Monday 24 October 2011

getting rid of the plants we don’t want to grow - in order to help the ones we do!

‘What are those yellow things for?’ asks Ella during break one day.

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‘I think I know,’ offers Bianca.  ‘Maybe they are for where plants are waiting to grow.’ she suggests.

Time, of course, will tell.

But back to a more pressing problem.  You see, today we have to do some ‘tidying up’ in the garden.   We need to pull out the weeds.  Easy you might think.  But just to make sure, what is a weed?

Emily is the first to speak.  ‘They are plants not good for the soil,’ she tells us.

Ella confirms this.  They ‘don’t help our plants,’ she says.

Tim is certain.  ‘Plants we don’t want to grow; not good plants.’

And he is right.  A weed is just a plant that that we don’t want to grow.  Now, can anyone spot one of these plants that we don’t want to grow?

And fast as a flash, fingers are pointing at a bed-full of tiny green seedlings.

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But are these weeds?  Think back to two weeks ago when we scattered oh-so-liberally those mustard seeds.  Are these ‘weeds’ growing in the same place?  And if so, then can these be weeds?  Plants that we don’t want to grow?  Hmm.  Better look some more!

These are more like it.

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And look here, between the paving slabs.  We wouldn’t want plants to grow there now would we.

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Remember how to use the prongs of your fork to loosen the soil round the roots? 

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Remember how to shake off the soil? 

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And how to throw the weeds into a bucket…..

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and then carry them over to the compost heap so we can turn them into ‘good stuff’?

Good job everyone!

And before I go – Anusha has a question.  What, she wants to know are these shiny red things?

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Does anyone know?  Maybe taking a closer look at this (found on the same plant)…..

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might help.

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