Room 5 Have Green Fingers

During Matariki, Room 5 began a small Inquiry about how plants grow. We learnt that Matariki is the perfect time to harvest winter crops and prepare the land for the spring. This lead to us wondering what makes a successful crop grow?

We asked ourselves some questions and did some research on how to grow successful crops. We discovered that plants need a lot of sunshine, water, and nutrient rich soil to help them grow. Anaiah learnt that only certain plants can grow at certain times of the year, so she researched appropriate vegetables that can grow during the winter. Ascari learnt that growing flowers nearby can attract bees which will help with pollination. Payton said her Aunty had some compost that she could bring along. Compost is full of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium (all the good nutrients needed for healthy plant growing) and Luca brought in some mulch to help keep the moisture in and stop weeds from growing. We also got to ask an expert (Mrs Cole) any burning questions about gardening.

Once we knew all we could about growing healthy vegetables, we got digging and planting. We chose to grow Bok Choy, Broccoli, Spinach and a few flowers. Adam says we also need to keep an eye out on sneaky pests that may come along and decide to munch on our veges.