Grow Around The World - Spring

Grow Around The World

Sow it. Grow it. Share it! - Spring
Imagine a place full of exotic flavours, taste and smells. Join us for a London schools’ celebration of food from around the world.  Learn how to Grow Your Own food - from Africa to the Caribbean, and India to East Asia. Then cook and share your delicious home-grown cuisine with your friends, school and community.

Why Grow Around the World?
From history and geography, to science and maths, let food open up a world of learning. Grow Around the World is a celebration of London’s food culture. Students can discover, grow and taste exotic and unusual food, uncover the real origin of many traditionally ‘British’ crops, sow new varieties of seed, learn from their diverse local community, and eat, cook and share food grown together.

Download the full activity pack or individual pages from the pack below

Grow Around The World Pack (pdf)


Starting with Seeds

Tips for where to order:

  • Oca - a very popular South American potato-like crop also used in New Zealand. Order tubers to help your school get started. (Real Seed Catalogue)
  • Callaloo - an amaranth which has leaves like spinach, and edible seeds often used in West Indian recipes. (Chiltern Seeds)
  • Chickpeas - grown on a bush in pods. Can be added to curries, soups and stews, 'sprouted' for salads and sandwiches, and used to make dips such as houmous. (Sky Sprouts)
  • Coriander - a herb used in many recipes both as seeds and leaves all around the world, from curries to salads, and stir-fry to soups. (widely available)
  • Fenugreek (methi) -  the leaves can be used fresh or dried, and  the seeds whole or ground as a spice. Also an effective 'green manure' to improve the soil. (Chiltern Seeds)
  • Lemongrass - a tropical grass often used in Thai cooking, and to make homemade teas. (Grow from stems. Widely available in international food shops)
  • Yard long beans - a great alternative to the runner bean. Its Latin name means ‘a foot and a half’, the length a pod normally grows! (Kings Seeds)
 

How to: Grow unusual crops

 

How to: Cook and bake school grown food

 

How to: Involve the local community

How to involve the local community

Further tips:

Celebrate the rich diversity, skills, knowledge and experience of people and cultures in your London borough, and build a supportive growing community around you.

  • Welcome your community - to help your school grow, cook and celebrate eating food from around the world.  
  • Work with local businesses - invite a local restaurant, chef or local shop to work with your school.
  • Attract corporate volunteers - to help you get those big garden jobs done on volunteering days. Mulberry School for Girls needed to build raised beds, compost bins and benches for their garden, securing help from various corporate teams was essential for the success of their project.

 

Garden planning: All year round

Garden planning all year round

Or see more tips by checking Garden Organic's Month by Month gardening guide.

Share your school's story

Join in the schools conversation and appear on our website!

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