Learning through Gardening

Learning through Garden is an useful method of teaching in primary education. This is more useful specially in the rural areas. It helps to understand the nature, develops positive attitude to the wild and plnat life. In ancient India, Ashramik schools followed 'Learning through Garden program'. In Mahabharata, We heard about Shakuntala.

But during my visit in rural areas, I have not seen botanic garden in any primary school. I think that success of learning can be achieved through gardening. It would be misnomer to assume that gardening is only meant for beautification. Gardening provides positive attitude towards plant and wild life, helps in understanding sustainable bio diversity. It facilitates creativity, provides physical energy. Besides, it is useful for understanding group dynamics. Our syllabus in primary education pays attention to nature. UK started 'Learning through landscape program' in Education.




Assumption:
Learning through landscape program assumes that School grounds are essential to children’s learning and development, providing opportunities for healthy exercise, creative play, making friends, learning through doing and getting in touch with the natural world. We believe all children have the right to enjoy and benefit from well designed, managed and used school.

Gardening requires systematic steps enhancing our patience. Below are some steps to make sunflower garden. I get it from this site:
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/gl_structures_other/article/0,,HGTV_3639_3618592,00.html

Step 1: Pick your site
The first thing to do is choose where you want your sunflower fort. Choose a sunny spot, but don't be too picky about the soil. Sunflowers can grow in just about anything. Once you've got your spot, rough up the soil with a rake and remove all debris, including any large clods of dirt. This will loosen up the soil, and make it easier to plant.

Step 2: Measure the area
Using the tape measurer, map out the size of your fort. Remember, every fort has an entrance, so don't forget to measure it. Mark the corners of your measurements by pushing stakes into the soil. Next, grab some string and connect the stakes. The idea here is to create a life-sized blueprint in the soil and define the dimensions of the fort.

Step 3 Choosing the seeds
Different seeds will work well to grow different parts of the fort. For the walls, use taller variety of sunflowers like Giant Greystripe sunflowers. For the entrance, Teddy Bear Dwarf sunflowers are very inviting. Use the filler seeds (scarlet runner beans, morning glories) for filling in the gaps.

Step 4 Planting the seeds
Plant them on the outside of the string in rows of two to make the walls nice and thick. Read the directions on the package to see how deep each seed goes, and how far apart to space them.

Step 5: The three W’s
This is the hard part. Weeding, watering and waiting. Sit back, enjoy the summer and wait. In the meantime, don't forget to water and weed. In a few months, the flowers will be the perfect height, and the kids will have a sunflower fort in full bloom.