Barwon Heads raising funds to grow new greenhouse

LOCAL volunteers are more than halfway to their fundraising goal of building a new greenhouse for the “edible garden” at Barwon Heads Primary School (BHPS).

More than $1,000 has already been raised to date by local donations as a result of pop-up seedling stalls around the Barwon Heads community, with all proceeds to go towards the construction of a new greenhouse valued at approximately $2,000 for the students of BHPS.

Margaret Griffith, creator of one of the stalls located outside her house on Wattle Bird Crescent and a member of her neighbourhood gardening group, has been the main driving force in the fundraising initiative so far alongside her “grower extraordinaire” Deidre Reynolds and other volunteers.

“The stalls started around the time that fresh produce was in high demand across the town and nurseries were running out of seeds in mid-2020 due to the pandemic,” Ms Griffith said.

“So, a small group of us decided to raise the seedlings that we were growing for our own gardens and decided to leave them out the front of our homes, which was a huge success as a social experiment. Residents loved it.”

Coincidentally, Ms Griffith, Ms Reynolds and other volunteers in their gardening group have a long-standing relationship with the local primary school and knew of the school’s growing need for a new greenhouse for their “edible” garden, where students learn to grow their own sustainable vegetation.

“In addition to my stall, there is a new one being opening up on Coogee Court by a school parent, where residents can come by and take the seedlings on offer in exchange for a small donation that will go towards the school’s new greenhouse.”

The BHPS edible garden is a staple of the school’s Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths (STEAM) program and has been for four years.

As part of the program, once a year the students grow seedlings themselves in their garden to raise funds for several different things.

Head of STEAM John Burdess said he focuses a lot on environmental practices as a part of the program’s science portion and tries to get his kids out in the garden as much as possible.

“It’s great to just teach the kids about growing plants, what it means to the environment and how it relates to all of the different science areas, but we don’t have a greenhouse yet,” Mr Burdess said.

“We have a pretty large garden, lots of things going on and a heap of student interest, but if we can secure that greenhouse, it would be super good to get as many plants growing in there as possible that we can sell to the community.

“It also just serves as a good place for the kids to be in propagating their own plants and watching the plants grow as well.”

According to architects, parents and members of the school’s edible garden team Pete Wilson and Brett Stonehouse, the proposed design of the six-metre-long and three-metre-wide greenhouse will reflect a ‘Gothic Arch’ style build, made from renewable timber and will have a high ceiling.

Donations for the greenhouse are as little as $1 per pot of seedlings at the two stalls located around Barwon Heads.