Primary School - Make it Yourself - Grow it Yourself Project

Waterford Festival of Food in conjunction with Be Green Environment Protection Agency (EPA), Waterford County Council, GIY, Glanbia and Primary Schools in County Waterford are participating in a Project called Make it Yourself - Grow it Yourself. This is a two part project which involves the following -

a) Construct a GIY container from recycled / reused materials and must be mobile by 7^th March.

b) Plant up the containers with a view to presenting pot and plants at a review ceremony on Thursday April 12th in Walton Park.

Session1: advice session  was held in Dungarvan Country Life shop, on Saturday January 14th with  Hrticulturalist Jodi Smith, GIY volunteers  for participant schools.10 Schools attended which was a great start to this project.

Session 2:28th January  in Glanbia Dngarvan was well attended by Teachers, Parents and Children from various primary schools.

Jodi Smith Horticulturalist with Glanbia gave advise on suitable soil for the container.  Using an old  wheelbarrow, Jodi placed broken pots in the bottom of wheelbarrow for drainage and suggested that polystryine can also be used. He then placed some multi purpose compost followed by a little topsoil and lastly placed some perlite on top which was all mixed together.

Both sessions were expertly guided by Jody Smith of CountryLife,  Alexis Guilbride and Gill O Connor from GIY Dungarvan. They passed on lots of practical advice on the do's and don'ts of planting along with expert tips on selection of plants as well as useful information on growing plants from seed. Information on suitable herbs /plants/vegetable was circulated by GIY representatives, please click on the link for further information GIY information on Plants type (word doc, 217 kbs). Ideas for mobile containers was circulated to all present and again the emphasis was on creativity. Participants were reminded to ensure that the garden is mobile. For useful tips, try the following websites: 

• GIYIreland 
• GIY Dungarvan Facebook page www.facebook.com/GIYDungarvan
• Seedaholic

The Competition

Prizes to the value of €350 and €100 each respectively will be awarded to the top container and two runners up. The judging of Part 1 of the project will take place at the Launch of the Programme for the 2012 Waterford Festival of Food on the Quays in Dungarvan on Wednesday 7^th March at 4.00 pm. All participants - children and tutors are requested to be in the Moorings Bar before 3.45 pm with their containers and their logs.  All containers must be labelled. The judges will chat to the children about their entries and judging will take place between 4.00pm and 4.30pm. At 4.30pm, in conjunction with the Launch of the Programme for the 2012 Waterford Festival of Food, we will have a Fish and Chips Street Party for the children. We would like if participating schools let us know by Monday 5^th March how many teachers and students will represent their school at the event. There will be a photographer taking photographs of the occasion, so we would be very appreciative if teachers would let us know if any of their students need to be excluded from the photographs.

Part 2 Planting up your “Mini Vegetable Garden”

Following the completion of part 1 the second part of the project requires teams to plant up their containers with a minimum of 6 different varieties of herbs, fruit or vegetable plants. On Thursday April 12 participants will be invited to bring their “mini vegetable garden to Walton Park where a panel of judges will review the results and talk to the team members. Prizes to the value of €250 and €100 each respectively will be awarded to the top mini vegetable garden and two runners up awarded.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for participating in the MIY-GIY, ‘Make It Yourself- Grow it Yourself ‘project. Next date for your diary is Session 3 Saturday 25th February in Glanbia at 11:00am at the request of participants.      

If your school would like to participate you can still get involved by 10th February. For further information and instructions press on the link  GIY (pdf, 159 kbs)  and complete the application form  GIY Entry Form (PDF, 123 kbs)  

For further information contact Anne Sullivan 058 22116/086 8516227 or email asullivan@waterfordcoco.ie