Addington Green Thumbs Team

School Gardens Update Summer is here and Te Kura Taumatua children are enjoying the raspberries in our orchard.  It also looks very picturesque with  blue phacelia and orange California poppies growing in between the trees.   Unfortunately, this term we lost some of the orchard to the new pipeline installation, but the rest of the fruit trees are coming on and I can see other fruits -  apricots, apples and pears growing. If you have a small amount of free time over summer to come in and water the orchard please let me know as it will save me a trip or two. During the year Green Thumbs received some native plants from 'Trees for Canterbury'. These were planted in our native area, on the east side of the school, mostly around the Matariki stars. Jan Blackburn and the Green Thumbs planted the lancewood trees 2 years ago – laying them out in the same position as the Matariki  (Pleiades)  cluster of stars. A little team of helpers from our recent Golden Time planted and stak

A big THANK YOU especially to Caleb and Cat for showing us around their property and teaching us how to grow microgreens and plant natives. Thank you Ruth, Jo, Daniel, Whaea Jenny and Whaea Lyn for helping us get there and organising the day for us. Without you all, we would not have had this wonderful opportunity for new learning and a fantastic fun day.... from the Green Thumbs Team at Addington Primary School. Thank you for taking your time to show us what it is like in Little River - James Thank you for showing all of us around - Alex I wish I was there! Vicky I would love to name your lamb "Nibbles" - Courtney Thank you for letting us go to Little River and taste the microgreens. Thank you for letting us make huts and pat the lamb. I loved playing by the river and having fun! Alysia Could you build the tree hut bigger for next time? I would love to help renovate it! James I really enjoyed patting the lamb and going up the hill to make the huts in the

Microgreens  are tiny vegetable or herb  greens  grown for their visual appearance and complex flavours and textures. They are larger than sprouts but smaller than baby salad  greens. They consist of  a central stem, seed leaves and the first young two true leaves.  Unlike sprouts, microgreens are grown in the light and in soil and the root is not harvested. When they are ready the stem is cut leaving the root behind. Because they are grown in the light, both the flavour and the nutritional content is greater than sprouts. M icrogreens are very healthy, with an average five times the level of vitamins and carotenoids than the mature plant. I never knew something so small could have so much taste. It was interesting learning about microgreens. Lettuce visit again! Daniel Thank you for lending us your time to go to Little River. I'm thanking you for letting us make huts, taste the microgreens, and patting the lamb. Another highlight was putting the shades on the plants! - Hann

Our main purpose for our Little River trip and visit was to learn how to plant natives. Caleb showed us how deep to dig the holes. How to remove the plant from its pot and loosen up any root bound roots. Then once we had planted our plant, we had to place a piece of carpet at the plant's base. The carpet square had 3 cuts to allow us to put it around the plant and to allow us to push 3 cane stakes into the ground. The last step was to put a plastic cover over the top to protect the plant from the wind, cold and to create a mini 'hot' house environment. Thank you for letting us plant some trees because I learnt about plastic shields! Callum Thank you for letting us be Change Makers - Hayley I learnt how to dig - Eliahim This was so cool! Mark Please let us come again and help. Can we camp next time? Arleana Please let us go again this year because I missed out. I was sick! Ayaan This was such an enjoyable experience for our Green Thumbs team to be part of the

Friday was a great day weather wise and for the Green Thumbs team. We planted 30 new natives in our native bush area. 50% of these were cabbage trees and 50% hebes. These plants were generously donated by 'Trees for Canterbury'. We are hoping to receive some more natives soon. Once the planting was over - many hands make light work - we moved to the orchard, pruned the raspberries, did another rubbish pick up and removed some major weeds. Thanks again Chris, Jenny and Daniel for your support. 

Thank you, Green Thumbs team for the amazing job you did in cleaning up the Simeon Street pathway. It is now 'slip and skid' free thanks to this remarkable group of workers! The team spent their Friday lunch time removing the mud and rotting leaves with spades and rakes. Several children had slipped over when walking along the park pathway and Levi came up with the idea to fix the problem.