Today we had a select group of
super planters head down to the Opoutama Wetlands with Mr Pickering, Nanny
Dixie, and Mrs Hitchy to help with some new planting.
Mr Pickering had thankfully dug all the holes
for us so it was our job to add fertilizer and then make sure all the roots
were covered when covering the plant with soil. Mr Pickering even taught us a
trick. He pressed all the dirt down around the base of the plant so that when
it rains it will puddle there and feed the plant.
The fertilizer we put in looked like
licorice allsorts! But we weren’t tempted to try them.
We all had our spades and shovels from
school with us, which was helpful when we needed a bit of extra soil to help
cover the roots.
Once we had finished planting (in record
time), Mr Pickering took us through for a walk into the wetlands. We didn’t
spot any Bittern but we read up about them.
Mr Pickering is going to be doing a check
up on how many Bittern there are in the wetlands soon though, so hopefully we
have some keen helpers for this, who could help keep count.
It was a fun morning and everyone enjoyed
getting their hands dirty! It will be
very neat to see how much the plants have grown the next time we head down to
the wetlands.
