Youngsters discover the fruits of their hard work
Thomas Becket Catholic School, Becket Way Kettering Road North, Northampton. Bananas growing in School's mini-Eden Project. Discovered by pupil Liam Claris, during after school-club. L-R Alicia Solazzo, Edmund Cooper, Megan Kirkton, Liam Claris, and Eldho Saji.
FREEZING temperatures and snow may have been sweeping across the county but pupils in Northampton are literally reaping the fruits from their tropical experiment.
Dozens of bananas have been spotted among the undergrowth in a climate controlled greenhouse known as the mini-Eden Project set up 18 months ago at Thomas Becket Catholic School.
Since the glass house was installed, staff and students at the secondary school in Becket Way, Spinney Hill, have been tending to a wide range of exotic and Mediterranean plants including the Rajapuri variety of the Indian banana plant.
Horticulture teacher Jane Solazzo said: “We have an afterschool club which regularly meets to maintain the plants in the green house and were amazed when one of the year nine students Liam Claris saw the bananas as he was cutting back the leaves.
“The Rajapuri was one of the original plants installed in the green house but we never expected it to cultivate any fruit.
“We must have obviously got the temperatures and humidity levels right for them to grow.”
The Rajapur is native to northern India and is among 50 different plants cared for in the greenhouse.
The tropical area in the school conservatory is kept at 14C during the day and above 10C at night with humidity levels of 80 to 85 per cent, while the Mediterranean division is lower with temperatures set at 11C during the day and at 9C at night, humidity levels set at 40 per cent.
Mrs Solazzo said: “It’s actually nice to see for themselves how bananas grow in real life . . . as they grow upside down on a tree.
“Over time they have been getting bigger.
“Who knows what else we’ll find in our green house.”
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Weather for Northampton
Saturday 26 May 2012
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Temperature: 11 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: East
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