Why Nancy Reuben is growing places
ZEKEY BENITAH got his school to go for growth — and now he is in the running to be Young School Gardener of the Year.
The five-year-old student at Hendon’s Nancy Reuben Primary School has reached the final pool of 16 from which the Royal Horticultural Society will choose its winner.
The school has taken part in RHS initiatives such as the Big Soup Share, making soups out of vegetables grown on site, and this year it will be trying to produce a “monster pumpkin”.
Zekey — it stands for Ezekiel — has led the way in encouraging his peers to plant and sow.
Headteacher Anthony Wolfson, said: “It’s the first time that anything like this has happened at NRPS. Our school motto is ‘Together We Grow’. How appropriate!”.
Zekey’s mother Allegra said, “He’s loved gardening ever since he was tiny and old enough to go outdoors and make mud pies. His face would light up with glee when he pulled a radish out of the pot.”
Although the family has only a small patch of mainly concrete garden, it has not deterred their horticultural enterprise.
“We have 30 varieties of fruit and vegetables growing in pots,” said Mrs
Benitah, who many will know professionally as the Challah Mummy.
Only this week she and her children were filling a challah with rhubarb compote made from their own garden produce.
Zekey took his enthusiasm to school. “He noticed at the front of Nancy Reuben there was a big patch of earth that was overgrown with weeds,” Mrs Benitah said. “He asked if we could speak to Mr Wolfson to see if the school could have a garden.
“In order to get everything ready, he went into school in the holidays as he wanted his friends to have something to pick when they returned.”
He began with turnips to go with the well-known children’s story The Enormous Turnip.
Now the school’s vegetable patch includes its own little herb garden.
It has proved “a lovely asset,” said Mrs Benitah. Her son’s place in the RHS final was “a wonderful achievement for him and the school”.
He’s already earned Nancy Reuben a £100 gift voucher from the RHS to put towards the garden.
If you happen to be passing by over the next few months, keep an eye on those pumpkins.