Schools growing birdseed
In 2008, three primary schools in the Society’s Campaign for School Gardening grew six different annuals, chosen for their seed production and popularity with birds. The aim was to teach children how to grow annuals, to learn about the benefits of plants to birds, and of course to make it fun as well as educational. Some seeds were left on the plants while others were collected for later use on bird tables.
The six annuals they grew were sunflowers, quinoa, red millet, naked oats and niger (Guizotia abyssinica), most of which are commonly used in commercial wild bird seed mixtures.
All Saints Church of England Junior School, for seven to eleven year olds in Peterborough, sowed their annuals in raised beds and kept them irrigated over the summer.
Their sunflower crop was particularly successful; some were harvested as separate seeds while other seedheads were placed whole on the birdtables for finches and nuthatches to help themselves, as they would from wild plants.
Alton Infant School in Hampshire is particularly keen on gardening; not only does every class have its own organic vegetable plot and the school an allotment nearby, its garden at the 2007 Hampton Court Flower Show won a Gold Medal and Best Small Garden in show. They grew their seeds in shallow raised beds on their class plots.
They also enjoyed harvesting the seeds at the end of the growing season and using them to keep the school’s bird tables stocked through the autumn and winter.
Knaresborough St Johns C of E Primary School was one of the schools involved, with the help of their teacher Louise Ward and the Knaresborough Allotment Self-Help Scheme. The children grew some of the plants in pots, which they enjoyed sowing outdoors in large black containers.
Although the pot-grown plants did give a good crop of seeds which were harvested and used on the school bird table, the children found that plants grew better on the school’s nearby allotment, with the help of the Knaresborough Allotment Self-Help Scheme.