FREE fully funded £2500 year-long food growing programme for your school

Does the Growbag toolkit come with Growing beds?

No. The Growbag Toolkit provides a simplified growing system with learning resources and optional plants and seeds. You will need somewhere to grow to enable you to run the Growbag programme at your setting, but you don’t necessarily need raised beds – see below.

How many beds/growing spaces do we need to run the Growbag?

7 growing spaces in total. The vegetables and companion flowers we grow are grouped into 5 different families. The herbs require their own bed as does the fruit, so that’s 7 growing spaces in total. Note, however, you do not necessarily need 7 individual beds or spaces as larger beds can be divided up into sections.

It’s important not to combine existing nonedible plants with the spaces you want to grow food in. For example, if you have daffodil bulbs or wildflowers growing it’s best to keep them separate to the vegetable growing. This may mean a bit of re-jigging and replanting of bulbs and plants. It’s very important that the whole school know which areas are being used for food – vegetables, flowers, fruit, and herbs. The Growbag contains bed signs for each vegetable family group which helps with marking out the food growing areas.

Feel free to add more edibles to the Growbag planting areas. We are passionate about vegetable growing so if Year 6, for example, have grown tomato seeds into plants and there is room in your Growbag planting areas, then plant them. (Did you know that tomatoes are members of the potato family?)

Do we need raised beds?

Not at all. We’ve supported schools who’ve planted straight into dumpy bags of vegetable compost, some that grow in various sized plant pots and others who have cleared corners of playing fields or herbaceous borders and planted straight into the ground.

Raised beds and pots have positives and negatives. Pots require daily watering during dry weather – this can be a real challenge at weekends and during holidays. If you do use pots, just remember to put trays underneath them to catch the water that drains through. Raised beds, although better for students and staff with accessibility needs, do also require more frequent watering than planting in the ground. This is because the roots of your plants will grow deeper to seek out moisture from further down in the soil.

We want raised beds, what type should we get?

Wooden beds – railway sleepers are great for building raised beds. If you are building them yourselves, it is not recommended to use recycled sleepers as they may have been treated with products that can leach into the soil and into the produce you grow. New sleepers can be bought from your local woodyard, which can also recommend the type of fixings to use to bolt them together. There are also companies online that supply sleeper raised bed kits that are delivered to your setting.

Recycled plastic beds – these are also a great option as they do not rot over time, and it’s putting used plastics to good use. Again, these can be found with a simple online search. You can choose the size of the beds you need, and they are delivered as a kit for self-assembly.

Galvanized steel – these are gaining popularity as they are affordable and do not rot over time. There are all sorts of modular systems available online along with tutorials and plans on how to build and construct them.

Old tyres – this is a controversial option. New or used tires can leach toxins into the soil and therefore your crops. Some people line their tires with a semi-permeable membrane to reduce this possibility. For us, it’s not really worth the risk.

What size beds or growing spaces do we need?

Beds should be no wider than one meter so children can reach across to plant, harvest, and weed without stretching too far. The length of the beds can be dictated by the amount of space you have available.

Each of the vegetable family groupings needs an absolute minimum of 50 cm squared. We think 1m x 1m is an adequate size for your 7 spaces or beds. If you have the space, you can allocate up to 1.5m x 1.5m per bed, but any more creates too much empty space and you might find the beds overrun with weeds.

Finally, you don’t necessarily need 7 individual beds to run the Growbag; you can divide larger beds into 7 sections. If you have any questions, we’re happy to help, and you can email us at growbag@growtoschool.co.uk with any questions.

Where should we place our beds/growing space?

In an open part of the school grounds where the vegetables will get plenty of direct sunlight, so South or Southeast facing if possible. If the growing space faces north, it’s unlikely to be successful as the plants won’t get enough direct sunlight. Under tall trees or shaded by buildings is also a no no. Vegetables need 6 hours of sunlight a day to grow well. They will grow with less, but they won’t grow as big.

What type of compost should I use?

Always buy peat free. Peat extraction causes habitat and species destruction and is really bad for the environment – peat bog is a huge natural carbon store and destroying this habitat releases carbon that has been stored for hundreds of years.

Buying a good quality compost for your beds will yield great results for the health of your plants and your harvest – it really is worth the investment. Multi-purpose compost is fine but it’s better, if budgets allow, to buy compost formulated for fruit and vegetables with a higher nutrient content. For existing beds, it’s always a good idea to feed you soil with a good layer (10cm) of vegetable compost, soil conditioner or farmyard manure every year, so if you are just topping up and adding nutrients to tired or used soil this will meet your needs. If you’re filling beds from new, please see ‘How much compost will I need to fill my new beds’ below.

