Biodiversity major asset in Aalst Lyceum

Experimenting with local varieties creates more diversity

June 17, 2020 - Interview with Ruben Meert, teacher natural science and scientific work at the Aalst Lyceum

And then there was an idea

About ten years ago, we noticed there were a number of lost corners at school. We came up with the idea to plant a couple of fruit trees to give our students the chance to see an apple grow, or pick a plum or a peach from a tree.

First, we planted a couple of common fruit varieties like an elstar apple tree and a conference pear tree. But then my colleague came with the idea to grow old local fruits. He told me that his mother got a hold of ‘pistoolperen’ way back when, a local variety from the area af the Dender river. So we went to look for that tree. It took some time, but after some detours, we found it somewhere after all.
We took a couple of twigs to graft onto a rootstock and that really did trigger something in us. Because there is an infinite amount of local varieties and you really get a kick out of looking for them and finding them again. It’s living heritage that we’re securing.

Okay, an idea! What now?

Step 1: a supported idea, is worth two

When we propose something to our principal at school, she usually trusts us for 200% and says: ‘Yes, go ahead!’ That gives the teachers a lot of job satisfaction. But of course she also knows that those initiatives are an asset of our school. Lots of students and parents indicate that our green character played a part in their choice to come to our school.
All our teachers stand behind our green work, but their involvement obviously differs from person to person. The fun part is that we started small, no masterplan. You know, there is always sòmething that can be done. Taking away one or two tiles from your playground to plant a tree, is already a start.

Step 2: now very concrete

We could make a deal with our neighbours. They could stock their building materials with us for a while and in exchange they dug out part of our asphalting and delivered new garden soil.
On every square meter possible, we’ve planted something by now. At first we had our fruit trees get grafted at a nursery, but now we just do it ourselves. We have over 100 varieties by now, without really investing much money into it.
We also focus on the undergrowth to increase the biodiversity. Everything we put underneath the trees, has to be good for insects, bees or birds. So we have berry bushes for the pigeons and blackbirds for example, and flowers for the bees and other insects. Since we made a bank of branches together with the pupils, three more birds have started breeding at our school: the Dunnock, the Wren and the Robin.
We also started a vegetable garden, that we officially inaugurated during the first week of September in 2019, with soup for the entire school. We put all the produce from the garden in there.
Then we started experimenting too. We have an apple tree for example, that we put 7 different apple species on. The fruit on one branch will be ripe in September, another at the start of October and so on. This way, kids learn more about nature through experiencing and experimenting. They see the branches intertwining. That’s a miracle.
So the entire project actually grew organically. There was an idea about fruit trees once, but the ball kept on rolling. Every edge, all lost spots, all strips of the playground we could use, we planted on. I look at it a little bit like the never ending tour of Bob Dylan. We just keep going and when all the space is used up, we’ll start on the roof, I think.

Step 3: an idea needs to be maintained

The initiatives you take, you take in function of the hours you’re willing and able to spend on them. The vegetable garden for example, is as big as you want to make it. The same thing goes for the maintenance. If you put half-fruit trees or standard trees, you don’t have a lot of pruning to do. You have more work on a big lawn by the way, than on a flower patch or a small bush. And in a vegetable garden, a pumpkin plant will take care of itself, if you don’t feel like weeding too much.
Three neighbours from our street also use a couple of square meters of the garden. They make sure that there is supervision and maintenance during vacations.
Every year, we put a lot of bulbs in the ground with the students from the first and second year, like crocuses and narcissuses. It’s in the curriculum for the scientific electives. And every time something is ripe in the orchard or the vegetable garden, we let the students pick the produce. We also have an outdoor classroom and when we give classes outside, the students ask sometimes if they can eat some rhubarb. I think that’s brilliant.

The impact of an idea

In any case, looking out into the green in your daily environment has a positive effect on your mind. Especially in times of drought and heat, a green environment is nice and cooling. We all know a tree works better than an aircon.
During summer, the colleagues sit outside now to eat their lunches instead of in the teachers’ room. It’s very relaxing and fun. We can now also offer students who don’t function very well on busy playgrounds a more peaceful environment to spend their breaks.

If there is more nature,
you can breathe more.
I am proud that we
can do this.

Welcome, 13 years old (English translation)

Our green work is very interesting for the students from an educational point of view. I often go outside to teach, about sexual and asexual reproduction or about biodiversity for example. Then when I tell a story about mold on a banana plantation, you see that a lot of students understand what you’re talking about. They see that the odds of plants getting sick get smaller the more varieties you have. Some students bring their own plants from home or ask questions about the vegetable garden.
Just last week, I was walking around our vegetable garden and on the fennel I saw two swallowtail caterpillars. Unbelievable, isn’t it: in the middle of all that asphalt of the city, our school garden is interesting enough for that swallowtail to fly here and drop off her eggs. That gives us a lot of joy and a desire to continue, every day.

Green makes you
happier. We feel
more free.

Nette, 13 years old (English translation)

Aaaaaaargh! (Fear of an idea)

Actually scared? No. A ball will bump into your plants sometimes or a branch will break, but that is not inevitable. In the meantime we’ve also learned it’s best if we cultivate the plants at home first and plant them at school later.
The only thing that scares me, is the increasing drought. Our garden is basically groaning because of the drought sometimes. We have lots of different buildings where a lot of rain can fall, but the water all runs into the sewer system. I have now disconnected a couple of drain pipes myself and bent them to let the water flow towards the vegetable garden. But that’s not even 5% of the roof surface. And there is an enormous potential to get more rainwater to flow to our garden. But to do that, structural changes need to be made. I think the government should take the lead at least for their own buildings and should provide the necessary budgets. Hopefully that will happen in the future!