Work continues in earnest

Pupils have continued to work hard preparing for the summer season - both during classes and at lunchtime.

We are weeding and mulching the beds ready for crops.

Cara has turned this…

…into this…

…and also swept the polytunnel…

…whilst William and Skye helped tidy dead pots from past years.

Kody, Jyle and Lawrence have continued to learn about the mowers and cut the grass

William has used the chipper…

…to chop our “stick pile” up for covering soil between plants.

We’ve also had some fun in the garden playing giant jenga

…and connect four!

Ellon Timber delivered more building materials for us.

Meanwhile, Miss Swallow has managed to turn this…

…into this!  That’s the last bits of path finished at last (just 8 years or so after we started them all!)

Kody is also restoring his plant stand so that we can have a herb garden in pots this year :) 

Thanks to everyone for your hard work and enthusiasm so far - keep it up and the garden should look great this summer!

Better weather gets us busy!

Today, we did our first grass-cut of the year.  Kody, Kyle and Lawrence were learning how to use the mower.

At break time, the Interact group came to see the crocuses they planted in the autumn…

…they are a symbol of Rotary’s End Polio campaign.

In the afternoon, William helped chip lots of sticks into small pieces…

…which we used to mulch the fruit border.

Kyle, Lawrence, Ashley and Cara came during lunch earlier in the week to shovel the gravel from the parking area…

…it will be the foundation of our last unfinished path.

Ashleigh helped sweep the fruit cage path…

…and started using compost from our “cold heap” to spread on the veg-beds.

On Monday, the Junior Enhanced Provision S1 class planted onions into modules.

They put them in trays of water in the polytunnel.  We will plant them outside once they have good roots.

In other news, Gordon Park preschool children are excited to adopt a couple of the beds to grow their own flowers and veg this year.  Here, they are putting potatoes into egg boxes to “chit” before planting out.  We look forward to seeing what they choose to grow and hope they enjoy our garden!

Over and Above

 Thanks to the JEP class for securing the polytunnel doors before Storm Bert arrives this weekend.  A big shout out goes to William C who also went over and above this afternoon by doing the RIDAN (our hot composter)…

…and topping up the bird feeders.

He enjoyed a well deserved hot drink from our Academy “Spill the Beans” coffee shop!

Rush before the winter weather!

Lots to do in the garden tidying it ready for spring!  The Junior Enhanced Provision group have been very busy.

Weeding,

feeding the birds,

cutting back bushes,

digging up the last of the potatoes…

…and sweeping the autumn leaves.

We’ve continued cooking our potatoes in different ways - crisps, wedges, boiled, mash and CHIPS!

Everyone enjoyed them.

We’ve also had a mini “concreting team” trying to finish our paths

 - a work in progress as it’s tricky getting time and weather to match up!

We’ve laid the last of the slabs and need to join some sections with concrete - probably a job for next year now!

We’ve been keeping our hot composter filled & turned and have delivered four trays of grapes to the Basics Barn food bank at the Kirk Centre in Ellon.

Preparing for Spring!

 

Yesterday, our Interact group along with members of Rotary came to the garden to plant crocus bulbs as part of the “End Polio Now” scheme.  It was lovely to have so many people visiting!

The pots will be watered and cared for and put on display in our “plant theatre” in Spring.  More bulbs were given for planting into the Memorial Garden to add colour to our spring orchard.

In other news, we have now harvested most of our crops and been selling veg boxes to staff.

Our Junior Enhance Provision class have been digging up delicious red potatoes…

…to cook them in many different ways! We started with crisps and potato wedges.

Senior pupil Sean has worked really hard to bring the garden round after the summer holidays - mowing, strimming and hedge cutting!

Meanwhile, Miss S has been improving the accessibility of the garden by cleaning and adding guide lines to the paths and patio.

On a rainy day, we added colour to our outdoor kitchen…

…and have continued to recycle canteen food waste in our hot composter.

We spread the compost on our veg beds to feed next years crops!

The lunch club too have been planting spring bulbs in the memorial garden and keeping the path clear of weeds.