Vegetable gardens delivered to local schools

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by: Sarah Maple
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Date: Thu, 13 May 2010 Time: 11:54 PM
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Fifty primary schools in the four counties are now planting up their baby vegetables, courtesy of farm insurance firm Cornish Mutual, based in Truro and Exeter, which is supporting the campaign launched earlier this year by well-known TV gardening expert Charlie Dimmock.

Each school successfully drawn from dozens of entries, has taken delivery of a Rocket Garden including vegetables such as lettuce, green beans, leeks, carrots, tomatoes, courgettes and potatoes.

Backed by rural insurer Cornish Mutual, ‘Dig Down South West' is helping children across the region to learn about the source of their food, grow their own produce and understand the benefits of living a more sustainable and healthier lifestyle. The initiative will create 50 vegetable gardens in primary schools and encourage children, between the ages of five and eight, to take an active interest in gardening.

Katharine Edwards, parent governor at Devoran School, near Truro, Cornwall said: "The children had some great excitement as their garden arrived in school. We have a gardening club each week and individual class projects and the gardening club have been busy clearing our two large vegetable beds and a separate planter ready to plant these seedlings. We really are grateful for the opportunity to tend these plants and watch the vegetables grow."

Andy Wookey from Wedmore First School in Somerset added: "The children took great delight in unpacking the vegetables and have already started to plant the contents of the box. We look forward to watching our new arrivals grow and hopefully harvest the fruits of our labours."

Fiona Owen at St. Margaret's School, Torquay, Devon commented: "WOW!!!!!! These are wonderful plants. The children and I had great fun un-packing them - they were enthralled. We are waiting for compost to be delivered but have had two lovely new planters built in our orchard all ready for the new arrivals. Let's hope we manage to produce some wonderful veg!"

David Dorrell, Deputy Head teacher at Lytchett Matravers Primary School, near Poole, Dorset added: "As a school we're really supportive of any initiative that helps to promote healthy eating and encourages children to have a better understanding of where their food comes from. We're delighted to be a part of the ‘Dig Down South West' campaign and have begun to develop our own school allotment for growing vegetables and fruit."

Alan Goddard, Managing Director of Cornish Mutual, said: "It's absolutely fantastic that we're getting so much positive feedback from the schools involved in ‘Dig Down South West'. We're delighted to be helping children across the region grow their own vegetables as part of this initiative. It's encouraging to hear that the youngsters have been enthused by the delivery of their gardens and that they're getting started on planting the vegetables at school."

For more information about ‘Dig Down South West', advice on growing produce and interactive puzzles and games for children, visit their website

About the Author

Sarah Maple writes on a variety of topics but mainly focuses on writing about green living and parenting. She is an expert on farm insurance and farming insurance