Lara from Skool Beanz is delighted to be speaking at this online event. Are you a gardening club leader, teacher, parent, or grandparent? Would you like to start a gardening club or create a children’s garden in your local community? With a panel of experienced children’s gardening creators and teachers, this is a place to share ideas and top tips on how to inspire the next generation of gardeners. Charles Dowding will introduce the forum and our panel of speakers. Each speaker will give an overview of their project, once everyone has spoken we will have a Q&A session. Start time is 11.30am GMT and we expect to finish at 1pm

This year we are proud to offer adult day courses for anyone interested in starting a children's gardening club, creating a children's garden or just looking for top tips on how to engage little beanz in the garden. No gardening experience required. Everyone welcome aged 18+.

Sunday 24th March

Sunday 7th, 21st, 28th April

Sunday 19th May

Sunday 23rd June

Sunday 21st July

Sunday 18th August

Sunday 22nd, 29th September

Sunday 6th, 13th October

10am - 4pm.

£95

It's that time of year again when we dress as our favourite spooky veg, bug or flower and guess the weight of the giant pumpkin - will we ever beat the whopping 48.9kg we grew in our first year?! This year we are delighted to have professional storyteller Helen Bruce tell us interactive stories with drumming around the fire. We can't wait to see you there!

A highlight this year was entering South West in Bloom It's Your Neighbourhood 2023. A lovely judge came to visit us just as we finished our after school gardening club. As I showed him around the garden, a little bean chased him with a bubble gun! As bubbles flew everywhere and he took the colouful organised chaos of the Skool Beanz allotment in, he exclaimed ''I don't think I've ever seen anything like this!'' Turns out Level 5 Outstanding means that's a good thing!

Another pinch ourselves moment this summer was when the Willy Wonka of Veg and my old boss, mentor and friend Charles Dowding came to film a holiday gardening club. The sun shone and the children helped Charles pick fruit, veg and flowers. A wonderful morning we will never forget.

A pinch ourselves moment was welcoming the Gardener's World team and community gardening hero Tayshan Hayden - Smith to spend a couple of days with us on the Skool Beanz allotment filming some of the activities we get up to. In true English summer style, it absolutely poured down on the second day of filming but that didn't dampen the little beanz spirits and we hope the magic and joy we experience from gardening shines through your tv screens.

We are thrilled to host our second NGS Open Day of the Year, welcoming you to look around our children's allotment. With tea and cake served at The Rec, live music, market stalls, plants for sale, creative gardening activities and lots of fun for all the family.

We are excited to be part of the Somerset Food Trail this year. Bring a picnic and sit amongst the beautiful flowers and veg at the Skool Beanz allotment. A lovely afternoon for all the family.

Skool Beanz is running this fun workshop encouraging you to get arty and planty! Go green and learn how to upcycle and decorate pots, plant a pizza, make origami seed packets, decorate a jam jar lid for our ‘Jamdelier,’ paint a wooden spoon plant label and grow a microgreen salad and much more!

This is our second year at this lovely family friendly music festival in our village running creative gardening workshops.

The money raised goes to School in a Bag, the wonderful charity who send School Bags filled with educational resources to poor, orphan, vulnerable, disadvantaged and disaster-affected children around the world.

It's National Children's Gardening Week 27th May - 4th June and what better way to celebrate than to spend the day at Wisley with my friend Charles Dowding, delivering creative gardening workshops in the beautiful new Hilltop building to keen little gardeners and their adults. Thank you to eveyone who joined us and made it so fun.

Thank you National Garden Scheme for publishing this article I wrote about the reasons behind starting Skool Beanz and why I'm so passionate about teaching gardening to children.

Come along and visit the Skool Beanz Allotments (we have 4!) and our community orchard at our NGS open days this year on Saturday 15th April and Saturday 12th August.

With plenty of garden inspiration and fun children's gardening activities along with stalls selling seeds, plants, Skool Beanz art creations, jewellry, woodturning and delicious tea and cake served at The Rec.

We can't wait to see you there.

Thank you so much to the Sherborne Times for featuring us and sharing the Skool Beanz joy.

Thank you so much to everyone who kindly donated to this fund. What a great way to kick start the new year.

Biggest thanks goes to garden writer extraordinaire Matt Biggs for seeking me out and writing this lovely article about my gardening story and the reasons why I'm so passionate about teaching children the joys of gardening.