Schools
Primary Schools
“As plot holders we are all aware of the many positive aspects of growing our own produce. With this in mind, Barton upon Humber Allotment Society has for some years worked with nine of our local primary schools, providing the opportunity for the students to experience the joys of growing their own produce and encouraging participation in the children’s section of the Annual Horticultural Show.
As well as the annual School Potato Growing Competition, we were pleased to host a Gardening Club Blog for Goxhill School (see below) during 2022 and have enjoyed reading about the children’s gardening activities. We hope their experiences will encourage them and others to take a greater interest in ‘growing their own’ and, perhaps, becoming one of the future generation of plot holders!”
School Potato Competition - Update 2024
This year, four of our local primary schools took part in the competition. Regular contenders, Bowmandale Primary School, Winterton Junior School and Castledyke Primary School were joined by newcomers John Harrison CE Primary School, Barrow. The potatoes were provided by the Humber Bridge Garden Centre. The ‘first early’ seed potatoes were delivered to the schools towards the end of February in readiness for ‘chitting’, the process of encouraging them to sprout prior to planting. The schools then chose the most suitable method of planting and growing appropriate to their situation. A selection of techniques was employed, the crops being grown in raised beds, piles of car tyres, plastic tubs and simply in prepared beds. The children were responsible for the planting, watering and general maintenance of the crops. In the middle of July, as the end of the summer term approached, the schools were contacted and arrangements were made for the judging of their efforts. The judging was done using the following criteria, points being given for first, second, third and fourth places.
(1) The heaviest total crop
(2) The heaviest individual potato
(3) The’ funniest’ potato
The scores were collated and the schools placed accordingly. As ever, the results were very close with only one point separating the first and second places. Following final judging at the Annual Horticultural Show in August, the winners were Winterton Junior School by virtue of them having the ‘funniest’ potato. The competition provides many educational opportunities for the children taking part, but in addition it undoubtedly gives them a great deal of enjoyment. They are fully focused as their crops are lifted and seem genuinely amazed to see the number of potatoes which appear. Although the funniest potatoes are retained for judging, the children are free to take away the remainder of the crop and hopefully enjoy the fruits of their labours, perhaps having a little more understanding of where their food comes from. The competition will undoubtedly return in 2025 and provide a fresh cohort of children with the opportunity to demonstrate their horticultural skills.
School Potato Growing Competition 2024
The Allotment Society will once again be organising the Schools Potato Competition to encourage local children to have a go at growing potatoes at their school.
We are very pleased that the Humber Bridge Garden Centre in Barton has agreed to be our sponsor this year and will be supplying the seed potatoes to be grown by the participating school children. To request further information on the competition, please use the contact page on our website.
School Potato Growing Competition 2023
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The annual potato growing competition was initiated at the end of February when each of the participating schools was given ten seed potatoes, along with basic growing instructions and information on how to take part.
This year, four local schools entered, with the judging of their crops taking place in July, shortly before the end of the summer term. Given the difficult growing conditions this year, their efforts were most commendable, and it was interesting to see the differing approaches taken in planting and tending the crops.
Given the limited growing space available to the schools, they all demonstrated a great deal of initiative in finding the most appropriate method of cultivation applicable to their circumstances. Raised beds, tubs and stacked tyres were used to good effect.
The enthusiasm of the participants (and their teachers and teaching assistants!) was great to see and there was great excitement as the potatoes were lifted. Many of the children were amazed at the size and sheer number of potatoes they were able to grow, and it was apparent that the competition had not only been a learning experience for them, but great fun as well.
The competition is divided into three parts, with points being given for:
the heaviest overall crop
the heaviest single potato
the funniest shaped potato
When the results were correlated it was revealed that the competition had been incredibly close, with only one point between first and second, and second and third places. The winners were the students of Bowmandale Primary School, who proudly retained the CPRE Trophy which they first won last year, along with a £30.00 garden centre gift voucher.
Coming a close second were Winterton Junior School's growers, awarded a £20.00 voucher, with Castledyke Primary School's many participants finishing in third place with a £10.00 voucher.
