Once upon a time there was a young boy.

His name was John.

John was a student at Thymiana Primary School. He went to 6th grade. He liked school but not as much as he liked gardening.

He loved planting flowers and vegetables with his grandpa in their garden. He liked gardening so much that he even thought he could become a gardener when he grew up.

One day his English teacher asked John's class who would like to help make a children's garden at school. John thought it was a fantastic idea!!

So next day he got his seeds, plants, soil and gardening tools and he went to school. He gave everything to Mrs Aspasia who was very glad to see that someone else liked gardening as much as she did. She thanked him and together they started working on the school garden.

Goodmorning! We are going to make a children's garden at school! Who would like to be a junior gardener?

Next day Mrs Aspasia told everyone at school about the school garden. And guess what! There were quite a few students and teachers who also wanted to join! The principal said it was a wonderful idea and he promised to help as much as he could! John was so happy!

Diamantis, Philip, Chris, Despina were the first to join as junior garderers! They were so excited to start planting! Then came Nick, little John, James, Haris, Michael, Michaela, Catherine, Hermione, Anne... And they all brought their seeds and plants and in a few days the school garden was ready to start! Everyone was so happy!

First they planted the seeds. They planted tomatoes, radishes, marrows, beetroots, peppers, broccoli..

and then they planted the seedlings and the little plants.. lettuce, onion, peas, celery, parsley.. John was so excited and his classmates were so happy!! The first plants were there!

I'm going to get you some more plants for our school garden! Let's buy some herbs and trees! Oh and some rose trees, everyone likes roses! 

And wait a minute.. and strawberries!

Oh yes! I simply love strawberries!

Then the principal was very pleased (because he was also a bit of a gardener himself) and he said:

And he kept his word! He bought 

an orange tree, 

a lemon tree 

and even a Chios tangerine tree!

He also bought all the best herbs: Oregano, thyme, mint, spearmint, rosemary.. and of course some of his favourite strawberries!

He even bought the most beautiful rose trees!!

You should have seen the look on Mrs Aspasia's face!! She was beaming with joy! Everything was there! The junior gardeners were ready 

to start work!

John as the chief junior gardener was collecting all the seeds and the plants that the students brought to the school garden. He also made a list with all the plants and the junior gardeners' names. 

Catherine and little John accepted the challenge to name as many plants they could! Their team won!! They guessed 26 names correctly!! You could tell they knew about plants!

Then the junior gardeners decided to make name tags for all the plants in the school garden in english and in greek, so that all the students could learn more about the plants.

Meanwhile the seeds were growing fast. The first seedlings appeared in less than a week's time! Little George kept watering carefully with his recycled watering bottle. Guess which seeds made the first seedlings! That's right! It was the radishes!

The junior gardeners painted the flower pots! They wanted their school garden to be as beautiful as possible!

The junior gardeners made an amazing work 

painting and decorating the pots! 

And then new gardeners appeared 

in the school garden! 

And they brought 

the prettiest spring 

flowers with them!

Mrs Maria said:  

A gardener's work might be a little dirty but it's so rewarding!

So true!!

John was so happy to make so many 

new gardener friends!

Then Mr Panayiotis came with his students! They helped make a wall nursery with recycled bottles! What a great idea if your house has a small yard, garden or balcony..

How many plants have we planted so far Philip?

We have planted 31 plants in these bottles teacher!

Mrs Aspasia also wanted to make a small greenhouse at the front yard of the school but it was a bit hard to make. The junior gardeners might give it another try next year though!

So far the school garden is blooming, the seeds and the plants are growing and it's such a wonderful sight to see! 

Time to learn more about all these plants John! Let's learn about their flowers, their fruit, their best companion plants, their life cycles, their propagation..

There's so much to do and learn after the Easter break! See you soon in our school garden junior gardeners!

Happy Easter!