Autumnal Activity

 The garden is scattered with leaves and looking very autumnal right now.

 On Wednesday, we cracked open conkers that Mrs Locket had brought in for us.

 After talking about why the tree would spent energy producing such soft shiny treasures - we decided we would play conkers next week and also plant some to see if they germinate.  After all, they are the seeds of the tree - the next generation - with their own food store packed inside to give it a good start!

 Danielle, Anaya and Simona took some watering cans to water the containers at the front entrance of the school.  They felt a bit daft in the rain but the eaves are so deep that they get no rain at all so depend on us for water!

 Meanwhile Vicki, Amy and Sophia picked the last of the runner beans.

 There were a few good to eat, but we will keep the fatter ones to dry and hope to use the seeds inside to plant next spring.

 There are just a few sweet peas still giving a good show of colour...

 ...and the "Bright Lights" chard is looking great...

 ...as is our Euonymus alatus bush.  It's leaves are starting to fall, but look at their fabulous colour!

 Some of the sunflowers are damp and starting to rot so we decided to pick the rest before they meet the same fate.

 Looking for the sunflowers seeds under the petals.  We'll dry the flowers and collect the seeds for the birds in the winter.

Sophia and Amy cut the flower heads off.

Meanwhile, Connorhan did a grand job of weeding out the old lettuces that had bolted during the holidays.  He left the chard plants - we need to crop those soon to eat and also sell to staff.

He and Dale also started to sieve out the latest batch of comfry stew - a smelly job that they hope to finish next week!  We also mixed wild flower seed with sand and prepared the edge of the hedgerow for sowing them.  Again, hopefully we'll finish that job next week too.