🎯 Learning outcomes
- Prepare soil, compost and grow vegetables or herbs in a kitchen or school garden
- Understand composting and the 3 Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle)
- Conserve water with simple methods like rainwater collection and mulching
Before you start: Gardening basics.
📖 Explanation
Good soil is loose and rich in compost. Composting turns kitchen and garden waste (peels, leaves) into natural fertiliser in a pit or bin over a few weeks; it needs air, moisture and turning.
Kitchen gardens can grow tomatoes, chillies, spinach, tulsi and mint. Plants need sun, water, nutrients and protection from pests (neem spray is a natural option).
The 3 Rs reduce waste. Water can be saved by collecting rainwater, watering in the early morning or evening, and mulching (covering soil with dry leaves) to reduce evaporation.
Many schools under the 'school nutrition garden' programme grow vegetables that are added to mid-day meals.
✗ Compost smells bad and attracts pests
✓ A properly managed compost pit with dry leaves, moisture and turning smells earthy and stays clean.
🧪 Try this activity
Start a compost pot with peels and dry leaves, turn it weekly and record changes for six weeks.
✍️ Question bank with answers
Tap an option to check multiple-choice answers. Open “Answer” or “Marking points” for the others.
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Covering soil with dry leaves to save water is
Answer
C. mulching
Mulch reduces evaporation.
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Compost is made from
Answer
C. peels and leaves
Organic waste decomposes.
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The best time to water plants is
Answer
D. early morning or evening
Less water evaporates.
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Name a herb you can grow at school.
Answer
tulsi, mint or coriander
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What are the 3 Rs?
Answer
reduce, reuse, recycle
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Why is compost better than chemical fertiliser for a school garden?
Marking points
- Natural and safe
- Improves soil and reuses waste
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Describe how to set up and maintain a compost pit.
Marking points
- Choose a shady spot and dig a pit or use a bin
- Layer wet waste and dry leaves
- Keep moist and turn weekly
- Use compost after 6–8 weeks
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Leaves of your tomato plant have small insects. Suggest a safe treatment.
Answer
- Spray diluted neem oil
- Remove affected leaves
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Draw the layers of a compost pit.
Answer
Dry leaves, kitchen waste, soil layers alternating
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