Wind and Rain Rain Rain!

 What weather!!  This week has been windy and rainy all week.  Many DiGGers are off on study leave revising for their exams (Danielle, Lewis, Catriona, Charlotte).  On Wednesday there was a Royal Horticultural Society "Gardening for Schools" course held in school, for teachers.  Twelve teachers (from as far afield as Malliag, Skye, Inverness and Alness) spent the day learning and getting ideas about how to take their school gardens forward, and include varied topics like growing, food, soil, composting and recycling in the curriculum.  After lunch, they had a tour of our garden and despite the weather, they thought we had achieved an amazing amount!  They took away more ideas of things to try in their own schools.  Connorhan joined us on the tour after bringing the canteen waste for the compost.

 On Thursday, there was just Grigor and Miss Swallow - well done Grigor for braving the weather!  (The S4 DiGGers had their English exam today - hope you got on okay!).

 We did an "emergency fix" to make the most of the rain!  Since we re-mounted the water butt on tyres (due to the original base subsiding!), the downpipe was too short.  A stick, some plastic and the ever-handy "jumbo tape" served to extend the pipe into the barrel.  Above, Grigor listens to see if he can hear the rain dripping into it.

Another emergency fix was needed - on the greenhouse window!  The wind is forecast to be gale force tonight, and the window had already blown out which meant the wind could blow right in and take off the other panels!  Again, jumbo tape will hopefully hold it for the time being - fingers crossed.                      

There's one more job that needs attention - our shed roof has developed a leak!  Just a steady drip!  It needs a blob of silicone sealant in the right place once the weather dries off.  So, no planting or levelling for the greenhouse this week, just "battening down the hatches" to weather the stormy weather!

Potato Competition Launched

At lunchtime this Thursday, we launched our Potato Competition.  Pupils and staff paid £1 to "Adopt a Potato"

which we will be growing for them.  If theirs produces the most tubers (in weight) then they win £10!

(Apologies for the blacked out faces - pupils need to sign a parental form to be displayed on-line!)

We started off in the Drama Studio, but decided to move out into the main
entrance to catch more passers by!  All money we raise will go to the
Highland Hospice cancer charity.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday it was a lovely day.  Connorhan and Danielle added a
large  bag of shredded paper from the office to the compost heap and stirred it in well.

After that, we lifted the new greenhouse and moved it...

...so we could continue levelling the base.

There's still a fair bit of work to do before we can anchor the greenhouse down.