Willow Seat gets a makeover

This week, we rescued the willow seat from being overtaken by nature!! Below you can see the "before picture" and above the "after". We cut the willow shoots from the front and wove others into the back of the structure. We also topped it up with more soil so now just need the wood lengths to sit on - watch this space!

"There's a seat in here somewhere!" Also, we had a bit of a disaster during the week, as two classes are now using the garden. One group of pupils got a bit keen with weeding and pulled up our squash plants by mistake! You can see the leaves on top of this pile waiting to go on the compost! Oh dear! The staff are now making sure that any weeding is on the paths, as the classes will look after their own raised beds, and we'll keep maintaining ours!

At least one squash plant is left!

Weeds, Peas and Lots to do!

This week, we returned to school after a rather wet summer holiday! Some things have grown like mad (including weeds as you can see amongst the onions above!) and others not at all (we don't have a single runner bean or brussel sprout as yet this year!)The rhubarb has recovered from whatever was munching it in June and looks quite healthy now. We picked a large courgette, and there's another few coming on the plant.

There are lots of peas - we are going to leave some to mature for planting next year, and we have enjoyed eating lots of juicy tasty ones! There's more left for next week too. We may even pick and freeze some to keep for our Christmas dinner in December.

A large pile of dark soil had appeared in the garden! The caretaker asked some contractors on the playing field to drop it for us - thanks Mr MacKenzie! We can use it for topping up the willow seat, and classes can use it for filling their new raised beds.

We have lots of carrots and parsnips still growing - this one was a really funny shape! Miss Swallow boiled and ate it for tea - lovely!

Our flower border is looking good - we got stuck in with weeding it straight away.

Meanwhile at Frank Nicol's garden centre, the Walking Stick cabbages are growing well and people have been guessing which will be the tallest. Number two is in the lead so far (back left of this photo)!

Also, we have a new member - welcome Jennifer - we hope you enjoy working in the garden with us! We also have now passed Level 2 of the Royal Horticultural Society Benchmark Scheme. As a result, we have been sent the book "Grow your own Veg" by Carol Kline, and £30 worth of tools are winging their way to us! I wonder what they will be!

A busy week as summer holidays approach

This was the last week of term - and a busy one too! On Monday, we picked some radish.

There are two varieties - "French Breakfast" and "Cherry Belle"

We also emptied out some potatoe bags - here Charlotte picks out the "Rocket" variety...

...and here you can see why these red ones are called "Smile"!

Tuesday was an activity day, so everyone was off doing adventurous things. Miss Swallow made the most of the emptyness by arranging for David Locket to come with his tractor to move a bench from behind the canteen.

It's a concrete and wood bench - really heavy!

With skilled manoevering, he lifted it and put it onto a trailer to drive right out and around the school grounds...

...and into the garden.

Here you can see it fits very well on our flat patch. This means we can sit for lunch in good weather, and there's room for classes to sit around it when the new course starts next August.

Wednesday was an activity in the garden. Charlotte and two others worked really hard all day! We moved pansies from the barrels at the front of the school and planted them in our flower "wildlife" bed. We then planted the barrels up with geraniums and lupins for summer colour. More photos to come when consent forms have been signed!

In the afternoon, Catriona (back from Paris) came in to join Charlotte to paint the shed. Here, Danielle is back from the wildlife park too and is helping to treat the tool box. Other jobs we did included lots of weeding, and cutting the old carpets to cover the raised beds and keep out weeds. We also enjoyed a healthy lunch of cold boiled "smile" potatoes, hummus, our own lettuce and radish and other salad (all sitting around the new bench).

On Thursday we potted the walking stick cabbages into big pots ready to go on display at Frank Nicols on Friday. I wonder how tall they will grow.

See our first cauliflower appearing - we are very excited!! lol

Potting up wall flowers so they don't die over the summer break.

Eight raised beds protected and ready for a delivery of soil (hopefully in August). Rob will be in the garden over the summer break to finish the tool box and dig in eight more raised beds as now there will be two classes using the garden for the new course in August.

So, we are now on holiday for six weeks. Let's hope there's a reasonable amount of rain to keep things watered, and some warmth the help things grow! We shall be busy weeding and cropping the potatoes on our return - 'til then, we say "Au Revoir"!

Soil Testing and a Local Plant Walk

This week, we tested out a "soil tesing meter" to measure the pH of our soil. Happily it was mostly around 7 which according to the chart virtually all the vegetables like. We noticed that potatoes tent to err towards 5 and leeks prefer nearer to 8 which is interesting.

"Mmm, how doe's it turn on?!" Lewis digs a hole to clear the top soil to a depth of 10cm. Charlotte is ready to take down the measurements.

Meanwhile the water butt was overflowing again so Danielle decanted some "highland spring" into bottles in the greenhouse. We really need to get the butt on the other side of the shed connected too!

On Thursday, Rob returned to the garden. Here you can see him continuing to build the tool storage box ready for classes in August. Keep up the good work Rob (and watch your thumb!!)

That afternoon, we all took a walk over to the "Greenhouse" - not our own, but the community shop with the same name in the High Street!

We ate our packed lunch there...

...checked out their produce which was growing in the raised beds and pots...and after a slide show about the River Peffery and non-native invasive plants in the area...

...we headed off with a guided walk to see some of them.

Grasses and reeds growing on the banks of the Peffery. On the right hand side, the bank is where the river has silted up - the remains of a harbour wall runs near the top right of the picture. Small ships used to come up this far from the sea!

Nettles and rosebay willowherb (yet to come into flower) These are native of course, we just enjoyed noticing all the different plants on our route.

Meryl tells us about Japanses knotweed - on the opposite bank. Other invasive species include Himalayan balsam and Giant Hogweed.

The Japanse knotweed plants are all female - they reproduce "vegetatively" - that means they spread by putting out rhysomes under the ground. The worse thing to do is strim them or try to cut them as this just helps them spread! They are being treated with chemical spray to reduce dominance and give other native species a fighting chance.

Up by the estuary, there were fabulous orchids...

...lots of them!

Catriona really liked the elderflower trees which are in full blossom just now.

Miss Swallow and Mr MacFarlane...this is what happens when Danielle gets hold of the camera!

There were some big rain drops in the air when we started, but the weather was actually lovely for us.

Meanwhile, back in the garden our own "wild flowers" are happily growing. We need to learn to identify them so we can decide which ones to weed! Certainly not this cheerful poppy!

Another poppy ready to flower soon - I wonder what colour it will be.

There are several courgettes now.

A few strawberries,

and the pansies are still flowering wonderfully!