A special mention must go to the Barton St. Peter's C of E Primary School's team, who ventured out into a July rainstorm to help lift their crop! They were given a special £10.00 award in recognition of their enthusiasm and tenacity. This year all those who took part from Bowmandale, St. Peter's and Winterton were given a badge acknowledging their participation. Due to the sheer number of Castledyke students taking part, each class was awarded a rosette. Many thanks to all of the pupils and staff who helped to make this year's competition so much fun to judge.
The photograph above shows Poppy, of Bowmandale Primary School, keeping a close eye on their raised bed full of potatoes.
GOXHILL PRIMARY SCHOOL GARDENING CLUB
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Hello, we are Goxhill Primary School gardening club. We meet once a week after school for an hour in our school garden. We have a team of 2 adults and around 10 children who sign up each year. We have lots of plots to plant up but we only uncover and dig when we have things to plant. The black covers stop the weeds taking over until we are ready to use those beds.
So far this year, we have planted shallots, potatoes (for a competition), tomatoes, pumpkins, beans, peas, sweetcorn, sprouts, cabbages and sunflowers.
We rely on the generosity of parents and the community for many plants, which means there is an element of surprise in what we grow each season! Our season runs from March to October when we cover the beds for the winter.
We hope to share some thoughts from the children and some photos too in the coming weeks.
GOXHILL SCHOOL’S GARDENING CLUB BLOG - Monday July 18th 2022
Goxhill School Gardening Club met for the final time of the school year on Monday. It was an auspicious occasion as the potatoes were going to be dug up and weighed ready to be entered into the competition. Despite the record breaking temperatures, we were all keen to get stuck in, with the promise of a picnic and a run through the sprinkler afterwards!
We managed a decent haul weighing 6.5kg and a large potato of 190g+ to enter into the competition. Fingers crossed for the results.
Then it was time to relax, enjoy some party snacks and get very wet in the sprinkler. Summer here we come!
GOXHILL SCHOOL’S GARDENING CLUB BLOG – 11th – 14 July 2022
The weather has been so dry that the ground is extremely hard and difficult to dig. However, George had a good go at weeding in the rhubarb patch. The rhubarb is looking a little sad but there are some new shoots showing so the children watered them well and we shall nurture them.
We pulled up all of the shallots, which look great. We are leaving them to dry out in the sun, it's a great week for it.
Year 3 has finished their experiment with beans so we have popped them in the ground in the hope that they will give us beans for the school kitchen.
We have found the hose and sprinkler which has made our mammoth watering task much easier and we are watering the potatoes liberally this week ready for the great dig-up next Monday. We are hoping for a prize-winning crop this year!
GOXHILL SCHOOL’S GARDENING CLUB BLOG - 4th July 2022
It was quite a tired group of gardeners that met on Monday 4th July as the majority of them had been on a school trip to Go Ape. However, they threw themselves into their tasks with their usual gusto. We planted some more beetroot and some French beans to replace the peas that the pigeons had enjoyed. The ground was very dry so there was the usual frenzy of watering from very enthusiastic children.
Frazer has been growing garlic at home with his little sister and has shared a photo and Sophie has shared a fantastic picture of herself in the garden.
GOXHILL SCHOOL’S GARDENING CLUB BLOG - 20th June 2022
On this beautiful, sunny afternoon, the children had plenty to do in the school garden. Year 1 had been looking at how beans germinate in transparent plastic cups. They had finished this stage of their work and so we were given the broad bean seedlings to nurture in the garden. Sophie, George and Nicholas led a team in clearing a bed and planting the beans in the ground, supervised by Rachael. They kept finding bonus baby potatoes from previous years' plantings. They have been given to our school cook to use.
Joseph led Charlie and Lowan in watering absolutely EVERYTHING, especially the competition potatoes.
Maisie and Myer helped Mrs Scott weed around the shallots that are looking very healthy. Frazer was on hand to help with the beans and chat to everyone, so it was a busy and happy environment.
There is still plenty to do. We are expecting runner beans from year 3's science activity in the next few weeks and the weeds keep on coming!
