From the Gardening Club

 

We have extended the gardening club to 4.15pm for both the Monday and the Tuesday sessions until further notice.

The vegetable and fruit area is now dug, composted and has an ever increasing number of vegetables being planted including carrots, pumpkins, courgettes, marrow, potatoes, beans, leeks and peas. We’re planning to do the edging this weekend with a quantity of wood chip arriving soon (hopefully) from WCC for the paths and some additional (WCC) compost bins also arriving shortly. The Peace Garden has begun to be weeded and will be further planted and seeded over the coming week. A request has also gone into the National Herb Centre (thank you Lily Y6) for any assistance they can provide for turning our planters next to the Peace Garden into a productive herb garden.

We also have a few requests for help to all keen gardening parents, on the off chance that you may be able to donate any of the following, and help us to progress things even more quickly. We have already got some raspberries, strawberries, rhubarb, a plum tree and a gooseberry bush but would like a few more strawberry plants or any small ornamental fruit trees and/or fruit bushes, if you have any you could spare. We are also growing tomatoes, cucumber, aubergines, peppers, chilli peppers and melons and could do with some extra grow bags and/or large pots to go along the front of the hall.

We will also be incorporating a wildlife area and looking to include a new bird table, bird bath, insect hotel etc. so any help with any of these things would be greatly appreciated.

Unfortunately we have heard back from the WCC and they are unable to provide any water butts and we are endeavouring to be fully self-sufficient with watering to the front of the school so are looking to put 6 or so water butts in place there – if anyone has a redundant one or two they would be very gratefully received.

Our plan is also to have a small greenhouse/poly tunnel so if anyone knows where we may be able to secure one of those very, very cheaply we would be tremendously grateful.

The enthusiasm of the children in the club has been completely infectious and we clearly have some very keen and talented young gardeners in our midst.

The children are certainly progressing very well with their 65 ‘I Can’ Awards and we are delighted to report that we have already achieved Level 1 of the RHS Gardening Awards and are now ‘digging in’ (sorry) to Level 2.

Hot off the press - we have also now registered with the Food for Life Partnership and have a meeting with their Local Programme Officer on Monday and are actively pursuing their Bronze Award.