Wow, what a busy Friday

Yesterday was a lovely sunny day. The Eco Warriors finished their Eco suggestion boxes at lunch time and then it was time for me to move on to the garden. I had seen classes going up to and back from the garden through the art room windows. Now it was our turn.

We had had a delivery from Rocket Gardens the day before, courtesy of Dorset Cereals - Thanks Guys. These plug plants needed placing in the garden and so we had 6 helpers, 3 from year 1 and three from year 2.

When we arrived in the garden it was already full of a year 2 class, sowing seeds, planting up their beds and enjoying the willow classroom:

and some of year 5 were up there tending to their bed also. They had sown some purple sprouting broccoli seeds that they now wanted to transplant into their bed:

Here's my helpers planting some lettuces, spinach and tomato plug plants and then watering them. We are all going to be enjoying our cut and come again in no time at all.

Wow, what a busy day in the garden!!

Planting courgettes

Last Friday we took a small group of year 1 children up to the garden to clear the old cabbages and plant some courgettes that had been donated to the school. The children love to get out into the open, breathe in the fresh air and get their hands dirty. We sprinkled on some organic chicken manure first which they all found rather funny - being aged 5/6!! and then popped in the plants. Finally we gave them a good water and then returned to class.

Then the fox made her(?) daily trek across the garden. She is getting more and more tame as time goes by. Soon she'll be sitting in on story time in the willow classroom!!

Plant identification help please

We spent the afternoon in the garden yesterday. It was a rather dull and cold Bank Holiday unfortunately but we still all had a great time and a lovely BBQ - thanks Jo.

Katherine will update you all on how it went hopefully but I was wondering if any of you would be able to tell us what this plant is please? It has self seeded from last year but unfortunately we cannot remember what was there last year as it all came down from the show.

I took a large Rosemary bush from my back garden and took it to the school garden to go next to the compost bin.

Here's a view of everyone pottering away at their various tasks.

opinions please

I am wondering if any of our readers can help us.
As you know, we are holding a garden open day on Sunday May 17th. This will be an opportunity for the public and local communities to visit this award winning garden and see how we have been using it and to also see our willow classroom. We had decided to charge an entrance fee of £1.50. I have started though to receive some feedback from school parents saying that they felt this entrance charge would keep people away. As gardeners I would be very interested to hear your opinions on this matter. Our team is meeting again on Monday where we will discuss this issue for the final time so I would be ever so grateful for any opinions you can share with us.

The aim of the day is to bring people in, the more, the merrier, for them to have a fun afternoon and to raise awareness about the value of gardening in schools.
We will have a local potter, stone mason and wood turner demonstrating their craft on the day, we will be selling locally sourced cream teas, selling plants, May Pole dancing, country dancing, guess the weight of the cake, make paper pots and plant seeds and much much more.

So please, if you read this post, do leave a comment about what you think would be best.
Thank you, thank you.

We are very excited to be able to tell you that we have been awarded a lottery grant to help us in our quest to provide a superb garden and wildlife area for our school and local community. The Echo were up at the garden yesterday to take some photos which I will post when they become available. More information will be posted in a short while.
This is great news.
Yippeeeee

We have recently been mentioned on the edible playgrounds newsletter. Please read the article here: http://www.edibleplaygrounds.co.uk/how-to-get-started/news-on-schools

Today in the school garden.

Here are some photos that my daughters and I took today whilst at the school garden. The first is a shot along one of the boundaries where we have very recently planted a new hedgerow to fill up the gaps that you can't actually see in this photo.


Here is a lovely shot of some of the flowers from bulbs that parents donated and planted last autumn. The hose pipe is in the background as it is all set up to water the willow classroom and tunnel.
I was trying to get a photo of a bumble bee feeding from these nettle flowers but alas couldn't get close enough. If you squint you might just see it in the centre.
We set to work transplanting some leeks, nasturtium and sowing some carrot seeds. Team work.

The path is still holding up. Great photo girls.


The wind turbine is up and running. Excellent job Parent Pete.



Yummy rhubarb.


Technology at the garden. Laptop taken up so that the planting plan could be followed.


The oats are growing nicely.