The ‘Jabu and the Beanstalk’ initiative is putting down roots!

The project was recently launched by GardenShop to encourage the youth to become passionate about gardening and is also an opportunity for children to win prizes for themselves as well as a veggie garden for an underprivileged school of their choice.

After Bryanston Grade 0 was inspired to go the extra mile for two needy pre-schools, as reported in Watch as their compassion grows, Week ending 21 September, 2018, the GardenShop decided to pay the school a visit.

Representatives from the company visited the school’s campus off William Nicol Drive on 19 September for a demonstration, which included a teepee-making challenge and prizes up for grabs.

“It’s so important to teach children how to care for their own gardens,” explained Khumi Ngubeni, one of this year’s Tammy Taylor Mrs South Africa semi-finalists and who is sponsored by GardenShop.

She attended the school on the day and led the demonstration. “Then they will be able to grow their own food and feed themselves and their families.

“I’m also really excited for the second phase of Jabu and the Bean Stalk, which will focus on creating pavement gardens.”

Ngubeni talked to the Grade 0s about the initiative, how to plant and care for their competition beans and the importance of providing food to those in need. Then the children, divided into their five colour-themed classes, got the chance to build their own teepees which will be used to grow the beans on.

The orange class created the best teepee and did so without the help of their class teacher, and so were given prizes from the GardenShop as a reward.

“This is the second school where we’ve held a demonstration. We’ll be going to a few more schools in the future,” concluded Ngubeni.

The Jabu and the Bean Stalk competition runs until 4 December. For details or to enter, visit www.gardenshop.co.za/jabu/