Incredible Edible Update: Half Term

The Incredible Edible college service started on the 3rd of September with an extremely successful first session. We spent the first twenty minutes getting to know our fellow gardeners and our mission. The Incredible Edible mission is to encourage the community to grow edible plants in public spaces for anyone from the community to harvest. We also spent time sharing what the Incredible Edible mission means to us, on a personal or social level. This year the team consists of 10 middle schoolers and three high schoolers.


The second half was dedicated to removing the excess weeds from the soil that grew over the summer. Weeding is a routine task for our gardeners in Singapore as the high amounts of rain encourage growth. Half the team weeded the beds, whereas the other half worked on mixing the beds and preparing them for planting. We planted spinach saplings that were grown over the summer and long bean seeds from our old successful plants.


One of our goals this season was to work on increasing the variety of herbs and vegetables that we grow on campus. We dedicated the subsequent sessions to weeding the beds, this helps remove competition whiles the plants are still young, and transplanting our larger trees or planting new seeds and saplings. Students also spent time walking to the far nursery across campus to collect wheelbarrows full of soil and mulch to aid in preparing our new metallic beds.


The grade 10 area of focus on UWC Day 2018 was “Inspire Change”. Two mentor groups worked in our garden and helped out by weeding the side beds along the bridge walkway. This helped us substantially as that previously neglected area can be put to use. We covered the side beds with mulch to prevent the weeds from growing and will get to work next half term.


The Singaporean climate is perfect for growing a wide variety of vegetables and herbs. There is lots of sunlight and rain, however the main issue that we face are pests. The Incredible Edible garden on campus is completely organic, it comes with benefits, however, the influx of pests is the price we pay. The three plants that grow the best are: Asian Dil, Arugula (a smaller sub species of rocket) and Capsicum (this is the first year it is thriving). Sharing our produce with the community around us is an integral part of our mission and we love it when we find some of our food missing.


Feel free to come down to the garden after school to harvest some of your own green goodies!