Future Gardeners

Dear Gardeners,

We’ve had a busy time at Homeacres, in particular with planting tomatoes, melons, sweetcorn, courgettes and more. The handbrakes are off!

In addition, I am so pleased to be teaching again in the garden. We had our first afternoon course all about propagation, and then the first day course of the year. Everyone had so many questions which made for some great discussions. 

My propagation jobs coming up are sowing summer beans, more sweetcorn, potting on squash, courgettes and cucumbers. I sow summer beans from 8th May onwards, both direct and in modules. The weather forecast is uncertain, but thankfully it's now warmer by night, giving me confidence in putting out these tender plants. Some of them we cover with fleece for a while.

It was brilliant to catch up with Lara Honnor at her Skool Beanz allotments. I went along to their Open Day on a beautifully sunny day. They had so many visitors and I’m sure everyone left inspired to get growing with their children.

I’m delighted with this month's newsletter because we are featuring Otto who is 11 years old. His mum, Helen Cross, has a similar vision to Lara’s. Otto is definitely hooked on gardening and loves growing pumpkins. You can read below how he feels about growing and why he thinks it’s important for children.

I was also delighted to hear of a no dig connection made in Spain through our No Dig World Map. For info on how to be added to the map, see below!

Happy gardening,

Charles

Author, journalist and broadcaster Helen Cross is quite evangelical when it comes to gardening with children, working with schools across East Renfrewshire over the last 7 years and establishing the school gardening group Netherlee Budding Minds as well as publishing her first book Grow, Cook, Inspire. Her inspiration and the driving force was the realization that during lockdown five years ago, children and adults had become disconnected from nature and there was a need to engage with the next generation of green fingered crusaders and reignite a love for the natural world.

Helen was one of the speakers at our 2025 Future Gardeners forum.

We spoke with Helen’s eldest son Otto to find out what it is that he loves about gardening and growing his food, and why school gardens are more important now more than ever.

Hi, I’m Otto Cross and I’m 11 years old. While yes I do love playing video games, playing rugby, wrestling and swimming I also love gardening—especially growing pumpkins, dahlias, and purple carrots! And I also create terrariums and collect house plants so my room is like a botanical jungle. For me, gardening isn’t just about getting my hands dirty; it’s about being outside, learning cool stuff, and feeling happy. I want to share why I think school gardens are super important for kids like me and also my friends.

Why Gardening Matters for Kids

Gardening helps me feel strong and healthy. Digging, planting, and carrying soil is a workout, and I always end up feeling proud of what I’ve made. When I’m busy in the garden, I don’t think about things that I’m maybe worried about—I just focus on what’s growing. It’s like a break for my brain and makes me feel calm and excited at the same time. However, it is also a good time to open up and speak to my friends or my family if we are gardening together. A garden is a safe place.

School Gardens and Learning

School gardens aren’t just for fun—they help us learn in loads of subjects. In science, we study how plants grow and what they need to survive. In math, we measure how heavy our pumpkins get or count how many potatoes we’ve harvested or planning and measuring the material we need for a raised bed. We draw and paint flowers in art and sometimes write stories about the garden for English. Even history feels closer when we discover old ways of growing food and talk about how people used gardens long ago for medical problems. The garden can teach as so many different lessons, plus it gets us outside and away from our desks and our hot stuffy classrooms.

My Mum’s Influence

My mum, Helen, is a massive inspiration for me and some of my friends. She started Netherlee Budding Minds and always encourages us to try new things in the garden. She taught us that nature is awesome and that we can make a difference if we just give it a go. Her passion makes gardening feel important, and it has brought our school and community together in a way that’s really special and also important.

Pumpkins are the coolest because, you can grow so many different varieties  and colours and of course they taste delicious. Dahlias are my favorite flowers—they’re bright, bold, and make our garden look amazing. I love Otto’s Thrill which has a giant pink flower the size of my face and I’ve become quite good at creating floral wreaths with flowers from the garden. And purple carrots? They’re weird and wonderful, and I love showing them off because most people don’t even know they exist. You won’t find them in your standard supermarket.

Let’s Make School Gardens a Priority!

If every school had a garden, kids would be healthier, happier, and brighter. We’d learn new things, make friends, and reconnect with nature. So, I hope parents, teachers, and students everywhere can work together to help make school gardens a big deal. Growing things doesn’t just change gardens — it changes lives, and I’m proof of that!

We were contacted a little while ago by Tracey, a no dig gardener living in Catalonia, Spain. She had seen on our world map that there was a fellow no dig gardener who lived in the same village, and asked if we could put her in touch.

We contacted Karen at The Garden of Ideas (Karen was one of the speakers at our 2025 Future Gardeners Forum, details below), and we’re delighted to say that they made contact and now Tracey helps Karen in the school garden.

If you would like to be added to the map, please email [email protected], with your name, location, a brief description of your no dig garden/allotment/project, and one photo. Please also say whether you would be happy to share your contact details so neighbouring no diggers can get in touch. Let’s hope we can create more connections!

Would you like to share your experience of growing and gardening with children?

However large or small your project, we would love to hear from you.

We hope that by showing what’s possible, others will be encouraged to get started with their ideas.

Please email Nicola: [email protected]

To help with the planning of a school garden, please see this page of my website.

For starting a new no dig allotment or garden, this is the page.

First Tunnels offer schools a 20% discount. Do see their page here, where they feature the Future Gardeners Forum!

For a Sowing Timeline in the Northern Hemisphere, please see this page, and for the Southern Hemisphere, please click here.

One of our subscribers, Josh Hunt, kindly sent in a Padlet of resources for those specifically involved in setting up school garden projects: https://padlet.com/chaplain19/school-gardening-resources-zy4bs8qzxsh7qqp8

We would like this resource list to grow and turn into a toolkit to help set up and run a successful growing space for children, so if you have any resources you think would be helpful, please email Anna, [email protected]

Below are the contact details for the Future Gardeners Forum speakers from 2024, 2025 and 2026. Do follow along with their projects via Instagram or their websites.

Eddie Rixon at Lopemede farm: @lopemead_farm

Olivia Shave at Soil.Ed: @soil_ed_uk

Lara Honnor at Skool Beanz: @skoolbeanz

Alby Jones, @nodigkid

Beth Rochford, @rootzup

Karen Waterston, @thegardenofideas

Helen Cross, @grow_cook_inspire

Tom Houghton, @thecommunitygrowers_cic, @thebostonmarketgarden

Hannah and Ross, @lettinggrow

Lara Honnor – Skool Beanz 
@skoolbeanz

Jess Creasey – Cornwall Grows CIC 
@cornwallgrows

Phil Brown – Headteacher, Bottesford Junior School 
Website: https://www.bottesfordjuniors.com/school-garden/

Sarah Alun-Jones - GROW
@wearegrow
https://www.wearegrow.org

Dan Romans-Hay – Woody School Farm, Streatham
@woodyschoolfarm
[email protected]

Matt Willer – The Papillon Project
@thepapillonproject
https://www.thepapillonproject.com