August garden update

It is a little ironic that the school garden comes into bloom when the children are away on holiday.  However all is going well except that the badgers have found the ripened barley and stripped the ears of their seed.  Pigeons too are taking advantage of the lack of human prescence.

Wildlife continues to abound. On sunday afternoon  at one time there were 4 Migrant Hawkers and 2 Emperor Dragpnflies.  In the air at the same time were 3 colourful Jersey Tiger moths and a male Sparrowhawk flew fast and low through the garden clutching a prey item- male Sparrowhawks take smaller birds as prey rather than the larger prey taken by the female. This way both birds never go hungry as they do not chase the same size prey!

A busy bumble bee

The garden club Union Jack finally makes good!

Spot the dragonfly larva case!

For those wondering how the Eco-loo is developing, the construction is going well and the inside has been decorated and many of the fittings installed.. We are, we hope, still on time to deliver for the start of next term. (Subject to contractual small print)



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.

Hungry Plants

This afternoon a fly carelessly landed on a sticky leaf of a sundew plant which was growing under one of the pitcher plants. It stuck instantly on the leaf. This is how the plant feeds. It is an insectivorous plant which, like the pitcher plants, attracts insects- principally flies - to the plant and then slowly devours them.  The sundew leaf will slowly curl over the fly and the fly will be digested by the plant.

 

The sundew plants came along for free with one of the pitcher plants. They are very successful with their catching techniques.  A fly was recently seen to land on one of the pitcher plants and fall in but alas no camera that day!

In the greenhouse the gourds, planted for year 3, are now growing very fast-  about 4 inches a day. The tomatoes are also growing well and the warm days are helping with the papyrus which is slowly awakening after the winter months.

In recent days a rose chafer ( see blog from last year) has been seen in the garden.  A bright green jewel flying fast around the garden.  With the garden open day now over we will have to reinstall the anti-pigeon and squirrel defences.  Hopefully  some pictures of bee species recently seen can be uploaded shortly after a little work done on them.

Pigeon defences!

Yesterday the pea-asparus plants, which were brought on in the greenhouse and recently hardened off, were planted out in one of the Gardening Club beds. Whilst planting them there were two pigeons sat in the tree above watching. After planting them  serious anti-pigeon  measures were taken

Pea-asparagus on the left and purple sprouting on the right

The Mange Tout which the Gardening Club planted two weeks ago has also sprouted and again measures have been taken to keep the birds off them

The Mange-tout

In the greenhouse things are going well and the new papyrus seedlings have responded to a few warm days.  One of the the cactus plants has some stunning flowers

On a more interesting note over the past few weeks we have seen False Black Widow spiders in the sheds and also about the school garden.  These spiders can bite and it can be very painful but generally nobody will come up against these spiders.  However if you should see a black spider in the school garden with a large black hump shaped body give it a bit of respect and do not approach it

.

The pale crescent shape on the abdomen is a clue to the identification of this spider.

A recent bee survey has identified six species of bees in the garden in recent weeks. More later.....

IF.........(part two)

"If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two imposters just the same"

Apologies for delving back into Kipling but sadly the pair of nesting Blue Tits met these two imposters.  'Triumph' that the eight chicks in the nest box were doing well but then' Disaster' when recent extreme weather caused the poor chicks to perish as the adults could not get out and about to get food for them

Moving on though to more exciting things. The Gardening Club had a successful session yesterday and encompassed several jobs around the garden. This included mainly weeding and planting onions and other vegetable seeds. Some potting on of smaller plants was also undertaken.


Just before the children gathered the first dragonfly of the year on our pond put in a brief appearance - a delightful male Broad-bodied Chaser

Whilst collecting some pots to transplant some flowers a slow worm was spotted

The Red Mason bees were very active as they are now hatching out of the bamboo canes which are places around the garden. These are delightful bees to watch and very much the gardeners friend

Red Mason Bee

Red Mason Bee leaving bamboo home

Other garden news include the erection of a new shed kindly donated by our friends at B and Q. This will be our machinery shed and used to store heavier items which will leave more space in our other shed for tools.

Over the half term it is hoped to arrange a working party to have a general tidy up and also to make a start on the eco-loo building

The class plots are starting to look good with a lot of effort and thought having been put in by both teachers and pupils alike. Hopefully on our Open day - June 23rd - many people will turn up and enjoy the garden

An ornithological slant...

This morning the pair of Blue Tits which had nested in the green nest box were very busy feeding their chicks.  The chicks hatched on Saturday morning and for the next two weeks the adults will be very busy making hundreds of trips around the garden looking for caterpillars to feed the eight youngsters.

Mum off on another caterpillar hunt

Not singing just very hungry!

The new bird hide is almost complete and just needs a few finishing touches to it.  Just ten minutes this morning spent watching produced some good close views of our school garden birds.  The first birds seen this morning were a pair of House Sparrows feeding on the seed. Then a Woodpigeon dropped in..........

The bird watching hide

House Sparrows feeding at close range

If the Pigeon is here it is not eating anything else

Over the weekend the class beds were also numbered. There are a few more to do but most of them are now numbered

Class Plot 3

Close up detail Plot 3

The Wheat, Barley and Oats are surviving and have now germinated successfully and growing well and it seems that the third effort to exclude the pigeons has worked.  They are however still pulling up the onions but the Blackbirds may be culprits here. More netting over the weekend!

An interesting Digger Wasp was discovered this morning and hopefully the next blog will name the insect.