Term One Tales from the Garden

Phew—what a scorcher of a term! Term One was hot, dry, and full of garden adventures. While we were all dreaming of ice blocks, the garden kept us on our toes!

We kicked things off with some seed saving—gathering up precious seeds from our summer plants and carefully packing them away like little garden treasures for the future. We can’t wait to plant them again and see what grows!

Meanwhile, the monarch caterpillars moved in... and moved in... and moved in! Every week, we found more and more of them munching their way through the swan plants like tiny eating machines. They were so hungry we had to rehome them to make sure they had enough food. The tamariki also patiently watched as some of the chrysalises wiggled and wriggled, then finally burst open—it was like live TV in the garden!

The fruit trees didn’t let the dry weather slow them down. We picked passionfruit, crunchy apples, and sweet, juicy peaches. What a treat! It really shows how planting fruit trees is a gift that keeps on giving. We sliced them up and shared them between morning tea and lunchtime with all the other tamariki.

We also rolled up our sleeves and got winter-ready by planting seedlings in punnets—getting our broccoli, cabbage, and other cool-weather friends started nice and early. We planted some fun radishes called “Easter Eggs”—they come in different colours, just like a surprise from the Easter Bunny!

Of course, no garden story is complete without the weeds. They were everywhere! But we tackled them with teamwork and persistence. And last but not least, we got our worm bin wiggling again! It’s now busy collecting food scraps and turning them into garden gold.

A big pat on the back to all our little gardeners—Term One was full of sunshine, learning, and lots of grubby hands. Bring on Term Two!