ICL’s supports the new generation of horticulturalists

Pupils from Ysgol Henblas School in The Isle of Anglesey, North Wales, have taken part in a fantastic campaign run by ICL Growing Solutions UK & Ireland and vegetable seed supplier Medwyns of Anglesey.   

Residents from several of the island’s day centres also participated in this uplifting project, which introduced a new generation of gardeners to the delights of growing their own food. 

The initiative took root in February (2023), when Stuart Gammage, ICL’s Growing Solutions Technical Manager, visited and demonstrated the idea to Ysgol Henblas School. 

Following his visit, ICL donated peat-free sustainable growing media and nutrients (Osmocote Topdress) to the primary school and two day centres of Anglesey County Council. ICL gave the school pupils specially designed leaflets containing an illustrated guide on how to grow their own potatoes and vegetables in a bag. 

Moreover, local firm Medwyns of Anglesey donated vegetable seeds and seed potatoes – some of which were used to grow fresh produce in Ysgol Henblas’ thriving vegetable garden. The remaining seeds were taken home by the children. Each of the 115 pupils took home seed potatoes and other vegetable seeds and one bag of peat-free media. 

The children grew the vegetables throughout the school term. Every week they picked the ones that were ready and passed them onto the school’s head chef, whose Wednesday “Sunday lunches” were a hit. 

For their summer fair, the children harvested their potatoes and ran a competition whereby they weighed them and received awards for the largest tubers.  

Competition winner Sara, aged 10, said: “I was surprised and happy when I won the biggest potato. It’s still in my kitchen at home. My grandma helped me grow it. I was excited when I saw the plants come out of the top of the bag.” 

The children also sold the harvested vegetables to raise funds for the school – an initiative that was picked up by the local Welsh television channel S4C Cymru. Happily, on July 3, Ysgol Henblas School was featured on S4C’s Garddio a Mwy (Gardening and More) programme in a feature named “Gardeners of the Future.” 

ICL’s Dr Eleni Siasou, Stuart Gammage, and Medwyn and Alywn Williams from Medwyns of Anglesey, revisited the school in July to see how the children found their task.  

Eleni said: “The pupils were encouraged to grow local food in sustainable growing media bags and realised that this can be done in a small space. It’s been delightful for us to see how the children have learned to nurture what they’re growing and how they’ve discovered how nice the veg tastes when its fresh.” 

Stuart added: “This project has helped the children learn where their food comes from and the importance of growing their own food. Hopefully, we’ve sparked an interest in gardening in some of the children and helped to inspire the next generation of horticulturalists.” 

Carwyn, aged 6, said: “I grew potatoes, and the most exciting part for me was picking them. There were big ones, medium ones, and tiny ones smaller than a marble. I had never grown them before.” 

Smashing the curriculum

The varieties supplied by Medwyns of Anglesey were specifically selected to draw interest to the kids due to the vegetables’ organoleptic characteristics and, importantly, growing during the school terms. These included Casablanca seed potatoes, purple podded peas, the beetroot ‘Chioggia’ (a variety whose flesh has a charming spiral effect), a Chantenay-like carrot variety named Short n Sweet, and kohl rabi.  

Parents and gardening enthusiasts Mike Allen and Louise Martin have been helping the pupils grow some of these vegetables in the school’s garden, which they founded seven years ago and where they hold weekly gardening sessions for the pupils. 

Mike said: “We set up ICL’s grow bags so that the kids could take them home. There were some different interpretations of how the grow bag should be used – one thing I’ve learned is that a lot of people don’t have experience of growing.” 

Headteacher Mr Huw Jones emphasised that growing their own food is instilling in the children a love of being active in the garden. He also highlighted how it is enhancing their learning – in areas such as maths, chemistry, biology, and language skills. 

Mr Jones said: “We ran a task just this morning where we set up a scenario in which Mike wanted to plant onions. The pupils then had to work out the costs, such as how much compost is required, and why onions need to be planted 10cm apart. The children are applying key skills in exciting ways. And they can then go and use those skills independently.” 

Alwyn noted that he has added a bit of history and folklore into the mix. “If we start at an early stage by telling the pupils old folklores and historical stories about where their food comes from it generates their interest and captures their imagination. And the more colour there is in their food the more you find children will eat it.” 

He has taught the pupils, for example, how the purple podded pea was used to feed the horses during World War I. “They grew them in gardens behind the trenches in WWI and allegedly the purple pea was rediscovered in a WWI kit bag and reintroduced as a variety.” 

New beginnings

The team’s summer trip to the Isle of Anglesey also saw them visit two day-centres for adults with learning differences. Gors Felen Resource Centre, the first port of call, received 25 potato-growing kits from ICL and Medwyn of Anglesey. The staff members of the care centres planned to carry out cooking lessons with this summer’s harvest of Casablanca potatoes.  

The experience may well be a taste of the future for Gors Felen because exciting plans are afoot to install a sensory garden featuring a growing area.  

The other day-centre, Blaen Y Coed Resource Centre, also received donations from ICL and Medwyn of Anglesey. The facility already boasts an impressive garden and growing area and, following the Covid pandemic, the staff and residents are gradually bringing it back to life. 

Day centre representatives Eirwyn Roberts and Martin Williams noted how the potato grow bags activity was an ideal way to slowly reintroduce gardening, and the experience of being outdoors, to those who had to stay at home for two years during the pandemic. 

Martin said: “A lot of them have been very excited to be able to do an activity outside again.” 

Eirwyn added: “It’s been a really hard couple of years but this year we’re getting back on our feet and starting to do these types of activities again.” 

Stuart and Eleni added that it was great to see the residents of the day centres return to their gardening activities. They also noted how nice it was to see them learn a new way of growing vegetables – namely, growing them in a bag that doesn’t take up much space, and that contains sustainable growing media and all the necessary nutrients.