Northcross Intermediate has new veggie gardens and a new soil science lab with the creation of a 9m long, raised planting bed. The new bed will be used for Garden to Table classes during school hours and Eco-Neighbourhood workshops for parents and the wider community after hours.
The bed is unique in that it features 3 areas of rough clay clods to demonstrate how clay can be transformed into topsoil. This is important because transforming clay into lighter, more friable topsoil acts as a “carbon sink” and has numerous gardening benefits such as greater water holding capacity and nutrient holding capacity.
Students helped to assess the current state of the soil so they will be able to track changes to water infiltration rates, soil fertility, soil density over time. Future workshops will explain how easy it is to use biochar, bokashi-composted food scraps, worm products, and compost to greatly improve clay soil.
Thank you to the awesome students in our school Enviro group who shifted the soil and clay into the garden beds….hard but worthy mahi!