How much compost will I need to fill my new beds and where should I get it?

There are loads of compost calculators online just search compost calculator for raised beds. If your beds are new and you’re filling them from empty you don’t need to fill the entire thing with just compost. It is best and cheaper to use materials at the bottom that add both carbon and nitrogen to the soil as they decompose: cardboard, branches and logs, leaves, manure, and wood chip and old potting soil are all good. You can work on a 50/50 basis, with the bottom 50% of the bed filled with these cheaper materials and top 50% filled with compost.

There are national and local companies that will deliver compost, woodchip and topsoil. It is cheaper to buy a dumpy/bulk bag but just check that your growing space is accessible for a Hiab (lorry based telescopic lift), unless you have lot of willing children to barrow and bucket it into place. Many companies will deliver the equivalent amount in 40 litre bags, which might be easier for you to move.

What’s the best compost heap to use?

The easiest way to make compost is to get hold of a black plastic (dalek) compost bin. Many councils give these away for free or at reduced prices to residents. They have a lid and an access door at the bottom where the finished compost is dug out. Many dalek bins now have an integrated base to allow worms and healthy bacteria through but to stop rats.

If you have a handy caretaker, teacher or parent helper, you could ask them to build two wooden boxes made of pallets. This provides air flow and space for the material you put in to decompose more quickly. Having two allows one to be decomposing while you fill the other side.

I’ve heard compost heaps attract rats, is this true?

This is a concern for many schools. It’s important to remember that rats are part of the natural world around us and that we are never less than 1m away from a rat! Having a rat infestation isn’t fun though. A well-managed compost heap will not necessarily attract rats. The golden rule is never to put cooked food in your garden compost heap, whether it’s an open pile or in a plastic (dalek) black compost bin. Cooked waste food is more likely to attract rats. You can buy special closed composting units that allow for cooked food waste. We think the benefits of making your own compost for children’s learning, waste reduction to landfill and the long-term health of your soil definitely outweigh the slightly higher risk of a rat or two sniffing out your compost heap.

Can I put weeds in the compost?

Most old plant material is rich in nitrogen, including young weeds from the garden, can be put on the compost heap together with carbon rich material – dry leaves, twigs, cardboard and shredded or scrunched up paper. Like a good recipe, it’s all about getting the balance of materials right. Mature weeds with flowers and seed heads on are best bagged up and disposed of in the main bin at the school.

The composting process is built into our Growbag diary and ‘how to’ booklet and there are activities and lesson plans that dig deeper into how this magic nutrient rich material is made.

None of our staff are knowledgeable or confident about gardening. Do they need to be?

No. Our growing guides are designed for complete beginners and experienced gardeners alike and the jobs can be shared across the school as long as someone is ready to coordinate it. The growing guides provide step-by-step monthly instructions to help you through the growing year. If you make a mistake, it really doesn’t matter. Mistakes can throw up interesting questions for you and your class to find the answer to.

Our supported Growbag package come with a twilight training session for staff. If you choose the Do it Yourself Toolkit but you’d like a little guidance to get you going, we can provide in school training depending on where your school is.

We’ve tried growing veg before and it’s been disappointing. What makes veg grow well?

Many things, but it’s usually down to how much sunlight the plants get and the quality and depth of the soil. Make sure you have a good 30cm (12inches) of soil/compost so that the roots have space to establish. If you haven’t planted anything in your beds for a while, we recommend adding a good 10 cm (4 inches) of good quality veggie compost or soil conditioner (after weeding of course!) and topping this up every year with at least 3-5cm (1-2 inches) of compost/soil improver. The nutrients in the soil get depleted so you need to top up.

How often do we need to tend a school vegetable garden? How much time will it take up?

A twice monthly visit to the garden between November and February and increasing that to weekly between March and November is what we recommend. If it’s just to do gardening jobs, you’ll need no more than an hour at a time, depending on how big your growing spaces are. The more regularly you can get out the shorter the time needed – so if you can go out twice a week for half an hour – that will be plenty.

If you are using the garden to enrich classroom learning, it’s best to timetable at least an hour or two every time you go out, so nurture groups or and whole classes can get the most out of the experience. (Of course you can use the garden at any time for enrichment or lessons and save the gardening to allocated time slots if that works best for you.)

