Garden springs a leek!

Why did the gardener need a cork? Because his garden sprang a leek! Danielle found this joke online and it seems rather apt this week - not only because of all the rain, but also we planted out some leeks. They don't look much in the photo here - just blades of grass really, but hopefully they will turn into tall thick leeks!

The Jersey Kale are coming up - ready for our summer competition.

We also planted out two courgette plants.

Meanwhile, the compost bins keep rotting down - this one has been topped up with shredded paper from the office and...

we raked up some grass to add to this one. Contractors have been in strimming, so we were making use of the by-product!

On a non-club note, the greenhouse community shop has also donated twelve more raised beds for use with classes next year. Miss Swallow is busy writing a course to allow pupils to try planting and learn about the basics of veg. growing, crop rotation, soil, insects and biodiversity etc. Hopefully pupils will enjoy it and you never know, some might even join the DiGGers if they get the bug!

Peas and Potion!

Between heavy showers, we got loads of jobs done in just two meetings this week. On Wednesday, we pulled back the weed barrier on the long raised bed to reveal...weeds!! Just a few, so we set to and pulled them out to prepare for planting out peas.

The strawberries in the same bed are coming on really nicely. I think the flowers look like fried eggs! Amazing to think they will turn into juicy Strawberries.

On Thursday, it was just Charlotte and Danielle as the others were all busy. We haven't imprisoned Charlotte here - it's chicken wire for the peas to grow up!

Danielle seems to have become chief waterer - keeping everything moist for healthy growth. Not an easy job as she did several trips down to the school to carry heavy cans and bottles back up - well done Danielle!

Her next job involves the "potion" bit of the title. She cut leaves from the bottom of the comfry plant...

...and put them to soak in a bucket of water. We will leave them with the lid on for three weeks and it should make great fertilizer.

On Thursday, we also planted runner beans. Not so many germinated this year, so we have five plants growing up three canes.

Already, the radish seedlings are showing through on the potato bed.

Also, on the path nearby, we have a fungi growing. I am no expert so we shan't try eating it. Anyone know what it is from the photo above?

Meanwhile, the squashes in the greenhouse are getting bigger.

Here you can see the rhubarb we planted just before Easter. The front one is doing well, but the other two not so...

...something has been eating the leaves, and they look a bit limp. Not sure what the problem is here, but we have watered them well, to see if they recover. On inspection, we didn't spot any caterpillars or insects.

Daisies growing wild in the garden attract insects and look lovely. Our flower bed has not come to much, so I think we will need to weed it and re-sow before it's too late this year.

Buttercups too are giving lovely colour.

Talking of colour, the winter pansies at the front of the school are looking fabulous! They give a cheery welcome to any guests.

Record week of activity!

This week has been a busy one with something happening in the garden every day! On Monday, we continued to plant potatoes. Catriona's mum came in to join us and did a marvellous job

weeding the strawberries too! We marked each row with a cane and put a pot on top to protect our eyes when bending down near them! We now also have "Golden Wonder" and "King Edward" varieties to add to the collection. On Tuesday, Catriona and Charlotte sowed radish seeds over the top of where the potatoes are. They will come up and be ready to crop before the potatoes show through.

On Wednesday, Miss Swallow was out of school, but Catriona, Charlotte and Danielle dug over soil ready to sow lettuce. They also watered things in the greenhouse. (In case you are wondering, Lewis was away camping with the school this week!)

On Thursday, we transplanted carrot and parsnip seedlings into big pots to give them some depth to grow. We studied the plants - as you can see above, they already have a large root system. The carrot leaves are feathery, except for the two "seed" leaves called "cotyledons" which are a different more simple shape. These are the first leaves to be produced using the energy from the seed. Once they have grown, they can photosynthesise and produce energy for growing the roots and other leaves. We lifted the plants by the cotyledons as they have now performed their function and will die back. We also sowed seeds of "Jersey Kale" sometimes called "Walking Stick Cabbage" as it grows to 2-3 metres tall and the stem can be turned into a polished walking stick. If the seeds sprout, we will use the seedlings for this year's competition - pupils can "adopt" a seedling and the one who has the tallest will win £10 in the Autumn. Again, Frank Nicol's garden centre have kindly agreed to host the competition. This year, we will put the money raised towards the school's "Mary's Meals" appeal which helps to feed children in Malawi - first years are also putting together back packs containing essentials like pencils, footwear, clothing and a spoon to eat with to send out to Malawi. Danielle waters the seeds in the greenhouse.

We also weeded the onions and planted the rest of them out.

Meanwhile, the squash seeds are sprouting...

...and the peas and beans really need planting out!

On Friday, we sowed lettuce next to the onions and started preparing the rest of the soil for planting out brassicas next week. It's all go! Above, you can see our garlic, oats and comfry plant, with some potatoes in bags behind.

Rock hard soil!

This week, our mission was to turn a raised bed of dry rock-solid topsoil into a suitable state for planting potatoes. This involved carrying many full watering cans into the garden to soften the soil so that we could get our spades in to start digging. We then dug it over and mixed in bags of well rotted horse manure. Miss Swallow repaired the edges of the raised bed as two had fallen away and on Thursday we started planting.

We dug a trench, using a plank of wood to stand on so that we didn't compress the soil again. We sprinkled some compost in the bottom along with some pelleted chicken manure to give them a good start. We then planted four varieties: Blue Belle, Smile, Peach Bloom and Fir Apple. As we were planting on Thursday, it started to rain! That helped water them in nicely! Charlotte, Catriona and Miss Swallow also continued on Friday so now there are just two rows left to plant.As well as all this hard work, Danielle and Mr MacFarlane weeded the onions planted last November and planted red onions (from the greenhouse) into the same bed. Meanwhile, other plants are continuing to grow. Here in the greenhouse you can see carrots on the left and peas on the right. Below, our "rocket" potatoes are coming up nicely in bags.

Here you can see the garlic, the oats behind and at the back is our comfry plant which is now huge - and flowering! We are going to have a go at cutting it back and soaking the leaves for three weeks in water, to make plant food.