Education...

"Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught"

Oscar Wilde

This weekend the garden group has been busy tidying up and slowly getting the garden ready for the Open Day (more later) and the National Garden Scheme Open days on July 19th and 20th.

The recent spell of warm weather has brought a lot of the plants on and they have made considerable growth.  The vegetables in particular have made a lot of progress.

The Mange tout are flowering well now and the first of the the crop has appeared

Mange Tout have to be picked hard once the pods start forming.  The harder you pick them the more you get.  The taste is fantastic when freshly picked - even when eaten raw! 

The Broad Beans have been attacked by Blackfly but a fine spray of soapy water should help

The James Grieve apple tree in the WW2 garden has plenty of fruit this year

The potato crop is just starting to flower.

The un-mown patches of long grass are paying off and insect life has increased considerably.  Not only it is environmentally more friendly, the sea of flowering grass heads looks amazing in the evening light.

The sea of flowering grasses in the pond area

Plenty of butterflies have been seen over the weekend and the third record of the Rose Chafer.  The bright emerald green beetle whirring around crash landing into the humus rich soil.

The Rose Chafer

The insect was watched as it dug into the ground and laid eggs in the compost

Common Blue (male)

Red Admiral

Speckled Wood

The school garden has a good population of Speckled Wood butterflies.  They favour the area around the willow classroom which offers the dappled shade which they like

Finally a mention that it is intended to open the School garden on July 5th from 14.00-16.30.  More details later but it is hoped that refreshments will be served and a range of games set up in and around the school grounds for all to enjoy.  Watch this space!