Learning Gardening

Date: 1 - 6 October 2013 

Criteria of CAS – Service

Approximate time - 8 hours

Venue – D Y Patil International School, Nagpur

“Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul.” - Luther Burbank

1 October 2014 : Gardening is a very popular hobby and people do it to connect with nature. In our school campus we have a huge garden area. Our CAS coordinator suggested that we should learn gardening, as it makes us a better human being. So we planned the activity and asked our gardener and Vijaylaxmi ma'am to be our mentors. With our two mentors we today spent 2 hours in this activity. Our gardener gave us a round of whole garden area and explained how everything is done. As our first day we learnt technique of pulling out weed from our garden. I believe gardening is a new skill I am developing.

Our School's Gardener

2 October 2014: Today I learned about planting saplings. Our gardener took us to the empty are of our garden. He taught us how it is done.

1] Take a suitable shovel and dig a hole that is 4-5 times the width of the root ball, more than enough so it will fit, and give room for the fresh roots to grow without stress. This lets the roots ease in more easily and begin to grow outwards into the soil. No need to cut off the wire root basket if there is one, the roots will grow through and it will prevent damage to the root ball during planting.

2] Place the sapling into the hole gently. Be sure the hole isn't too deep or too shallow. The ground level of the plant in the pot should match up with the ground level after you fill the hole in. Do not bury the sapling or leave any roots exposed.

3] Refill the soil and water it.

3 October 2014: Today I learned how to take care of Bedded flowers.

First thing we need to do is protect them from pests.

Second thing important thing is protecting them from sunlight. Most of the flowers don’t need sunlight, so excess of sunlight can harm your hard work.

Third thing is pulling out weed. Weed can take all resources from your flowers and can make them dry.

Forth important thing is deadhead, prune and disbud. We need to cut the over grown branches and cut excess flowers.

Today I spent 2 hours in this activity.

6 October 2014: Today I learned how to cut grass from the lawn. Our gardener a lawn mower, taught us how to push it and move it all around the lawn. It was a herculean task and  to move that lawn mower, as it is very heavy and after sometime grass get stuck in it. Today we worked for 2 hours.