A group of Year 11 and 12 Innovative Horticulture students recently visited Tharfield Nurseries, home of the Incredible Edibles brand.

They went on a tour of the stock nursery to see where the cuttings and scions (grafting wood cuttings) come from and then were shown the technique of grafting, using persimmon saplings, very sharp knives and skillful speedy technique.

Participation was the name of the game in the next  experience, where students learned from the experts how to produce high quality grape cuttings. As Tom remarked, “Theirs look a bit better than ours at school Miss!” Well, ours might not look so pretty, they did all grow into healthy plants. 

Just about everybody had a turn at the various steps, and back at school the following week the Year 11s showed the rest of their class how to do it. Our new cuttings are up to Tom’s expectations – tangible evidence of the value of real life learning.

Thanks so much to the incredible team at Incredible Edibles, who have supported us so much with these wonderful opportunities to visit over the last few years.