Our School Graden After the 16 Days Christmas Break: An Update

Before the Christmas break, I left our school garden with a peaceful and happy heart. I made sure that everything was in good condition before we went on a 16-day holiday. The vegetable plots were clean and free from weeds. I checked every plant carefully, knowing that they would be on their own while we were away.

At that time, the garden looked healthy and full of promise. The cucumber plants had started to produce baby fruits. Seeing those small cucumbers made me excited because I knew they would soon be ready for harvest. The chilli pepper plants were also doing very well. They were full of baby fruits, hanging proudly on the branches. The bottle gourds were growing nicely, and the sponge gourds were climbing and clinging to the miracle fruit tree, just as they should. The wild bitter gourd plants had many flowers, which was a good sign. It meant that fruits would soon come in batches. Everything felt balanced, alive, and hopeful.

After the 16 days of Christmas break, I returned to the school garden with excitement, but also with curiosity. I knew plants grow fast, but I was not fully prepared for what I saw.

The first thing that caught my eyes were the cucumber plants. There were many fruits, more than 15 of them, but they were hanging yellow and overripe. Sadly, they could no longer be eaten. Seeing them like that broke my heart. All those fruits had turned into waste simply because no one was there to harvest them on time.

The wild bitter gourds, however, brought a mix of happiness and sadness. There were many ready-to-eat fruits, which was a good thing. At the same time, some fruits had already turned orange, meaning they were fully ripe and no longer edible. Still, I was thankful that we were able to harvest some of them. We even had a bitter gourd, cucumber, and shrimp salad at lunch that day.

The sponge gourds surprised me the most. Many fruits had already matured and were hanging heavily on the vines. However, they had turned into loofahs, becoming natural sponges instead of vegetables for cooking. They were no longer suitable for soups, but they showed how fast nature works when left alone.

The chilli peppers were a beautiful sight. Many of the fruits had turned red, and there were lots of them. Seeing those bright red chillies made me smile. They were healthy and strong, and they added color to the garden.

As I walked around, I noticed that the garden plots had turned bushy. Weeds had grown everywhere, competing with the vegetables for space and nutrients. The spinach plants were tall, lush, and blooming. We harvested around 5 kilos of spinach that day, which felt rewarding.

One sad sight was the water spinach, also known as kangkong. It had already produced white flowers. This meant that the leaves and stalks were mature and no longer tender. They needed to be harvested and replanted for new growth.

After just 16 days, the garden had changed so much. This experience reminded me how fast plants grow and mature. It taught me that gardening needs time, care, and presence. The school garden showed me that nature never stops, even when we are away.