Arataki School Gardens Term 3 2026
It has been a busy, beautiful, and slightly frosty term in the garden! Our little patch of earth has been buzzing with life, learning, and plenty of mud. From nurturing tiny seeds to welcoming back familiar faces, our tamariki have poured so much love into the soil over the last few weeks.
We started right at the beginning of the growing cycle with Clare, doing some hands-on seed raising. We got busy planting lots of peas and sowing rows of carrots, learning exactly what it takes to coax a tiny green shoot out of the dark. We also learned about the incredible transformation of life, tracking the lifecycle from caterpillar to butterfly. Of course, winter and early spring bring some incredibly frosty mornings. The cold didn't stop us, though. We made sure our fruit trees got a little extra love to brave the chill, treating them to a nourishing splash of seaweed tonic to keep them strong and healthy.
Lately, we shifted a lot of our focus downward, looking right into the soil and the fascinating bugs that call it home. The kids loved exploring the underground ecosystem and learning how healthy soil makes for healthy plants. To help our insect friends and boost our garden’s biodiversity, we planted out a gorgeous wildflower bed to attract beneficial pollinators and creepy-crawlies. While we wait for those flowers to burst into colour, we’ve been busy harvesting literal armloads of fresh, leafy NZ spinach.
It was great to have Maeve back in the gardens with us this term, and she arrived just in time for some heavy lifting. Together, we completely rebuilt our compost bay to keep our black gold 'cooking' beautifully. We also noticed that the fruit trees over where the old chook house used to be had been looking a bit ignored lately. Our eager gardeners got straight to work, mulching them with our amazing school compost. Over in the herb garden, we had a massive sort-out, ridding the patch of pesky weeds and planting out fresh coriander and parsley.
Some of our youngest gardeners, the new entrants, dived into the wonderful world of the humble potato. We watched a slideshow to learn about the different varieties, how they grow, and the art of chitting to sprout them. To keep them safe, we tucked the potatoes into the shed and wrapped them up cosy in wool, waiting patiently for sprouts to grow. We also started our kūmara sprouting. We buried them deep in sandy soil, gave them a good watering, and are now waiting for the tipu to form so we can plant out a proper kūmara patch. Looking ahead to next term, we even planted gourd seeds using 'seed sushi', making the absolute most of waste bubble wrap to keep our seedlings toasty as the air temperature in our shadehouse warms up.
As the soil started warming up, our strawberries needed some extra care. Thanks to Tui garden products, we could top them up with some special liquid feed. Sneaky weeds were trying to take over the patch, so we cleared them out, re-mulched the beds, and gave them a deep drink of our homemade seaweed tea. All that hard work requires fuel, and we have been snacking our way through the garden. The kids have loved munching on broccoli and cauli pops and crunchy sticks of fresh kohlrabi straight from the soil. We’ve also had some lovely frilly heads of lettuce and bunches of parsley to share with the community via our pātaka kai
Thank you to all the hands, big and small, that made Term 3 such a success. We can’t wait to see how everything blooms, crawls, and sprouts in Term 4!
