Gr. 3 Hygiene and Nutrition Activities | How to create and maintain a kitchen garden at school and at home

Description

Teaching methods

• Observation- watch a video clip.
• Answering questions on how to create a kitchen garden.

Materials needed

• Computing device.
• Relevant farm tools, seeds or seedlings, watering can, bags and sacks, pipes/tires/pots/tins/plots

Lesson introduction

Introductory activity

Review the previous lesson on crops grown in the kitchen garden and identify different types of crops.

Today we are going to learn about how to create a kitchen garden at home and School.

Activity 1:

Lesson body

Steps in creating a kitchen garden

Below is a detailed step by step approach to creating a kitchen garden:

1. Location: Find a good location which is protected from animals that can destroy your plants, but open to pollinating agents. Plants need the warmth and light to grow well.  Choose a sunny spot.
2. Decide the form and size of your garden based on your location and available materials.
3. Decide on the type of plant you want to grow. Find out which plants do well under your weather and choose the ones that are useful.  Decide whether you are using seeds or seedlings.
4. Decide on the arrangement of your plants in the garden and also how they fit in with the surrounding. Think about the space the plants need to grow well, how you will reach the plants for weeding or harvesting. If you have climbing plants, decide where to place them and the type of support (trellis) to use.
5. Have your compost, mulch and water Remember that plants need water to grow.
6. Prepare your plot. If in the ground, it needs tilling to loosen the soil particles and remove weeds and their roots.  If in a raised bed or container, it needs filling the space/container with soil. Use well drained fertile soils.
7. Composting: Add compost and if needed good topsoil to make your soil more fertile. Mix well using your hand till / shovel.
8. Make holes using your hand spade and keep proper spacing. If using seedlings, make sure that the holes are wider than and as deep as the root ball (the roots and the soil surrounding them).
9. Planting: Put the seeds / seedlings in the hole and fill the remaining part of the hole around it with soil.
10. Mulching: Place the mulch around the plant for protection and also to help keep the wetness in.
11. Water your garden around the plant immediately.
12. Care for the plants:
    1. Water regularly and properly either early in the morning or in the evening. Do not water during the day when it is hot. Do not over water as this will drown the plant and it will not be able to get enough oxygen.  Do not underwater too as it will cause the plant not to get enough nutrients.
    2. If more seedlings come out than needed, thin them by pulling out some on germination in order to have healthy plants
    3. Weed the garden
    4. Control pests
    5. Harvest as appropriate.

Quiz