Spring is Springing in the air - Gilbert's lettuce is very excited about a new season and the gardeners decided to paint their tyres and climbing frame to usher in some warmer weather and cheer the garden up for the newly planted radishes, beans and tomatoes. 

Making paper mulch out of old classroom scraps. 

I love roots and shoots!!!!!

Roots and Shoots is awsome. We painted our tyres,we grow our vegetables in our tyres i grew alot of stuff in my tyre!!!!!!

The Last Roots And Shoots Day For Me

Today is the last Roots And Shoots day for me.

Itching to get going

Spring is knocking at our door. There is still so much rain in Cape Town and the average day is very icy indeed. We have made a tentative start to our term and seeds have been planted in well-prepared tyres. In just 2 weeks we can see little sprouts. The radishes are the most enthusiastic about popping up!

Inbetween rainy days, we have been keeping ourselves busy by recycling paper and making our own paper to use in home-made gardening journals. This last week we also turned our focus to raising awareness about pet ownership and the great responsibility we have to our beloved and loyal. Each Roots and Shoots member has been working on an "Awareness Poster". When they are finished we will post them here.

Last week we made paper out of newspaper. We got new plants and seeds for our garden.

Rain Rain Rain

Our Autumn Term

A full year has gone by and we are busy cleaning up our garden - clearing and preparing for the coming winter. Our gardeners have been hard at work all summer developing a compost heap. As the veggies from the tyre gardens were harvested, the gardeners began planting in herbs for a more layered, sensory feel. The tyres have been re-filled to create good rich soil. The little fish pond which we fitted into the garden is still a quiet place to visit and our tiny fish are happy. The saddest part of this summer is that our efforts to grow watermelons were hampered by silliness - the few baby watermelons which started showing such promise were picked and destroyed. However our Roots and Shoots gardeners are quiet and determined and keep up a positive attitude. The foundation phase have plans this month to plant in bulbs, succulents and beans in their Sundial patch.

Today is the first day back to school - the beginning of a new year. 2012!!! It was such a lovely surprise to see that the seedling which we planted last year have grown up over the holidays. The mielies are 5ft tall (one is taller than Morgan) and the pumpkins have ballooned. Happy 2012 everyone...may your fingers stay green and may you reap the fruits of your labours in the garden, in outreach and in caring for the animals around you!