The Dorset Gardens Trust Donates to our Garden

We were so happy recently to accept a cheque for £300 from the Dorset Gardens Trust. They are a registered charity that has over 500 members. Each year they organise lectures and visits within Dorset and beyond for members who wish to widen their knowledge of the history of gardens and designed landscapes. They also provide funding for important garden restoration works and promote awareness of gardening in schools. It is their involvement in schools that has led to their generous donation to the Holy Trinity Environmental Garden fund.

The delightful Rosemary Agg visited our school garden for the first time back in 2009 before we had installed our pond and we had asked the Dorset Gardens Trust if they might be able to help us fund the marginal planting. Since that time though, we were successful in our bid for some lottery money and this funded both our pond and planting so instead we decided that it would be great if the Dorset Gardens Trust could help us to provide a raised bed high enough for wheelchair users. We currently have one pupil in a wheelchair and we felt that we had not yet provided them with a suitable area in the garden for them to be able to do some planting themselves. Thankfully the Dorset Gardens Trust has enabled us to remedy this situation and as a result of their generous contribution we have been able to install the raised bed, fill it with soil, plant it up and also put some money toward educational signs around the environmental garden.

Thank you to Rosemary and the Dorset Gardens Trust. To join the trust only cost £10.00 annually for a single membership or £15.00 for a joint one. Please visit their website by following the link above for more details.

Frog spawn

Our new frog house bought almost instant rewards. Within a fortnight, we had frog spawn. Right next to the frog house by the plants there it was for all to see. We haven't seen the frog yet but it must be about somewhere. It's amazing really to think that it found us. I had many comments from some people about how nothing would come unless we actually bought it their ourselves but the wildlife experts proved correct in this instance and the animals have hunted us down of their own accord.

We currently also have pond skaters and water beetles. If I can afford it, I shall invest in a better zoom lens for my camera and get you some good shots.

Watch this space.....

Our School Garden Today – a snapshot on March 2nd 2010

I had to go to the school garden today and take some shots for an upcoming project and so I thought I would pop them on the blog too so that you could see how it is looking right now.

There are many jobs that need doing but it is such a joy to feel the weather thawing out a bit and I can feel spring within me so I am very happy.

Can you see the frog house in the pond? More on that later.

Next Garden Open Day

The date has been set for our next Garden Open Day - it will be on Sunday May 16th, 2-5pm. Pop a note in your diaries and be sure to come along. More details to follow.........

Some of our year 4 children have been writing about their likes and dislikes of the school garden. Here is a selection:

Bennetts Water Gardens Donate plants for our school pond.

Here is a list of the plants that Bennetts Water Gardens have donated to our school pond this autumn:

Caltha palustris (marsh marigold, Kingcup)

Carex pendula (pendulud sedge)

Ceratophyllum demersum (hornwort)

Cyperus longus (sweet galingale)

Juncus inflexus (hard rush)

Lychnis flos-cuculi (Ragged Robin)

Lythrum salicaria (purple loosestrife)

Myosotis scorpiodes (water forget-me0not)

Nymphoides peltata (water fringe)

Stratiotes aloides (water soldier)

 

Thank you very much to Bennetts Water Gardens.

The Building of the Pond

There was only really one place in the school garden area that was suitable for the pond that the children had asked for, and that was to the right of the main path before the Gardening Club bed and the Dorset Cereals Garden.
Many months of planning and scouring the internet took place before the final decision on the size and type of pond was reached. Lots of photos of other school ponds were looked at and many considered not good enough for our school.
What we wanted had to be, not so small, that it became choked with vegetation. Not too shallow, so it dries out too easily in a hot summer. Not too deep, that a child can't be easily reached and yanked out. Deep enough for good pond dipping, with a reasonable sized platform to accommodate several children safely at once. With a bank to use up the spoil from the pond, that can be planted with wild flowers. Also a bog garden so that a wide selection of pond wildlife will be encouraged to colonise the area. And for the wildlife, a shallow beach so that if they fall in by accident, they can climb out.

And finally, we needed a good pond contractor who knew what he was doing and who would construct a pond to last for a long time without maintenance. And here it is...



This was the plot that was picked for the pond. It was marked out with a yellow hose to start with, extended in size over time and finally marked out with paint by Goddards the landscaper whilst consulting with Samantha and Helen, on the day before commencement.

The first day of work mid August


A hole in the ground, a bog garden and a bank... really!

Tall posts for the pergola that will cover the main path. Short posts for the safety fence. Nice, smooth, soft sand to line the pond. Well it was smooth when they left that evening, but...

Overnight the resident school fox and by the look of it some of her pals, had a sand bunker party and trampled all over the smooth sand!

Nothing that couldn't be put right.

A soft blanket layer went over the sand, then the really thick liner and finally some water.

The pebble edging goes down. Larger pebbles mixed with small ones.

The framework for the dipping platform is laid.

Pond nearly full of water and the platform nearly finished.

A sturdy all weather platform that will feature information and safety boards on the back wall.

Finished!