This Saturday and Sunday the school garden was open to the public as part of the National Garden Scheme which has charitable status.  Over the weekend we had about 120 visitors but the maths is yet to be finalised. The pupils,teachers and volunteers worked hard to make sure that we put on our best display.  All the visitors enjoyed the garden and had nothing but good comments to make about it.  As a tribute to the pupils and their teachers this blog entry shows just colour and interest  from the class beds and garden club beds.







We have quoted from Kipling before but unashamedly the entire poem is laid out below. A wonderful baseline for us all.  The quality of life laid out bare. 

IF



If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

With the start now of the school summer holidays we hope and wish that all staff, pupils and garden volunteers have a pleasant break and have a chance to  enjoy the sun and some rest and relaxation.  The blog will tick over during the holidays. 



Look at me!

Hiding in one of the old coconut shell bird feeders was this delightful spider. In the greenhouse the Venus Fly trap had relaxed its' grip on the fly which it had caught last week. The fly had been completely digested.

This one will bite!

The Venus Fly-trap releases the dead fly

Whilst topping up the bird feeders the familiar sound of young birds in a nest begging for food was heard. With caution and stealth the source was traced to  a hole in the wall at the back of the graden behind the bird hide.  A Wren was watched several times taking food into the nest for the young birds inside.  The Wren builds a domed nest so you cannot see the chicks!

Click to enlarge the picture of the Wren

About the garden the small patch of Wheat, Oats and Barley are all doing well and have their seed heads proudly showing.  Barley heads are wonderful things to watch in the breeze.  This fact was captured in poetry by Katharine Tynan in her poem ' The wind that shakes the barley'

There's music in my heart all day,
I hear it late and early,
It comes from fields are far away,
The wind that shakes the barley.