Gardening at Westminster Abbey

Today was the first session for the Westminster Abbey/St Matthew's primary gardening club.  The sun shone on year 5s and 6s as they set about getting their hands dirty in their very own veg bed.  St Matthew's has no space for growing so imagine their excitement at getting to grow veg in a place where gardening has been taking place since the 14th century!

The children began by clearing the ground and were delighted to find a few potatoes.  Spuds were stuffed into pockets to be cooked later a home.

Jan Pancheri, head gardener at the Abbey found some crops for overwintering: broad beans, shallots and the group is trying its luck with some peas as an experiment.

The gardening sessions at the Abbey are set to be a monthly affair so that the children can understand the growing cycle, get tuned into the seasons and have the opportunity to reap what they've sown - and then eat it!

This month's homework was to think of a name for this gardening partnership so that they can register with Capital Growth and become one of the 2,012 new growing spaces in London.