Starting a New Garden and taking Delivery of More Soil!

 Last Friday, 2W2 - a class of twenty second year pupils took turns to help start our new garden.  The Woodblocx team came in to work with them (see woodblocx.co.uk to see their clever system).  It was a lovely sunny day and they worked really hard.

 Here, pupils are left to co-ordinate themselves as a team and work out the layout of the different sized blocks.

 They have already dug out a level area to place the final design and were then doing to start hammering pegs into the holes.

 Connorhan came along to help - enjoying a bit of "Jenga" here too!

 ...removing some pegs from the wrong holes!

 Simona connecting the blocks together.

 The finished product after a hard day's work!

 On Wednesday, Mr Lockett came in with his trusty tractor and skilfully manoeuvred up to each planter...

 ...so we could get the soil into the correct spot.

 He then brought us some more soil into the main garden, as we had some new raised beds that were still empty.

 His wife came to help as well...great news is that we now have a group of community members who are interested to come and help out with weeding and general garden maintenance on a regular basis.

 We also put what was left into our old builder's bag, so we have it ready to use whenever we need it.

 It didn't take long for our resident blackbird to come over looking for worms!

 There was also a young female blackbird looking around on the new seating area too.

 On Wednesday, we discovered that the solitary wasp's nest that has been hanging in the greenhouse for about 2 years has been taken over by social wasps.  There were about ten wasps around it, and we took it down because we don't want a huge wasp's next in the greenhouse!  Here you can see the white eggs and pale brown larvae - they were wriggling around.  In time, there would be hundreds of wasps, so we have caught it before they have put too much effort in - hopefully, they'll move off and find somewhere else to settle.

 In the meantime, Danielle checks out the strawberries - there a quite a few beginning to ripen.

We started to mix some rotted wood chip, horse manure and sand into the soil to help condition it as when it's dry, it goes very hard.  This should give it a better structure to help it hold moisture.

Community Council presents us with £500!

This week has been a busy one.

 On Wednesday, Mr Nigel Greenwood came to see our garden.  He presented us with a cheque for £500 from the Dingwall Community Council.  We would like to thank them for their generosity.  We plan to buy more tools and a few special plants, so will enjoy deciding which ones to go for!  It will also enable us to repair the greenhouse so it stays together better next winter, and a couple of automatic vent openers so the heat will be better regulated in both greenhouses.

Talking of funding, last Friday our bake sale was a success too!  We raised £36.50 - thanks to the Parent Council for organising it.  They also have donated £300 from their own fund towards our new fruit garden project!!  As a result, we can now afford the seating and planters, so the "Woodblocx" team (see http://www.woodblocx.co.uk/ for more info) will be here on Friday to work with 2W2 to build them - watch this space for photos!

Last Friday, Connorhan spent period 4 planting up a barrel at the main entrance.  It was full of completely dead plants!!  It now has a good selection of perlargoniums, nasturtiums, lupins, ladies' mantle, lobelia - plenty of flowers for colour.

We even sneaked a couple of onions in there too!  We must remember to water it regularly to keep it healthy.

 On Thursday this week, workmen were out strimming, so the garden looks very tidy now!

 Danielle and Simona test out the siphon system to fill watering cans - the water butts are nice and full just now.

 Also, we have been given a selection of plants by the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh - Simona and Vicki helped to unload them from the car.

 A new member - Dale also joined us today.  He got stuck in right away - this is the "after" picture of the raised bed that he, Connorhan and Danielle weeded.  They had to water it first, to soften the soil!  It is now ready to plant potatoes (better late then never!)

 We now have a good selection of vegetables and perennials waiting to be planted out.

 Our leaf mold pile has rotten down well - we can now put two into one and cover it to keep it moist.  The wild Cow Parsley is looking particularly good this year too.

We also spotted a butterfly - it may be a small white, so need to cover our brassicas with netting so they don't get in!  Another bit of wildlife this week was a nuthatch - a small bird working it's way up and down a tree trunk looking for grubs under the bark.  Thankfully, no signs of the rabbit scared off last week!

Planting at Last, with a Special Visitor!

Glorious weather this week!  On Wednesday we weeded the long raised bed at the top of the garden, and on Thursday we actually managed to start planting!

Here you can see Connorhan and Rhiannon in action.

We also had a visitor today - Mr Mark Paterson, Curator of the Cruickshank Botanic Garden, Aberdeen University.  He got stuck in with helping us weed and was very impressed with our garden here at the Academy.  He was interested to hear about our projects and very keen to help in future with developing courses so that more pupils can gain experience and qualifications in Horticulture and Plant Science - anything and everything to do with plants!  He also kindly invited us to visit the Botanic Gardens in future.

