Latest news with #LouiseMoreton
BBC News
3 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Meet the schoolkids growing and selling their fruit and veg
Do you grow fruit or vegetables outdoors at your school?Well, the children at one primary school in the south of England are so good at it, they've been feeding the local community schoolchildren have been selling their produce to restaurants and shops in their project raises thousands of pounds every year, which helps buy new gardening tools and compost for the school. 'For me gardening is really peaceful' Pupils at the school in Hampshire have been growing plants in their allotment garden for the past 16 years - and all year groups get horticulturalist Louise Moreton explained: "Year two are growing onions, year five are growing garlic, but we also like to grow more unusual plants like lovage, caraway and bronze fennel."The school also has a polytunnel, a kitchen garden full of herbs, and an orchard that was planted eight years ago which grows apples as well as more uncommon fruit such as medlars and garden has produced so much fruit and veg, that the school has been selling their harvest to the local 8, said: "I think it's very cool because we grow here and other people eat it at restaurants."The schoolchildren also take home recipe cards and some have even been inspired to start gardening at 10, added: "We have wild strawberries growing by our fence. We grow blueberries and grapes too. For me gardening is really peaceful. It just calms me down."Whenever I'm a bit stressed at home I normally just go into my garden and just water my plants because it just makes me feel very zen."
BBC News
5 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Portchester primary school supplying fruit and veg to restaurants
Green-fingered schoolchildren have been selling fruit and vegetables to local restaurants and pupils from Wicor Primary School in Portchester, near Fareham, have been growing plants in their allotment garden for 16 has started to sell surplus produce to The A Bar bistro in Portsmouth and The Fruit Basket shop in Stubbington, which distribute to other restaurantsSelling the food grown on site raises between £5,000 to £8,000 a year, some of which is spent on buying new tools, compost and glass in the greenhouse. Eight-year-old Oscar said: "I think it's very cool because we grow here and other people eat it at restaurants."School horticulturalist Louise Moreton successfully persuaded the head to let her dig up part of the playing field and said she has not looked back."Year two are growing onions, year five are growing garlic, but we also like to grow more unusual plants like lovage, caraway and bronze fennel," she is not a core subject in the National Curriculum, but head teacher Mark Wildman said horticulture played an important part in the children's said: "My thinking is that this will empower children to have more of a knowledgeable, articulate voice about what needs to happen."It's about connection with nature as well, if you don't know it's there, then you don't know it's gone."So we're trying to open children's eyes to what biodiversity is, what creatures are there under the soil, in the trees, in the bark in around the pond, so that they have a much better awareness of their natural world." 'Calms me down' Adam Maker, head chef at the A Bar in Old Portsmouth, said it was a proud moment for him when he contacted the school, which he attended as a child, to ask for some fruit and veg."Too many kids are growing up on beige foods from the oven, from the air fryer, the freezer, they're not familiar with things like beetroot and, fresh, good quality ingredients," he pupils also eat what they grow and take home recipe cards and some have even started gardening at 10, said: "We have wild strawberries growing by our fence. We grow blueberries and grapes too. "For Me gardening is really peaceful. It just calms me down."Whenever I'm a bit stressed at home I normally just go into my garden and just water my plants because it just makes me feel very zen."The school also has a polytunnel, a kitchen garden full of herbs, and an orchard that was planted eight years ago when Fareham Borough Council offered the school the chance to plant some trees. They have branched out since then and have several varieties of apple, as well as historic fruit trees which were popular in the reign of King Henry VIII like medlars and quince. You can follow BBC Hampshire & Isle of Wight on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
BBC News
27-05-2025
- Science
- BBC News
'Sheep eating' tropical plant flowers in Hampshire after 10 years
A tropical plant, which has been dubbed a "sheep eater" because of its sharp-edged leaves, has flowered in a school garden for the first time since it was planted 10 years Puya Chilensis, which is usually found in Chile, sent up a nearly-3m (10ft) flowering spike at Wicor Primary School in Portchester, spike's yellow-green flowers finally opened on horticulturalist Louise Moreton said the event was both exciting and a worrying sign of global warming. She said: "This is not something that should happen normally."We've had the sunniest April on record... the temperature's up 1.7 degrees and we've actually had 47% less rainfall."We are witnessing climate change first hand in our primary school grounds." Ms Moreton, who planted the evergreen perennial when she redesigned the school garden as a learning environment, said it was reputedly a danger to wildlife in its native Andean environment."It's actual name is 'sheep catcher'," she explained."It would typically entangle wildlife around it and then hold on to it and unfortunately if they perish it would then give nutrients to the plant."In the UK, several Puya Chilensis specimens have recently flowered many years after being planted, including in public gardens in Devon, Leeds and Surrey. You can follow BBC Hampshire & Isle of Wight on Facebook, X, or Instagram.
