Start a school garden and you'll join a small army of enthusiastic youngsters learning while getting their hands well and truly dirty all across Ireland.
This week sees Ireland's first-ever school garden education conference at the Marino Institute in Dublin (www.mie.ie). It's a fantastic way to learn about school gardening, whether you're already running a school gardening club or are thinking about setting it up.
Kids would always rather be outside in the fresh air than stuck in a classroom, and getting them into the garden teaches an amazing array of subjects; sciences like biology, geology and botany are all part of daily gardening, as are maths, geometry, environmental studies and art. And kids pick up essential life skills from teamwork to problem solving along the way.
There are lots of organisations out there to help you and your gardening club get off the ground: Heritage in Schools (www.heritageinschools.ie) runs hands-on workshops, while GIY Ireland (www.giyinternational.org) has online resources for teachers, kids and parents. And you can get a free DVD from the government all about organic gardening in primary schools (www.bordbia.ie).
So make this the year you make a little muck and magic in your school, and sow the seeds of a lifetime of fulfilment through gardening.
