moroccan chicken with cous cous, and even in courgette and lemon cake! In 2020/2021 we have harvested tomatoes, kohlrabi, spring onions, courgettes, peas, chard, lettuce, rhubarb and pumpkins plus lots more!

Collecting apples in the orchard and using them for large scale art, in the photos above, was great fun!

Children plant a range of flowers and vegetables through the year. Some are kept at nursery and grown. Others, like sunflowers, beans and daffodils, are sent home.

 

There is plenty of watering to keep the children busy! We recycle the water from our water play trays to give to the plants. The photos show children watering the living willow structures, the flowers in the story garden and the herbs in the pre-school garden.

 

To find out more  about the nursery please click on the headings on the left of this page.

To contact us please call 01530 262434, email on jenny@holmsdalemanor.co.uk or click here for more details