On a sunny Wednesday morning in March, the boys from 6th class went on a trip with Martina Galvin as part of an ongoing art project that we are doing. We went to see the community gardens at Mud Island on the North Strand. We were also lucky enough to have a tour of the Dublin City Corporation gardens given to us by Marie Staunton.
We set off and met Martina at the Charleville Library at 9.30 in the morning. It was a lovely day and we were glad not to be in the classroom. We walked down the gardens together. They are hidden in behind the Cosy Café on the strand, it was the first time a lot of us were there. We were told that they are called Mud Island gardens because long ago, all of the North Strand was mud due to how close the sea was and that now the land has been reclaimed and put to good use.
We walked around the garden and looked at all of the different plants that are growing there. We saw purple sprouting broccoli, spring onions, potatoes, garlic, spearmint, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, cabbages, rocket and much more. We learnt that all of these are planted by people in our community and that anyone can go to the gardens to help out. They are open Tuesday and Saturday afternoons. During the summer there is plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables that you can take away.
After exploring the garden, we took some time out and sat and drew some of the things that we could see. A few of us drew daffodils, crab apple trees, figs and some of the art work that we saw on the railings. Martina took samples of the plants so that we could look at them and draw them in closer detail back in school.
Mr. Bailey was chatting to one of the men working in the next garden over. He said that it was part of the Larkin Centre run through Dublin City Corporation and that they would show us around. We learnt a lot of new things such as:
• If a growing potato comes in contact with the sun it will turn green. A green potato is poisonous.
• There is such a thing as ornamental cabbages!
• They grow herbaceous plants. Herbaceous plants come back every year, the flower dies but the roots are still alive under the ground.
• We saw figs for the first time, they make up the filling for fig rolls!
• We learnt how to make a clone of a tree, this saves money but it’s also good if the plant is a very good plant and you’d like a copy of it.
• RTE send out potato blight warnings. If a warning is sent out they spray the potato leaves with fungicide. If they had’ve cut off the leaves of the potato plants during the famine the potatoes would have been small but still ok to eat.
• We saw a stump of a tree that now has moss, ferns and mushrooms growing on it.
• We learnt that they cover the soil that strawberries are growing in with a black sacks with holes in it. This means that the strawberries grow above ground, aren’t covered in muck and don’t get mould on them.
• A lot of the plants that are grown there are sent all over Dublin to places like St. Annes Park and Stephens Green.
We got a chance to plant some cress. We were also given a plant for our school. It’s a baby plant so we have to keep it covered in plastic for a few weeks to keep it warm until it is strong enough to go outside. We can’t wait to go back because we are going to plant pumpkins that they are going to give us at Halloween!
We then went of a little walk around the canal and had a look at the memorial garden for the North Stand Bombing.
After all of this we went back to the school where we did some drawing with Martina. We drew more plants but with greater detail.
We had a great morning and learnt lots about plants and gardening.
Adam, Shane, Ben and Dane.
