Westside girls transform a wasteland into a school garden

For the first time Westside Comprehensive has won the Gibraltar Horticultural Gibtelecom cup. Two students and one teacher have transformed a wasteland into a school garden.

The students Katie Norton and Elizabeth Lane both aged 14, and their teacher Nadine Delgado used their own free time during their lunch breaks to plant seeds and grow vegetables, herbs and flowers.

The transformation took an entire academic year but now the school has been recognised for their work. Christine Gilder presented the award on behalf of the Gibraltar Horticultural Society marking the first time a comprehensive school has won this award.

“I started the gardening club last year because there was a massive waste ground here and I did not like seeing it every day and I enjoy gardening in my spare time,” Ms Delgado said.

“I got a group of girls who I taught and they all chipped in. We started to cultivate the garden and started with seeds because to be honest I had never grown vegetables before, for me it has always been about flowers.”

Complete with its own scarecrow the garden includes corn plants, peas, tomatoes, parsley, carrots, radishes, and pansies. The girls also made biodegradable containers made out of newspaper for their peas.

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