school garden

school garden

Sunday 8 March 2015

"Beware of the man who does not talk...

..and the dog that does not bark"

Cheyenne Indian Proverb

With fine weather forecast for the weekend it was decided to order the fine limestone aggregate to finish off the paths in the Jurassic Garden.  Portland Stone delivered the 3 cubic metres of stone at 10.00 and by 13.30 it had all been wheel-barrowed into the garden and made good with the wacker plate.








By early afternoon the task had been completed

Raking level and the vibrating plate making good the surface

The view from our eco-loo

The finished piece!
The masses of frogspawn



The frogspawn was laid exactly one week later than last year.  At one point during the day 37 frogs were counted together at the shallow end of the pond, but there were more swimming about so a realistic total of 50 is quite likely




The crocuses are attracting early bees and several species have been seen in the garden this week.  Some small andrena types and along with the more familiar Buff-tailed Bumblebee a queen Tree Bumblebee was spotted flying around the garden probably looking for  a nest site.




Tree Bumblebee
Some time was spent in the WW2 garden and by the end of the afternoon it had been tidied up ready for planting.




The smaller minature daffodils are now appearing across the garden.  They, too, were attracting insects




The final job of the weekend was to start work on the new composting area.  We are making three large compost 'bins' which should make things easier in the garden and allow us to turn the maturing compost regularly and get it back on the ground quicker.  The holes were dug and the posts cemented in.  Next week we can hopefully finish the task.

The new composting area

Finally, further proof that Spring is nearby the first Hoverfly of the year was spotted sunning itself on the garden sign.  A common species, Eristalis pertinax, is one of the first to emerge. The front and middle legs are yellow.

The first Hoverfly of the year
We are hoping to organise a working party over the Easter holidays.  Details will appear on the blog later.

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