Gardening is not lesson time but fun time even if you do the growing at school. ‘The ‘RHS Campaign for School Gardening’ aims to inspires and supports schools to provide children with gardening opportunities to enhance their skills and boost their development.’

Quick Result Seeds

• Sprouting seeds that grow in a jar without any soil.
• Mustard and cress a salad crop you can grow on a wet facecloth or old sponge.
• Annual seeds flower for just one year. They can be bought in mixtures containing lots of different plant seeds.
• Pot marigolds also called Calendula have big seeds,  bright yellow or orange flowers and flower the same year they are planted.
• Sunflowers are ever popular link
• Annual seeds from Thompson & Morgan

More about the Scheme

• Waitrose, Marshalls, Dorset Cereals and the RHS are promoting a Campaign for School Gardening. The aim is to provide pupils with hands-on learning opportunities in school grounds to grow plants and garden sustainably.

• Get your school growing website can lead to lots of offers and support.

• RHS tips for teachers in February

• • As the ground starts to dry out and warm up you can start getting the ground ready for sowing and planting in spring. Dig in compost or well-rotted manure where you plan to sow chard in April.
  • In milder areas you could start to sow early peas outdoors, especially if you can protect them with cloches or fleece. Otherwise start them off in pots and keep them in the greenhouse, or a well-lit windowsill. You can do the same with lettuce.
  • Start early seed potatoes into growth by putting them somewhere warm. Stand them up so the end with most eyes, called the rose end, is uppermost. Egg boxes are ideal for this. Good light is not essential but helps produces sturdier shoots
  • Harvest chard, leeks, salad leaves and winter radish. Make a delicious and healthy salad from sliced winter radish and orange segments on a bed of salad leaves. Peel the radishes if you want to make them less peppery.
  • Sow sweet peas in pots and put them in an unheated greenhouse or cold frame.
  • Pot up begonia and dahlia tubers and put in a frost-free greenhouse or well-lit room to encourage early growth. New shoots can be used as cuttings