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By Claire Seeley

Primary science education consultant

This article was published in March 2023.

Whether your school has lots of outdoor space or a small yard, there's nothing like gardening to lift the spirits and reconnect with nature.

Inspired by Wild Isles, the latest Sir David Attenborough series celebrating the natural wonders and wildlife of Britain and Ireland – as well as highlighting their fragility and asking what can be done to help nature thrive again, the ����ý's Let It Grow initiative encourages us to bring nature to our neighbourhoods.

Across ����ý TV and radio, we will be encouraged to transform dull and grey spaces into wild and colourful habitats which support wildlife. Blue Peter will have themes of Make, Dig, Plant and Find; and seeks to promote sustainability and plant growing.

Plants and soils are common themes across all primary science curriculums in the UK. This is perhaps the perfect opportunity therefore to apply learning to the real world, making a difference to our learning spaces and beyond.

Here are some cheap, practical - and easy - ideas to help you get planting with your class.

Make...

Your own planters

There are lots of ways that you can create your own planters cheaply by using materials around you.

Try making your own , these completely biodegradable containers are great for sowing seeds into. Once your seedlings are growing well, the whole pot can be planted out into its final position.

For bigger plants, why not make some larger, more permanent planters? You can try anything from old shoes, buckets and containers or clean car tyres. Just ensure that you add drainage holes to allow water to flow out freely.

A washing up bowl pond

Adding a small pond is one of the most effective ways of encouraging wildlife to your school grounds.

Choose a light, sunny, safe spot - as even a small pond can be hazardous for small children - and make sure your site goes through the correct risk assessment and that there is supervision of any young learners around it at all times. The pond should also be inaccessible for any child who is not under supervision.

Add a layer of gravel or rocks and create a slope so that any creatures can climb out. Fill your pond with rainwater. Then add aquatic plants such as water mint, common water crowfoot or marsh marigold. Encourage your learners to keep a diary of the wildlife that visits the pond. Why not set up a trail camera to capture those moments in action?

More plants for free

Teach your learners about vegetative propagation by making cuttings. Take softwood cuttings from herbs such as lavender or verbena, in spring or early summer. Simply snip a few small cuttings from the newest growth. Remove the bottom leaves. Trim the cuttings just below the node or leaf joint. Pop the cuttings into a pot of compost. Space them evenly around the pot. Keep the cuttings warm and moist. In a few weeks, your plants will have rooted and be ready to pot on.

Dig...

Beneath your feet

Gardening creates an opportunity to investigate soil. So get digging with your children.

Use sieves of different sizes to separate the soil into its various components. Your learners will discover that soil is a mixture of dead plant matter, particles of rock, air and water. Different soils have different properties depending on their composition. Investigate the effect of growing plants in different types of soil.

Into compost

Healthy plants need healthy soils. So why not make your own compost? Invaluable for improving soil structure, maintaining moisture in the soil and providing lots of organic nutrients to support plant growth in the coming year; a compost heap can provide an amazing space for wildlife. Hedgehogs, beetles, toads, slow worms, grass snakes and small mammals, all will find refuge in the warmth of a compost heap.

Compost couldn’t be simpler to make. Virtually any organic plant matter will break down into compost if given enough time. To make it, you simply need plant based material, moisture, air and time. Over a few months it breaks down into useable compost which you can use to enrich your growing spaces. Compost is a really interesting way to explore natural materials and decomposition.

Plant...

A story of survival

Planting and growing allows children to watch germination, growth, flowering, pollination, seed formation and seed dispersal all happening right in front of their eyes. They can watch plants compete for space, and battle the elements to survive. Children start to see the links between plants and the animals that depend on them.

To make a successful school garden, it's important to plan it as a school community. Think about how long your plants take to grow. Who will be caring for them in the holiday periods? To ensure that all your hard work doesn’t go to waste, add your school gardens to your site maintenance programme.

It is also a good idea to think about which plants your learners will grow throughout the school. It is very easy to have ‘death by runner bean’; for children to grow the same few plants, such as runner beans, every year of their school life. So plan to plant a variety of plants, seeds and cuttings, so that your learners gain a wider understanding of the incredible kingdom of plants.

The Royal Horticultural Society to help you know what to plant when, offering lots of practical support.

For wildlife

In order to encourage wildlife into your school garden, think with your learners about which animals you would like to attract and what they might need.

Birds need shelter, places to nest and plants to provide berries for the winter months. Insects collect nectar from flowers and need a constant supply throughout the year, so a mix of flowering plants in bloom across all four seasons is important. Amphibians such as newts breed in water, so if you want to attract wildlife, your school grounds need a variety of different habitats.

The more diverse a space, the richer in wildlife it will be. Why not hold plant swap shops with your school community, to extend the range of plants that you grow in your local spaces?

Find...

Seeds for next year

Many thrifty gardeners collect seed for the next growing year.

To gather seeds from flowering plants to sow next year, simply cut off a seed head and place it in a paper bag. Allow the seed head to dry and ripen until the seeds fall out. These can be stored in a dry envelope until they are ready to sow the following year. Easy seeds to collect include honesty, scabious, cosmos, cornflower, annual poppies and French marigolds. Be mindful, only collect a few flower heads, leave the rest for the pollenating insects. Remember, you planted the flowers for them.

Once you have collected your seeds, show them to your learners, help them to spot the myriad of different shapes and sizes. Ask them to investigate - do large seeds always lead to larger plants?

Ways to create a tree nursery

Take your learners outside in the autumn to search for tree seeds and look more closely at them. How were they dispersed from the parent plant?

The seeds in your hand are the beginnings of a tree nursery. Into your pots place some stones at the bottom for drainage. Add compost. Plant the tree seeds about 2cm deep. Plant a few in a pot at a time, to make sure that at least one germinates. Cover the top of the pot with wire mesh, to prevent animals from snacking on the seeds over the winter. Keep the compost damp. When the tree has begun to shoot, repot the seedlings. Then plant out your new trees when they are about 50cm tall.

If the thought of setting up a green space in your school still feels a little daunting, you may find the following links useful (please note that these are links to external learning-related websites and the ����ý is not responsible for the content of external websites):

• The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) runs a which supports schools and communities that want to connect with nature. They also have for you to take a look at, as well as of your project.

• If your school garden is already established and flourishing, consider entering the RHS's as well.

• The Royal Entomological Society has for anyone who wants to explore the insects which may start appearing in your school's green spaces.

• The Reading Agency has produced a , to celebrate ����ý One's Wild Isles. The list includes fiction, non-fiction, graphic novels and poetry, for all ages and reading levels.