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Recent Workshop for Kids a Great Success!

During the January School Holidays Cooma Community Garden joined forces with Cooma Library to host a Kids’ Workshop at the Community Garden in the Uniting Church grounds.

16 kids attended the workshop, accompanied by parents, grandparents, carers and younger siblings. Some of the kids had attended the first Kids’ Workshop in October 2009 and there were also some new faces.

Workshop leader Pete Mitchell got things started by taking the group on a tour of the garden, discussing the contents of each garden bed in both the adult’s and children’s gardens.  He reminded the old hands of the work we’d done in October and at the same time updated the newcomers.

Then it was straight into it with some much-needed weeding, with willing workers clearing those dreaded weeds in no time. First though, Pete had to make sure we all knew which were weeds and which weren’t!!!

Then it was time to upgrade the paths in the children’s garden with some gum leaf mulch.  Everyone got involved and soon the paths were looking brand new.

We then checked out the kids’ tomatoes, which were growing well, but going a bit wild.  So the kids were shown how to prune and stake them, and they even got to harvest a couple of early-ripeners.  There were also some zucchinis ready to pick.

Then came the part everyone loves – planting.  First there were bean seeds to be planted next to the corn plants.  Pete explained that the beans fix nitrogen to the soil and feed the hungry corn so they make great companions in the garden. 

Next there were a whole host of seedlings to plant including eggplants and capsicum, as well as some lovely flowers including salvias and petunias.  However first we had to make room in the gardens by pulling out the Chinese Cabbages, which were just about finished.  Some of them went into the compost, and some went home to feed the chooks.  After that everyone broke into groups and were madly planting and watering and before we knew it, it was time to pack up.

It wasn’t all work, however.  The kids got to have a break with some morning tea and stories provided by Cooma Library, who also provided all the plants and seedlings the kids put in the garden.  The library also had a whole host of books on display about gardening and the environment and kids were able to borrow any books they liked (as long as they were library members of course!)

All in all it was a great event.  The kids worked really hard and the garden looked great.  Our next kids’ activity with Cooma Library is going to be a workshop on cooking your harvest, to be held during the April School Holidays.  Keep an eye out for further details nearer the time.