“Strength lies in differences, not in similarities

Last Saturday evening  the school garden was transformed into something a bit special.  The garden group volunteers had prepared the garden for a carol service with a difference.  The event would be held in the dark with members of the school present and also from Holy Trinity Church .

The main path was lit by candles up to the willow classroom and the classroom itself and other prominent features in the garden were floodlit.

As the carol service was about to start we were delighted to see our good friends and neighbours from Highclere House arrive and stay with us for the service.  The staff and residents were made most welcome despite a troublesome gate lock.

The following pictures give a feel to the mood of the evening.  The school choir led the singing which started with traditional carols and finished with a few more seasonal songs.

With the end of term rapidly approaching and the school finishing for the Christmas break activities in the garden will take a rest but work is planned over the holiday period when the garden volunteers hope to kick start the Jurassic Garden.

The lorry has arrived!

Earlier this week the long awaited load from Cambridge arrived. This was the path edgings for the ammonite shaped path in the Jurassic Garden.  A few of the garden volunteers met quickly to help unload the materials.

The pallet on the lorry was quickly unloaded.  The plastic planks and pegs are all made from recycled materials.The driver even gave us the wooden base which the plastic planks had been fixed to.  Nothing is wasted in the school garden. We recycle as much as we can.

Meanwhile the hedgehog seems to be sleeping well in the box. Hopefully it will stay there undisturbed for the rest of the winter.  We did have a sneaky look in to make sure that all was fine. 

A neat and tidy home for the winter!

In the greenhouse the Living Stones are flowering.  The snails have grazed a few but they are doing well.

The Jerusalem Artichokes have finished for the year and the plants have quickly died back.  Four plants were removed this weekend to see what the crop was below.  There were plenty of tubers from just four plants

A little history about the Jerusalem Artichokes will be included in the next catch up.  Cold wintery weather is forecast the next week.  Hopefully it will push the birds into the garden and they will start using the feeders.

The Aftermath..

"No one would have crossed the ocean if he could have gotten off the ship in the storm"

Quote by Charles Kettering-  a prominent American inventor, engineer and businessman

It was with some trepidation that we visited the garden the morning after the Storm called St Jude.  Winds of 90mph had been recorded along the south coast. We were keen to download our weather station and see what had been dealt to us.More later.

First though a quick visual assessment was made.  One broken pane of greenhouse glass,  one crab-apple tree snapped clean in half, the buddleia bent double,  sunflowers flattened, watering cans everywhere and most of the grapes having been ripped off of the vine.  Nothing in fact too serious in that an hour or two tidying up could not put right.

The sunflowers

Watering cans everywhere!

The snapped Crab-apple tree

The damaged buddleia

The weather station had recorded two strong gusts of wind that night.  One at about midnight showed about 35mph and another stronger gust at about 1am on the Monday morning showed about 42-45mph. Pressure had dipped overnight from 1000 to 975 and then slowly climbed up again as the storm passed by us.

Elsewhere the good news is that a hedgehog has moved into one of the boxes put out especially for them to overwinter in..  The animal is best left undisturbed now so please avoid the temptation in opening the lid!

The Aeolian Wind Organ was in fine form and notes danced across the pipes as the wind blew across them.  It is hoped to record them before long and put a link on the blog.

Finally a little bit of autumn colour as the fungi now make an appearance.  Just near the garden gate is this delightful clump of mushrooms

Summer is hanging on....

 "One touch of nature makes the whole world kin ......"

So spoke Ulysses to Achilles
Shakespeare from Troilus and Cressida.
 

Fitting words for this time of year as Autumn is clearly upon us now but summer is still hanging on

A few pictures from around the garden this morning.

This charming geranium 'Rozanne' has been flowering since May!

At one of the class plots- the 'pizza plot' - the pumpkin is still growing!

The ever growing pumpkin

The grapevine still looks healthy and the leaves are still very green and have not started to turn.  Many of the grapes are ripening off but it is unlikely  there will be enough to make a business venture worthwhile!

This weekend the garden group set about tidying a few areas up and targeting the greenhouse in particular.  The vines and creepers inside had all but died off and the tomatoes would certainly produce no more fruit. A good clean tidy greenhouse over the winter is very desirable. All that remains now are the  pitcher plants, the sundew, the venus fly trap, the Clog plant and the Antler plant succulents. Decaying vegetation is not good in a greenhouse!

