Last month, the
Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society gave us a mention in their newsletter along with a photograph of
Dougal:
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The Royal Caledonian
Horticultural Society (The Caley) is
Scotland’s national horticultural and gardening society. We aim to
encourage and improve the science, art and practice of all types of
horticulture and to advance education in gardening and horticulture for
everyone.
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Pupils
from Ellon Academy in Aberdeenshire have also been busy making sure that
their school garden was left in the best possible way before the school
closed. They were planting potatoes, suppressing weeds and maintaining the
‘End Polio’ crocus pots, all before heading home with their ‘Growing Kits’
from teacher Susan Swallow. To find out more have a look at their fantastic
blog page, Eagerbunch.blogspot.com
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Sue, Ellon
Academy's Support for Learning Teacher, has also devised a series of
gardening games and activities that complement our Grow & Learn Award.
Sue uses these resources as a way of reinforcing the learning in a fun,
interactive way. To enhance the additional activities with subjects that
include wildlife ID, biodiversity and plant ID, she enjoys using memory
pair games and ‘Top Trumps’ cards from various sources. A set of
invertebrate Top Trump cards can be found at www.tes.com. There is also a template
card in case you are inspired to produce your own game so you can choose
what aspect of horticulture or nature you want to consider.
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A picture of
Jacob is also featured on their
Grow and Learn anchor page - this was taken during the recent S3 Award Ceremony where pupils were presented with certificates from Jim McColl.
We would also like to congratulate our friend and supporter Mr Jim McColl:
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Congratulations
to Jim McColl MBE, former Caley Honorary
President and an SHM holder. He has been recognised by the Royal
Horticultural Society and awarded the Victoria Medal of Honour.
Established in 1897, with the assent of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, the
Victoria Medal of Honour (VMH) may be awarded to British
horticulturists deserving of special honour by the Society. Only 63
medals may be held at any one time, in recognition of the duration in
years of Queen Victoria’s reign.
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In other news, I am very pleased to report that Pupil Support Assistant Fiona Grant and her husband Sandy have been given special permission to carry out essential work in the garden to keep it ticking over during the current closure.
This is very exciting as they are both experienced gardeners and are happy to help us out. They have done a fabulous job so far with strimming and mowing...
...weeding...
...sowing seeds...
... and planting.
This means we will have crops to harvest, cook, eat and sell on our return to school. You can see the potatoes that Dougal planted on the last day here on the right of the photo - they are coming on well 🙂 They are also keeping on top of the weeds just outside the gate - particularly dock plants, to stop them seeding over the fence into our borders!
Sandy even took our mower home to give it some much needed TLC (Tender Loving Care!)
So well done to Fiona and Sandy - we can't thank you enough for keeping our garden in good order whilst we stay at home to stay safe!
Meanwhile Miss Swallow has been sowing lots of seeds at home - here pumpkins, squashes and courgettes. She has now taken them into the garden for Fiona and Sandy to plant out soon. There are also aubergines and a cucumber to plant in the polytunnel.
So a lot of garden news despite the closure. We hope you enjoyed the photos - keep checking the blog for more updates in future and in the meantime please stay safe and follow government guidelines to help stop the spread of corona-virus.
This means we will have crops to harvest, cook, eat and sell on our return to school. 
You can see the potatoes that Dougal planted on the last day here on the right of the photo - they are coming on well 🙂
