Winter sets in but we keep busy in the garden.

In the last month we have had both frosty cold, windy wet and mild weather.

We cut back the tomato plants then...

...the nasturtiums got frosted during several very cold days where it stayed around freezing so we have now cleared the raised bed completely...

...and started mixing in fresh topsoil.

Jakub, Joy, Coinneach and Keira work hard with the heavy topsoil.  We've mixed some gravel in to help drainage.

An extra little helper rakes it over!

We have also emptied our RIDAN maturation bins.  This compost has been made from sawdust mixed with school canteen food waste.

We used it to cover the Crocus bulbs which are already starting to push shoots through it!

It is also being spread in the bottom of new raised beds before the topsoil and grit mix goes in.  This should make a fertile basis for spring planting.

We have built an "herbaceous border" raised bed.  This has been filled with rotting grass and is being topped up with the soil/grit mix.

Thanks also goes to our team of boys for shifting barrows of gravel, soil, grass, slabs etc!

Mrs Russell takes a beak from raking!

Meanwhile, we have been shopping!  A local garden centre has been selling off stock so we now have enough fruit plants to equip our new fruit cage seen below at the far end of the garden.

You can also see the new raised beds and rough paths which still need to be levelled into place.

Thanks to our hardworking volunteer Liz for all the technical woodwork!

Netting is ready to attach to the fruit cage when time permits.

Another delivery of gravel arrives...

...and we put up a bird feeding station.  It needed a good anchor into the ground.

It has a variety of seed trays, fat balls, nuts and...

a water dish which we shall refresh regularly.

In other news, we have started laying a patio area...

...for the RIDAN to stand on since it has been moved from the skip compound.

Once the RIDAN is up and running again, we will be topping up this "hot bed" in the poly-tunnel in order to help keep it frost free and grow winter salads during the coldest months - watch this space!

Also, thanks to pupils who have been working behind the scenes on various projects.  For example, restoring this garden seating - being tested here by Miss Swallow and Alice the little Elf!

Four P's show progress in the garden!

A lot has happened since our last post.  The four P's stand for:

A Pile of topsoil
Perfect Patio
Poly-tunnel Tastings and
Potting up Seedlings!

The topsoil was donated and delivered by David Reid who has some of the original topsoil from the site as it was being prepared for the new school.  This means in a way, it is "coming home" to our garden!

We were also given some "left overs" by the contractors on site once they had finished their landscaping work.

The patio now completes the hard landscaping in the poly-tunnel.

A huge thank you to Liz our volunteer for her skill and hard work in getting the cobbles laid so well!

 Also, thanks goes to Micheal, Euan and Luke who have been moving slabs in preparation for laying patios and paths outside.  Sterling work boys!

The EAGer bunch have been tasting the peppery leaves and flowers of the nasturtiums in the poly-tunnel.  They also enjoyed taking fresh lettuce home with them....

...and worked hard to get the poppy and foxglove seedlings into pots.

We have also been making our own paper pots - ideal for the small seedlings.

Other news: we have made a start with outdoor raised beds - first laying weed barrier to kill the grass in preparation for path building...

..laying out timbers...

...and filling the new raised beds with home-made (RIDAN) compost and topsoil.

Planting for Polio

This week, Ellon Rotary members and Interact Group joined forces with some members of EAGer bunch to plant crocus bulbs - 1000 in total!
Here you can see them putting the bulbs into pots.  This means when they come up in spring, we can arrange them into a big "P for Polio" as the activity is to help raise funds and awareness to put an end to polio.  Click here to find out more about the campaign.

We also planted some into the ground - in a circle around the willow wigwam (an ongoing project!)

The ground had been prepared previously - a difficult job as it is very compacted!

They should give some lovely colour in spring.

Megan and Fergus then covered the bulbs with compost and mulch to protect them from the elements.

Meanwhile, other jobs last week were to move the tables in the poly-tunnel to make space for the brick paving... 

... painting a display sign for our wildlife area...

...potting on plants that are growing strongly...

...and removing honesty seeds from their papery seed pods ready to sow in spring.

A home for Wildlife

ASDAN and S2 classes have been busy making bug boxes and collecting sticks, straw etc to fill their large bug hotel.

We assembled some kits from Kew Gardens also to attract insects into.

Half the roof is felted; the other half has been made into a planter for a "green roof"...

...which has now been planted with sedums and some wild flowers.

We've also sown seeds (poppies and foxglove) to plant out into the wildlife area in spring.  We mowed and raked the grass with a view to creating "bald patches" to plant perennial wild flowers into.

In other news, we tried planting bulbs but to no avail!  The ground is just too compacted, so we have resorted to pots instead, and lifted some turf to put crocus bulbs onto the bare earth and cover with compost.

The Ellon Resource Centre Group continue to care for the garden every Monday - wonderful to have folk here regularly to look after things! :)

Rake rake rake! Plant and build!

We have been busy mowing the grass which means there are lots of cuttings to collect!

Both classes, the community group and EAGer bunch have helped.  Rakes and trugs at the ready!

We are putting some in the compost heaps and some on top of our wildlife piles to form a "thatch" roof.

On Friday we also started (TRYING) to plant spring bulbs!  The ground is very compacted which makes it difficult to get the bulb planters deep enough!

We are starting with daffodils.  This week, we hope to take delivery of 1000 crocus bulbs from Ellon Rotary so they will keep us busy!!

Pupils have also been sowing seeds - practicing first with the density...

...before sowing foxglove and poppy seeds in trays.

Other big news is that we have started building a path.  This is the "before" photo...

...during...

...and after!  Still much more to go, but it's looking great so far!

Also, the shed has had a good rearrangement and tidy so there is room to sit round the tables properly.