General view in the tidy greenhouse

The pitcher plant is doing very well.

The Antler plants and the flowering sundew

The group will  save the sundew seeds and try to propagate some new plants for next year.  A little homework will be required for this venture!

We are hoping that groundwork will start very soon on the Jurassic Garden. The next big job in the garden is to examine and turn the many compost bins.  We expect to see a lot of spiders and slugs!

NOTICE:  It is intended to have a carol service in the school garden on Saturday December 7th.  It should be a splendid event with a few pleasant surprises thrown in. Updates and timings about this event will be posted here.

Autumn is coming....

There is a beautiful spirit breathing now
Its mellow richness on the clustered trees,
And, from a beaker full of richest dyes,
Pouring new glory on the autumn woods
Read more at http://www.blackcatpoems.com/l/autumn_longfellow.html#a2TCtQJAhzPGFCvO.99

There is a beautiful spirit breathing now
Its mellow richness on the clustered trees,
And, from a beaker full of richest dyes,
Pouring new glory on the autumn woods,
Read more at http://www.blackcatpoems.com/l/autumn_longfellow.html#kTrGYVdFz1gFtoKV.99

There is a beautiful spirit breathing now
Its mellow richness on the clustered trees,
And, from a beaker full of richest dyes,
Pouring new glory on the autumn woods,
Read more at http://www.blackcatpoems.com/l/autumn_longfellow.html#kTrGYVdFz1gFtoKV.99

There is a beautiful spirit breathing now
Its mellow richness on the clustered trees,
And, from a beaker of richest dyes,
Pouring new glory on the autumn woods


A few lines from 'Autumn'  by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

A bit of a catch up is necessary.  In the green house the curious bean plant has eventually formed and the resulting pods are quite remarkable.  They can grow to a metre long and, as can be seen, are bright red.

Also in the greenhouse the Clog Plant or Goldfish Plant is flowering.  This plant has a bit of a history. It was found at the side of the HQ shed in a blue pot last year .The label was still attached stating Clog Plant. A bit of quick research resulted in the plant being tidied up and moved into the greenhouse having been repotted.  The warmer conditions were just what it wanted.  This year it sprouted leaves and a few weeks ago produced  rather strange shaped flowers which are described as looking like goldfish.





The original picture has been unearthed. The Clog Plant is clearly visible in the blue pot..Below is a detailed picture from the internet

 

One of the classroom beds had produced a wonderful showing of sunflowers.  Up until last week they were all standing tall and proud but the recent wind has caused them to droop. Yesterday they were tied up to keep them in good shape for a little longer.  The Greenfinchs will enjoy the seeds once they have formed.

We were recently given another supply of bark chippings for which we are very grateful. They are always useful to top up around the class beds and also the woodland walk along the boundary of the school garden.

We have had a record number of grapes this year on the vine although it is unlikely that they will ripen and be of any use to us.  Most likely the Wasps will enjoy the fruit before the onset of winter.

The Jerusalem Artichokes have finally flowered.  Related to sunflowers the flowers do not look much different from them.  Soon we can dig up what is below and see what sort of a crop we have.

Finally we are nearly ready to kick start the Jurassic Garden project.  The grass and vegetation has been killed off and hopefully a mini digger will move in and level the ground for us within the next week or so.  The edging for the path and the ammonite shape around the Sycamore tree has been sourced and about to be purchased.  The garden volunteers can then pick up with building a retaining wall and get the path outline created.

Unfortunately then work will stop there for the time being.   To continue will will need funding for the path materials, the plants, the dinosaur nest area and the flying pterodactyl!  The Garden Group are  working hard on finding ways to secure funding to continue and develop this exciting stage of Holy Trinity Environmental Garden

There is a beautiful spirit breathing now
Its mellow richness on the clustered trees,
And, from a beaker full of richest dyes,
Pouring new glory on the autumn woods
Read more at http://www.blackcatpoems.com/l/autumn_longfellow.html#a2TCtQJAhzPGFCvO.99

There is a beautiful spirit breathing now
Its mellow richness on the clustered trees,
And, from a beaker full of richest dyes,
Pouring new glory on the autumn woods
Read more at http://www.blackcatpoems.com/l/autumn_longfellow.html#a2TCtQJAhzPGFCvO.99