Moshi, TZ – School Garden Clubs learn “Growing” best practices with hands-on training – 20 Mar 2017

48 students from Maendeleo Primary School’s garden clubs attended Tupendane’s “Growing Vegetables” training on March 9^th. Tupendane manager Deogratius Matemu used lessons learned from previous training sessions to maximize this sessions impact.

In previous training sessions Matemu learned that students are most engaged by a brief 15 to 20-minute classroom orientation and then lots of hands-on training in the gardens. Sticking to this schedule, he feels the Maendeleo session was one of his most successful training sessions yet and the students were engaged the whole time.

The “Ball Test” to measure soil moisture by forming a ball with the soil.

Ensuring mulch does not touch plant stems, as this can spread disease.

The “Two Finger Test” measure top-soil moisture.

Students learn to identify weeds and allow vegetables to keep growing.

Students pile weeds in one place so they can be added to compost.