Getting back into gardening jobs!

We had some lovely weather this Wednesday and Thursday, after mornings of rain, the sun came out for us.

 Who are these gents you might ask?  Mr MacFarlane and Connorhan are off to investigate a spot to dig (the ground is very hard and stony)...

 ...we need to find a home for these flag iris plants that Mr MacFarlane has brought in for us.

 Behind the tool store, there is a wasp's nest - we investigated when there seemed to be more wasps than usual near the compost heaps.

 Not sure at the moment what to do with it, as it is good to have insects for pollination (and wasps also can eat caterpillars and other pests).  We want biodiversity, but don't want pupils and visitors to get stung!

 Grigor enjoying some fresh gooseberries - they are the sweetest I've ever tasted!

 He then did some tidying of the OJ Greenhouse.  We have lots of tidying and weeding after six weeks of neglect through the holidays!

 Catriona was off with a bad cold on Thursday - hope you feel better soon!  Her mum Margaret came in to help and stayed for period 6 too, to help Miss Swallow combat some of the biggest weeds - mostly thistles and dock.  I forgot to take a "before" photo (you couldn't see any bare earth), but this is the "after"!

Weeding around the Betty MacKenzie greenhouse too...

...it's getting better!

A new year begins!

Our "new year" started on August 14th when school opened after the summer holidays.  The garden has survived surprisingly well without any attention for six weeks.  Of course, there are plenty of weeds for us to tackle and the first day back, the grass was really ready to be strimmed - gladly the contractors came in the next day.

Last week, we just spent time checking out what was growing.  

We also enjoyed picking and eating lots of peas.

 There are many seeds for us to collect for sowing next year - these are on the leeks.

 The willow seat is ready for another hair cut!

 We found a few strawberries ready to eat.

 On of the teaching class's raised beds has lots of wild flowers and peas in it!

 There was a "summer camp" during the holidays - children made us some scare-crows and garden art, did weeding and planted some hedge plants.  Thanks to them for all their hard work!

 Some lettuce ready for harvesting

 The hedge plants have taken well, and here you can see the wild flowers next to them.  We are expecting a delivery of more hedgerow trees in November.

 Gooseberries and red-currents ready for picking.

 The red currents are destined to be served up in a dessert dish at a charity dinner!  Connorhan's dad is buying them from us at the end of the week.

 On Wednesday this week, we started collecting seeds.  Connorhan started with the Jersey Kale (we literally have thousands of seeds to collect!)

 Meanwhile, Danielle was collecting foxglove seeds.  They are much smaller!

 Lupin seeds too are bigger and easier to handle.

 On Thursday, we raked some grass and put it on the compost in order to make the place look tidier!