The Patch
Weekly sessions in the garden in Kingsville for children in Prep to Year 6, starting in Term 4 2026.
I have had many parents ask me to open up the garden to kids on a regular basis, so I’ve established The Patch, a kids’ garden club by The Corner Garden. It’s a weekly opportunity for kids to relax, regulate and learn in the garden, strengthening their sense of belonging and contribution to our community as we grow a green west together.
Sprouts and Growers follow the same eight weeks, each pitched to their year level. The Patch is built on the Growing Gardeners curriculum I wrote for local primary schools, mapped to the Victorian Curriculum F-10 Version 2.0.
What’s already here?
Children read the garden closely before anything is planted: observing, sketching and taking a ‘before’ photo that comes back out in week 7.
Preparing the beds
Weeding, loosening the soil and mulching, and saving the pulled weeds to brew weed tea, a free fertiliser that is ready by week 6.
Seed sowing
Each child sows their own crops: radishes straight into their patch, and more into upcycled pots, each plant introduced by what it will become.
Worm farm and compost
Children set up a colander worm farm, work out what worms will and won’t eat, and draw the cycle from scrap to worm to soil to plant.
Planting puzzle and transplanting
Children solve plant spacing with cardboard cut-outs, then plant to their plan alongside seedlings I have grown a head start.
The watering routine
Check before you water: the soil moisture test, the first weed tea feed, and a watering routine the group shares.
Garden detectives
The week 1 sketches come back out. Children tally pollinators, measure growth, and compare the crop they sowed with the head-start one.
Harvest celebration
Children harvest what they grew, make flower chains and a calendula dye, and take their harvest home. Growers present their findings to their carers.
Held in the garden in Kingsville, in Melbourne’s inner west. The address is sent to you when you enrol.
Parents and carers are welcome to stay, and attend free. If your child will need you with them, let me know on the form so I can plan numbers in the garden.
Please dress your child in clothes that can get dirty, and a hat. All materials and tools are provided.
Sessions run outdoors. If a session is rained out, it moves to the spare week at the end of term, the week of 14 December.
Places for Term 4 open soon.
Groups are limited to six children. Register below and you’ll hear from me first when enrolments open, with days and times confirmed. An expression of interest doesn’t commit you to anything.
The Patch is built on the curriculum I wrote for Growing Gardeners.
Growing Gardeners puts free seedling trays and facilitated sessions into local schools and kinders.