GREEN-fingered pupils from St Andrew’s C of E Infant School and St Peter’s Primary School set up shop outside Waitrose in Lion and Lamb Yard to sell their allotment produce.

The event was facilitated by Waitrose’s Community Matters scheme to give primary school children the opportunity to learn about growing fresh produce.

Waitrose provided both schools with seed kits during the spring term, which the children planted and were responsible for watering daily until they were ready to harvest.

The ‘Grow to Sell’ scheme aims to teach children about food production, “the importance of seasonality and the fragility of producing food”.

Nicola Webzell, gardening club leader at St Peter’s said: “This is the first time the children have sold their vegetables to the local community.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for the children to understand how the food supply chain works.”

Pupils from St Peter’s have also been working on the school’s garden ahead of the Farnham in Bloom competition, judging of which took place on July 10 and 11.

All proceeds from the sale of the Wrecclesham school’s vegetables will go will go towards the purchase of an irrigation system.

St Peter’s is in need of this because over the weekends and school holidays it is not always easy to find someone to water the allotments.

St Andrew’s infant school is donating the funds it raised to Oxfam. Originally, pupils had wanted to grow enough food to donate to “people who didn’t have enough to eat”.

Janet Elliot, a parent helper and unofficial head gardener, explained that the Waitrose scheme provided the perfect chance for the children to help those in need and learn about gardening.

She added: “The children loved planting the seeds. It’s all new to them and it’s lovely to give them this opportunity.”

Ava and Isabel, students at St Andrew’s, said they really enjoyed harvesting their produce because they “finally got to see what the vegetables looked like”.