The garden provides a perfect setting for using the Science curriculum scheme of work and the Plants, Animals, Soil and Water (PAWS) activities that come as part of the Growbag. These resources will transform the way the children engage with the natural world and enable you to bring your science curriculum to life in a real-world context.

If you are located within a 30-mile radius of Huddersfield, you’ll be eligible to join our supported Growbag programme. A practitioner will work with children and staff at your school for a day every half term. We can get most of the diary jobs done with accompanying learning activities. You will need to make time for weeding, mulching, watering, observing, and harvesting to do in between our visits. (See Growbag options on the main page).

What can I grow that will be ready to harvest before the summer holidays?

Lots of things if you plant them at the right time. The key planting times to achieve this are Autumn or early Spring. A few suggestions for Autumn planting are garlic sets, broad beans and lettuce plug plants, and for Spring, lettuce and radish seeds, early potato sets, as well as beetroot and courgettes plug plants work well. These can all be harvested before the summer break if you plant them at the right time, you water enough and of course you keep the weeds in check. Following our Growbag diary will support you to know what to do when and how.

For a good Autumn harvest ensure the garden is mulched well in July (the bare soil around plants covered with a biodegradable material such as straw) you will have a splendid harvest of beans, cucumbers, carrots, leeks and pumpkins aplenty.

Do we need a tap in or near our garden?

It does make it easier to keep on top of watering, but if your growing space is too far from a water pipe to plumb one in you can use water butts to harvest rainwater from guttering from sheds or building down pipes – this is more sustainable option as well.

Easy access to water makes running a garden so much easier. Trudging in and out of the school building with watering cans is tedious, you’re unlikely to be watering your plants enough using this method and you’re more likely to upset the cleaner with muddy carpets.

What plants are included in the Growbag planting packs?

Visit Spring and Autumn Planting Packs to find a list of the autumn and spring plants and seeds that are included in the Growbag. The varieties chosen are easy to grow and high yielding.

When it’s raining cats and dogs, is it sensible to work in the garden?

We think, if you don’t like getting wet don’t do it, if you’re not enjoying it the children won’t get as much out of it, just leave it for another day. Having said that children really don’t mind the rain.

If you’re concerned about the garden, don’t be, its fine as long as you don’t stand on the soil and compact it. Whatever your decision, reminding your class to bring wellies (and waterproofs) the day before a gardening session is always a good idea.

Can I take my whole class out to do the gardening?

Yes, but having a whole class round the beds can be challenging – there’s never enough space or tools for everyone to have a meaningful go. One of the aims of the Growbag Toolkit is to help children understand the environment around the garden as well as the garden itself. With this in mind, we recommend dividing your class into three of four teams and setting up a carousel of activities to keep them occupied, engaged and learning independently, one of which is working in the garden. The Toolkit supplies you with a host of learning resources to help build these extra activities, from nature connection activities, games and spotter sheets, to science lesson plans. Read how to make a school garden thrive for more suggestions on taking whole classes out and getting some gardening done. Please note: if you have no adult support with your class this will depend on the ability and age of your class and having a large enough space to accommodate the class.

Can I run the Growbag with my gardening club or nurture group?

Yes. Looking after the garden using our Growbag growing guides is the perfect job for a garden club or nurture groups. The Growbag contains seasonal garden and craft activities for garden clubs or small groups that are designed to add further engagement to diarised gardening jobs as part of the Toolkit.

What tools and equipment do I need?

If you’re planning on taking whole classes or big groups out into the garden, you will need a maximum of 10 trowels & 10 hand forks (you don’t need one for each child). EYFS tools and beach spades won’t hack it – it’s often hard work digging over soil especially if it’s a bit compacted. It is worth investing in well-made, sturdy garden tools (either children’s tools for EYFS/KS1 or smaller adult tools for upper KS1&2). Take a look at our tools list on our free resources page where we list the tools you’ll need. It also contains a comprehensive list of garden materials, equipment and clothing that will help your garden thrive.

Can you help us get funding?

We can help signpost you to someone who can! We have partnered with the wonderful Straight Forward Funding who have produced a funding resource pack aimed specifically for schools. It helps guide you through the jargon and gives useful tips on how to write an application, what to include and what to leave out. It also has a handy index of funders. Sign up for the download here. Lisa has a range of other free resources that you might find useful click here for more information.

Our newsletter is also full of funding opportunities, please sign up here.

Contact us

Contact us to arrange a chat growbag@growtoschool.co.uk, book a call or an online appointment HERE or give us a call on 07710 084 388

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