Pocket Garden Design Winners!

 

We have been selected as one of 45 winners of the One Planet Picnic Pocket Garden design competition! There were 340 entries so we are thrilled to have been chosen.  The competition is run by Keep Scotland Beautiful in partnership with the Garden for Life Forum, and this year, Scottish Book Trust have joined them in celebration of the 2022 Year of Stories.

The challenge was to design a miniature garden that uses edible plants, plants that attract wildlife, and to reuse something which would otherwise have been thrown away. 

The themes were the Year of Stories, One Planet Picnic and Wildlife Gardening so we had to tell a story through our Pocket Garden. The story we chose to tell was primarily the Gruffalo but we have designed other characters too.

This was a fantastic opportunity for us to investigate plants and wildlife, develop creative design skills and apply that knowledge to create a sustainable garden while working as a team. It is part of our ASDAN award and will also help sustain our Eco Schools Award.

We are thrilled to have been chosen and have been busy turning the design into a real garden. It is the size of a wooden palette and will feature in an online showcase for a public vote on the Keep Scotland Beautiful website between 8 June – 20 June. Keep watching this blog and the school Facebook page for pictures of our finished garden and a link to cast your vote!

Find out more about the competition on the Keep Scotland Beautiful website.

Sunflower seeds help raise money for Ukrainian refugees

On Friday 25th March we had a dress-sown day and lots of fund raising events went on.

Darren, Findlay and Dougal helped Miss Swallow with a "Sunflower Stall"

We had the idea because the national flower of Ukraine is the sunflower!

Pupils and staff paid £1 to sow two sunflower seeds into a prepared pot.

We will look after the seedlings and plant them out in the summer to make a lovely display.

In total we raised £28 so thank you to all those who joined in!

Thanks too to Colin for taking the photographs of us.

Please feel free to come and visit in the summer to see the cheerful display.

 

Our garden produce helps feed local families :)

 

We are very pleased to have been able to supply grapes, tomatoes and some pumpkins to the Basics Barn today.  The tomatoes are destined to be turned into chutney and the grapes will go out in food boxes over the next couple of days.

Sandra came a little early to collect, so got roped into helping to harvest them!

Most of our produce has now been harvested for this season.  You can see our latest staff box had a lovely variety of items in it.

We continue to maintain the garden and are clearing old plants to prepare the soil and make way for new sowings next spring.  We will soon be planting onions and garlic for an early crop next year, along with salad crops in the polytunnel.

Thanks for reading!

Co-op Funding News and Garden Productivity

 

The Co-op funding session has now ended and we are due to receive £966.57 towards our Memorial Garden Project.  A huge thank you to all those who made the effort to shop at the Coop, spread the word and choose us as your local good cause!

In other news, we donated some of our crops to the Basics Barn during the half term holidays.  Potatoes and onions went into food boxes, tomatoes were turned into soup and runner beans went into stew.  These were then frozen to provide meals in future to local families.  

The Basics Barn staff thanked our Academy gardeners: "Everyone on the team was amazed by your generosity and we're very sure that our clients will be delighted to receive the soup and stew - especially as the weather gets colder and colder. "

Tasty sweet corn-on-the-cob also went home with Harrison, Jacob and Dougal for them to cook and enjoy with their families!

Finally, we have made Green Tomato Chutney which is now for sale to help raise funds for our garden project.  Feedback was very positive some years back when we sold jars so hopefully folk with enjoy these too!

Grow and Learn Awards Ceremony

 

On Thursday 14th October we were thrilled to be able to hold a COVID-safe Awards Ceremony in the garden.  Five senior boys were presented with certificates and pin badges for passing their Grow and Learn courses from the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society.

Well known horticulturalist Jim McColl was our honoured guest.  He gave us a talk, presented the awards and took a wee tour of the garden.

There was a buzz of excitement after so long without guests or events in the garden!

Darren greeted everyone and ensured they completed details for Track and Trace!

We enjoyed welcoming parents...

...and drinking tea & coffee ably served by Mr Sievewright.

After the ceremony, the boys were keen to show Jim our hot composter.  They had previously given it a good wash.  Jim was impressed at the compost produced from canteen food waste and sawdust.  Well done to all those who passed the course!

In other news, Dougal and Jacob can be seen planting crocus bulbs into pots for springtime.

They were donated to the school in order to publicise the International Rotary campaign to end polio across the word.  Click to find out more!

Harvesting Underway!

 

We are very happy to be back in the garden and there are lots of crops for us to harvest!

Jacob picks some parsley...

...to add to our first produce boxes of this session.

Dougal has also been busy cutting back tomato plants to let more light and air reach the ripening tomatoes.

In other news, before the summer break we planted a new hedge on the edge of our wildflower area...

...and added stones into gabion seating in the Memorial Garden

We would also like to thank all those who came to our plant sale!

We had a busy time setting up but it was well worth it as...

...not only did we raise £190.65...

...but we also had lots of fun!

New Funding Page set up

 People have been asking how they can donate to our Memorial Garden project so there is now a JustGiving page.  Click on the link below to find out more:

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/teamcg?utm_term=XYevVnb8m

This is also connected to our "Co-operate" Page so any co-op members can now donate directly if they wish, as well as choosing us as their local cause to support.

Please spread the word and if you are tempted to make a small donation yourself, it will be MUCH appreciated!