Tomorrow, we are due to help the Parent Council with a bake sale at break time, so watch this space!  With a bit of luck, we'll raise some more money for our new fruit garden.

Summer on its way.

Glad to be back on the blog after a prolonged absence due to illness.  The DiGGers met today to get cracking now the weather is warmer and brighter.  We started weeding the wild flower border to prepare for re-sowing fresh seed.

 The garden is looking pretty good considering it has been neglected for several weeks!

 Our fruit bushes have really grown...

 ...and happily, all our fruit trees are still alive and in blossom despite not being planted into their upright positions yet!

 The rhubarb has gone mad - we need to cut off the flower stalks in order to let the edible stalks mature.

The strawberries have re-emerged of their own accord too.
We have plenty of weeding to do and need to get our seed potatoes in the ground as soon as possible!
So, now we can really get going with seed sowing too - runner beans, peas, lettuce etc - watch this space for more next week!
Also, next Friday, the Parent Council have arranged another fundraising event for us - so we'll help them with a bakesale at break time - bring some money along and enjoy a tasty cake!

Pruning and Tidying

Spring has still been "on hold" this week, with cold windy weather.

Yet again, the wind blew out some panels from the greenhouse!  They hadn't gone far, so we put them back and replaced the canes to hold them in place.

On Wednesday, we took possession of some chairs - they are "returning home" as they used to be in the old school!  Alistair (Lewis's granddad) managed to get hold of them for us.  So now we have plenty of seating.

On Thursday, Mr Macfarlane worked really hard - digging in two more raised beds that he has donated.  These will be used by classes for planting, so now we can have groups of four pupils instead of five looking after a pair of raised beds.

Meanwhile, Danielle started pruning the Buddleja bush - this is before...

...and this is after (admittedly with a little help from the Friday class too!).  We need to chop up the branches next week to put into the compost.

On Friday, to mark "National Gardening Week" Miss Swallow called into St. Clements School to drop in a couple of plants for their garden: rhubarb and comfrey.  They have been taken by dividing our garden plants.  They were very grateful and also keen to enter this year's primary school competition for the Summer Garden Party.  All primary schools have been given two "Cassablanca" First Early seed potatoes this week.  The winner of the Lewis MacKenzie Trophy will be the one that produces the most potatoes by the date of the garden party!

Meanwhile, our own Rhubarb plants are coming on nicely - they have grown a lot over the Easter Holidays.

Happy Easter Everyone

Today we broke up for the holidays.  It has been another busy week with cold but clear sunny weather.

 On Wednesday we raffled off the remaining Easter Eggs and raised another £50 bringing our total raised by the tombola up to £225.

Thanks again to the Parent Council for organising it and to everyone who bought tickets.

 Today, two ex-pupils returned from University: Charlie and Alex.  They got roped into setting up a string-line as a guide ready for DiGGers to start turning turf in the new garden ready for hedge plants next term.  Great to see you guys - and to hear about your Computing Courses at Uni!

Later in the day, Miss Swallow and two adult volunteers started to mark out holes to make for posts. 

 After lunch, Mr Macfarlane took over and continued to deepen the holes before bashing in tall wooden posts.

It was hard going as the ground is very stony.

Meanwhile, DiGGers came out and dug a good sized trench - the top turf was put upside down in the bottom so it can rot away.  The soil was broken up and put back in the hole, so it is now ready for hedge plants to go in next term.  Danielle managed to stay on after lunch and continue the good work.

As you can see, it was lovely and sunny.  

Whilst we were busy with all this, S6 pupils were finishing the week on a high note.  They had set up a cycle trainer in the school foyer and taken turns all week to keep it turning - aiming to cycle the equivalent mileage from Dingwall Academy to London - the Teenage Cancer Trust headquarters, the charity they were raising money for.  Some staff took turns too (Miss S included).  Every year, the school raises money during "Teenage Cancer Trust" week and now after such a massive effort this week (many activities going on) we have become the school to raise the most money for them across the whole of the UK!  Over £10,000!  Find out a little more here.

So, we now have two weeks holiday and look forward to spring weather when we return.  We have lots of planting, pruning and seed sowing to do in the garden, and the new garden to build as well, so see you then!  It will also be "National Gardening Week" so parents and carers are invited to come in for a tour of the garden and to get involved for an afternoon. 

 In the meantime Happy Easter and Happy Holidays to everyone.