Sweet Peas, Tree planting and Alpines

 This week has been lovely weather.  Our sweet peas continue to flower.

 Aimee picked a good bunch and took them to Mrs Cormack (our Head Teacher) to put in her office.  She was thrilled with them.

 The sunflowers look good too...not so good are the lettuces that have bolted!  We need to eat the leaves and then dig over the soil.

 A lazy bumble bee.

 On Friday, Connorhan and Dale had an important job to do...

 ...round in the new fruit garden, they needed to plant another apple tree.

 The soil is very poor, so we mixed compost and manure to put in the hole - not ideal as the tree will be less likely to send out roots to look for nutrients in the surrounding soil!  We didn't have much choice however as it would probably have killed it to put it straight into the stony ground.

 We didn't quite finish the job, as there is a special guest visiting the school next Tuesday who is due to complete it for us - Princess Anne - DiGGers are looking forward to meeting her.

 We must water it regularly whilst it gets established.

 Also this week, we planted up some alpine plants.  We mixed compost with grit - a 50:50 mix as these plants are used to poor soil.  They grow high in the mountains, often out of rocks so the soil needs to be very well drained.  We must not let them sit in water when it rains!

 Meanwhile, Anaya and Simona continue with weeding the path.  Classes have been working hard on it and it is now looking a lot better.

 Classes also planted up new containers for the Royal visit, so the entrance is now looking lovely.

Winter pansies have settled in well.

Replanting Barrel and Potting up Geraniums

This week,we re-planted one of the barrels from the front entrance to the school.  It has started to look "tired" and must be looking its best for the Royal Visit (Princess Ann) in a couple of weeks! 

 

So we took out the geraniums and potted them up to over-winter in the greenhouse, and planted it up with pansies and violas.  It now looks much better and is waiting to go back round to the front of the school.

Two feasts in as many weeks!

 Another busy week - the gang pot on seedlings...

 ...with Danielle in charge.  Tools were put away tidily this week - much better folks, well done!

 On Thursday, we crammed round the table to crush garlic (our own home grown)...

 ...and prepare garlic bread.

 We chopped baguettes into sections and wrapped them in foil

 Meanwhile, the bees enjoy our sunflowers...

 ...and the sweet peas look great.

 We cut sweet peas for the table.

 On Friday, Dale warmed the soup and garlic bread down in room 1 and carried it up to the shed as the bell went for lunch.

 A tight squeeze with all our new members!

 Dale serves up the soup...

 ...and everyone tucks in!

 We had a good chat, and came up with some fund-raising ideas whilst we ate.

Empty bowls...nothing left!!  Next week, we MUST get on with more gardening jobs!!

Another busy week ends with a feast!

DiGGers were in the garden every day last week, even when Miss Swallow was unable to make it.  Danielle was in charge and kept the younger ones in order!  Not all the tools were put away properly however, so everyone needs to be sure to put any tools they have used back in the shed!  They did lots of weeding and watering - essential jobs to keep the garden looking good.

Pupils in other classes started a rotation of composting this week, to ensure that all food waste from the canteen can be turned into compost for the garden rather than go to landfill.  We have a "RIDAN composter" that is a sealed unit so in future we can also organise ourselves to add cooked food waste as well.

For every bucket of food waste, an equal proportion of sawdust is added.  This means that the Craft, Design and Technology department is sending less sawdust to landfill as well!

Once the matter is added, the lid goes on and the handle is turned approximately ten times to mix it well.  In time, rich compost will come out of the end of the cylinder.  It will be stored in a "maturation bin" for a couple of months, then be ready to use on the garden.

 Meanwhile, back in the main garden, DiGGers were pricking out poppy seedlings on Thursday...

 ...quite a delicate job - a bit easier with gloves off!

This gave us a chance to talk about roots - how delicate they are, and how important for feeding and anchoring the plant.

 Grigor came to the garden to take photographs of everyone!

 On Friday, we laid the bench ready for our first feast since the summer holidays.  Dale picked a sunflower and some sweet peas to make it look nice.

 Connorhan cropped lots of runner beans which we hope to eat next week.

 A bee visits another sunflower

 Dale also was busy - he cut more comfry to start another bucket of "comfry stew" off as it makes excellent plant feed.

He also oiled all the secateurs to stop them rusting.

The sweet peas give colour to the garden alongside the orange runner bean flowers.

 On Friday, everyone mucked in to prepare for our feast...

 ...washing the lettuce..after which we had to dash out of heavy rain!  We quickly cleared the shed and pulled out the table.

 Our feast consisted of carrots, peas, lettuce and cucumber with humous dips...

 ...followed by...

 cakes!  Delicious ones baked by Dale with a surprise ingredient that he only revealed once everyone had enjoyed them.

They were chocolate and courgette!  The courgette was one of our bright yellow ones too!  Everyone was very surprised how tasty they were!