On this note so much has been happening that I will try and put everything in a list and bring you up to date as quickly as possible.
- We received a runner up award in the "groundworks environmental high school of the year" category
- The wildlife area is well established The pond thanks to karen Tansey and pupils is full of life(see pic) it is a haven for the cutest newts .Groundworks also came in and helped pupils build 4 huge raised beds.
- Three of the raised beds were put in the library light well and one in the wildlife area
- The raised beds were filled with a ton of organic compost from "Fairfield’s accredited compost which is made from wholesale market fruit & vegetable waste.
- The middle light well has three raised beds and this year will be the second season of growth
- The middle light well also has three large wall planters that are extremely eye catching when they are in bloom.
- We planted hedgerows around the school perimeter
- The year seven pupils took part in an environmental day and each child was given a rare wild flower to plant around the school grounds we hope to see them bloom this spring.
- The original garden in the food room light well is very well established and provides a base for our thriving gardening club.
- Mrs Tansey spent a day planting herbs in tin cans with year 9 pupils.
- The food room light well has a well established herb garden which provides fresh herbs for food technology lessons.
- Last summer we grew three huge tubs of potatoes
- Big news thanks to Mike Hardisty's DIY prowess we know have a GREENHOUSE in the food room light well.
- The greenhouse will enable pupils to take part in growing all year round
- The school has undergone a £7.5 million refurbishment and which has provided us with a huge new central gardening area.
WHAT NEXT?
We start filling the greenhouse this Monday , we have already started an assortment of tomato plants which will hopefully do well with a greenhouse to provide the essentials to speed up the rate of photosynthesis(scientist in me).lots of herbs and salad vegetables that can be used by pupils in food technology.We also want to try our hand at growing some mini vegetables I have just ordered some "munchkin pumpkin" seeds of the Internet because they are so cute. The strawberry patch is full and we manage to get a lot of new plants from it every year. The wildlife garden needs a good clean up and we will be sewing some more wildflowers on the grass banking.We also need to plant the 3 large raised beds in the library light well last year we had one full of runner beans and another with Cosmos we will do the same again this year but might use green beans this time.
The New project
The new garden needs to be filled the main area is filled with a Cotswold yellow gravel so we plan to put in a selection of grasses, and some interesting rocks!!! not sure what yet . The centre piece in the garden will feature a sundial which Mrs judge has offered t buy us with profits from "fair trade week".We have planted two climbing passion flowers that Karen Tansey propagated from a seed pod from my mothers plant. My mum died in February last year so these plants mean a lot to me and I am looking forward to watching them bloom. The flower bed area needs to be planted as well as filling an assortment of planters lots of work ahead. We would also like to erect a bird feeding station and we need to acquire bench seating for the area.In the future we would also like to establish a weather station as the new garden is close to the geography rooms and it would be an ideal spot for an outdoor classroom.I will post photos of the new garden next week so you can see for yourselves the task ahead.
You can help!
- If anyone would like to donate a bench in memory of someone this area will be a lovely place to do this.
- We would also welcome donations of grasses(maybe you have some spare in your garden).
