Produce for Sale and Willow to Weave

 This week we picked lots of runner beans - and managed to sell them all to members of staff!  This raised £14 for the club and we hope to pick more again next week too.  We will freeze some for our Christmas dinner of course!

We also trimmed the willow seat, stripped the leaves from the twigs and...

 ...used them to weave a small edging panel on one of the raised beds...

...this will help to contain taller plants as they grow in future.  We also re-planted some sticks into the edge of the willow seat, to help thicken it out next year.

 We also harvested the enormous seed pod from our snakes-head lily.  Each little green and white piece contains anything from one to four or even five white seeds!

We are slowly gathering the seeds to dry and will try germinating some next spring.

Feeding Our Plants

 This week we started mixing our comfrey solution with water - one jam jar of comfrey into one full watering can.  This makes a great food for our fruiting plants.  Before we tipped the jar into the watering can however, we had to check carefully to make sure we didn't have water beetles in it!

The beetles are living in the bucket of comfrey solution so we wanted to leave them there!

 The solution is high in phosphorous which is great for flowers and ripening fruit...

...like our pumpkins...

 ...and runner beans which are now producing lots of long pods.

 Danielle and Dale both took some home to cook for tea.

We also started "mulching" our herbaceous border.  This means we weeded between the plants then spread a deep layer of rotted bark over the soil.  This will prevent weeds growing as it cuts out their light and also in time will be taken down into the soil by worms to improve its structure.

Collecting Seeds

 This week, we made our own paper seed packets...and collected seed from the herbaceous border.

Amongst them were geum seeds, aquilegia, bergenia and honesty seeds.  We will keep them in a drawer in Miss Swallow's room where it is cool, dark and dry.  We can then sow them next spring.

Welcome Back

We returned this week from our summer holidays.  The garden is looking pretty good thanks to our volunteers coming in to weed and water particularly in the first few weeks when the weather was dry.  Unfortunately, there is no platform ready for our Outdoor Classroom!  This is a continuing saga as negotiations are still going on to find a place for us to build it - watch this space!

The fruit trees have fruited well - apples and plums.  We tasted the apples and hope to make a crumble in the coming weeks when more ripen.

 The barrels at the front entrance to the school were not looking too good!

 Luckily the Forest School Group were able to step in and empty them ready for planting with winter pansies.

 Danielle and Dale sweep up afterwards.

We also managed to make our own hot chocolate for break - just like when we are in the Woodland.  We even managed to get the Ghillie Kettle to whistle for us this time!

 On Wednesday, Sara and Danielle had a really healthy lunch - they are into Japanese food and sushi, so had an artistically arranged packed lunch!

 It is good to see everyone back and ready to garden...

 ...we weeded the pumpkin pile and gave them a water before mulching them with the soil we took from the barrels at the front entrance.

 Simona did a particularly good job with the weeds!

 The plants are big and healthy...

...though the pumpkins are still quite small.  Hopefully they will swell in the next month or so.

 On Thursday, Simona selected a lettuce...

 and cut it with a knife

 It was lovely - green and frilly!

 We washed it in fresh water, then ate it with humous for lunch.

Our first produce this year!  We have lots of runner beans coming too but they are still quite small.

 Also this week, a parcel arrived from Morrisons - with a banner and...

 self-assemble box in the shape of a wheelbarrow!

 We didn't waste any time...

 ...and are now collecting vouchers for gardening equipment.  They are available for the next couple of months, so anyone shopping in Morrisons - please drop your vouchers into school; the box is just outside the main office.  There are many things we could get from a polytunnel or a wormery to a bird box or packs of seeds.

Finally, we had an important visitor call in to see what was going on in the garden and how things have progressed since last year.  It was Mr Stott from the RHS It's Your Neighbourhood scheme.  He took a good look around and gave Miss Swallow some advice on pruning and seed collection.  We look forward to his assessment of how we are getting on!

Sunflower Competition on Display in Frank Nicol's. Activity Days and Drastic changes to the Garden!

On Wednesday this week, we took our sunflower plants to Frank Nicol's garden centre.  They are now on display to the public for people to guess which will be the tallest.  We are raising money for Sense Scotland to help them buy sensory toys for deaf-blind children.  Frank Nicol's have kindly supplied the prize of a £20 voucher.  Above you can see Dale who has just given the plants a feed, and Rob who works at the garden centre.  We'd like to thank him for taking care of the plants for the summer holidays.  So if you are visiting Frank Nicols, take a look and see which you think will be the winner!  Guesses are 50p and there is an honesty box for your donations.

 Meanwhile on Monday this week, there was an activity day in the garden.  Here you can see Carrie, Danielle and Dale modelling our new "Ghillie Kettle" bought with funds raised from the bake sale.

 The main job for the morning was to treat the new sheds and paint horticultural terms on the doors!

 They have a large surface area!  It was also difficult as the board is very bumpy!

 We might add more words in future...

 ...filling the kettle with water (the fire is burning inside so the top is the chimney; the water goes into the spout and fills the double skin around the outer part of the kettle.

 We can now heat up water with just a few dry sticks!

 Dale pours the water to make hot chocolate!

 After a rainy lunch sheltering in the shed, we ventured out to the fruit garden.

 Alexander and Ryan get stuck in with the weeding...

 ...then we laid a thick layer of wood chip as a mulch.

 On Tuesday, pupils who had not opted to go out on other activities were roped in to helping in the garden!  They all worked really hard and even if they did not admit it, I think they had a great time in the sun and fresh air!  Above, you can see the greenhouses as usual...

 ...Kasper removing the screws attaching the base to the ground...

...and now they are gone!!

We moved them temporarily to the top of the garden along with all the paraphernalia from within.  This is to prepare for a contractor to come in during the summer holidays and create a flat platform where we hope to have an Outdoor Classroom built next spring so "watch this space!"

 Mrs Mackie was also keeping pupils busy - weeding, planting and mulching all the raised beds.

 They are now looking better than ever thanks to everyone's hard work.

 Edibles and floral planted together - "companion planting" to encourage beneficial insects and reduce pests.

There are still lots of plants waiting to go into the ground!  More than we can cope with at the moment!  Our team of volunteers will be coming in to look after the garden during the holidays so hopefully some of them will get planted out.

So, this is DiGGers "signing off" for six weeks.  We break up tomorrow (Thursday) and look forward to returning in August.  So "Happy Gardening" to all our followers and we hope you enjoy your own gardens over the coming weeks.  We hope there will be some rain to keep things watered whilst we are away!