We wish you all a safe and peaceful Christmas

 

It has been a busy term in the gardens.  The S4 boys were proud to end the term by presenting Mrs Buchan with a home-made natural Christmas wreath.  She was thrilled and impressed by their crafting skills!

Darren and Dougal made the base rings out of willow...

...then the others helped tie in the evergreen foliage.

They enjoyed making them and so...

...we made one for Mrs Wilson too!  You can see Dougal has also made a Christmas star wand to cast a spell on her!

Word spread of our activities, so we got commissioned to make two more in Memory of senior pupil Harvey Western whom we sadly lost during the lock-down period.  Our wishes go out to his family at this difficult time.

There has also been much activity in the Memorial Garden.  Here you can see Ryan starting to build a willow arch.  The Ellon Youth Forum can up with the idea and will help us complete it when the weather permits.  They are also fundraising for a seat to go under it along with gabion seating around the garden.

Here you can see some of the group...

...they have been working hard to help clear stones and weeds to stop them re-growing.

We look forward to springtime in the hope that we will be able to start planting areas and installing seating.  We also hope to assemble the gazebo so things will really take a leap forward.

In other news, we have been cutting back old stems and keeping paths clear...

...pruning, feeding and mulching our trained fruit trees...

...feeding the birds...

 and harvesting the last of our produce.

We have been making up boxes every week, always a little different...

...and staff have been very happy to buy them.  Thank you to all who have supported the garden fundraising by purchasing our veggie boxes!

We often get feedback on the different recipes that folk have enjoyed with them!

So, from all of us in the garden teams, we wish you a very Happy Christmas break and look forward to seeing everyone safe and well in the New Year.

Breaking News - Coop give us a funding boost

 Great news!  The Coop have chosen us as one of the three local causes to support throughout the next year.  This means anyone who signs up to be a member can choose us.  Once a member, the coop will donate to our Memorial Garden Project as follows:

If not yet a member, please sign up at https://www.coop.co.uk/membership.  Once signed up you will be able to select us as your favoured local cause.

Other ways to help us gain more funds is to like the coop's Facebook page or use the hashtag  #ItsWhatWeDo on social media like Twitter, Facebook and Instragram.

You can also join the Coop communities Facebook page here

Please return to the blog in future to see how things develop.

In other news, the garden is still looking great and is full of produce.  A HUGE thank you to community member Sandy Grant for continuing to volunteer during term time! 

We are putting boxes together each week for staff to buy.

There are many seeds to collect too.  We will leave some attractive seed heads for the birds and insects to enjoy.

Since returning to school in August, we have introduced a one-way system to enable easier social distancing.

We have also created "Tippy Taps" in the garden to allow hand-washing and prevent the spread of Coronavirus.

Pupils all have their own equipment in buckets to reduce the amount of sharing and help keep everyone safe.  Thank you to Angie and Jim from the bakery in Hatton for donating the buckets!

Pupils continue to dig over the soil to remove stones and weeds in the Memorial Garden...

and split perennial plants to make more for planting out.

We actually now have some plants IN the Memorial Garden!  Please watch this space for more news in future.

Happy Holidays!

It has been a very unusual summer term in lock-down to prevent the spread of Coronavirus.  We  now look forward to relaxing over the summer holidays.

During the last week of term, Additional Support for Learning staff arranged for the Hub boys to have a "distanced" walk along the river Ythan to the school garden to see how lovely it is looking.

It was important to understand how far we needed to stay apart from each other.  Two meters is quite a long way to allow us to have sufficient safe space around us!

Mrs McRitchie and Dr Richardson came out to see them now they are senior boys.  They have all grown taller during lockdown!

It was a lovely opportunity for everyone to see each other...

...in real life for a chat!

Previously, ASL staff held another "distanced" gathering to say a fond farewell to Wei who is due to return to China next month after two years of teaching Mandarin at Ellon Academy.  Dr Richardson played a few songs and can be seen here placing the gift on the path for her to collect.  Sadly we also say a fond farewell to Linda Kershaw our pottery expert (plaques now mounted and ready for the Memorial Garden) and Maureen Abel our much loved Pupil Support Assistant both of whom we will miss greatly.  We wish them both well in their retirements and hope that they will "not be strangers!"

Meanwhile behind the scenes Fiona and Sandy have been busy.  They have righted the shed which got blown over during the first week of lockdown...

...and Sandy has been using timbers...

...to strengthen the roof before the panels go back on.

Tomato plants have all been staked to support them as they grow...

...as have the runner beans.

Crops are coming on beautifully.  Courgettes...

...potatoes and more potatoes!  Spring onions, turnips...

...squash...

...and lots of berries...

...all weed free!!  The grass has been cut...

...and there are lots of lovely flowers in full bloom too.

Fiona has also tied ribbons onto the white and cream foxgloves so when we collect the seeds, we can see if they "come true" to produce more white foxgloves - a bit of plant genetics to come!

Miss Swallow also popped in to tidy and sweep the polytunnel classroom ready to welcome everyone back next term.

We hope that everyone has a chance to re-charge their batteries during the summer holidays and that we can all return to school safely in August.  In the meantime, please continue to stay safe, follow the government guidelines, take care of each other and enjoy your gardens and the outdoors as much as possible.

Ellon Academy Gardening Pupils feature in the RCHS newsletter

Last month, the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society gave us a mention in their newsletter along with a photograph of Dougal:

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.

GROW & LEARN NEWS

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

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.

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:

CALEY NEWS   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.

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.