Willow on the go

The willow arch in the school garden is up and running with a flush of green leaves. So reassuring to know it must have put down roots.  And the dome next to it isn't doing badly either!

 

Flower Power

It is raining today so I am looking back over the pictures I have taken in the wildflower meadow which was sown last autumn.  It is ready for hay harvest now but before the chop here are some of the residents when they were in their flowering prime,  No names - just enjoying the shapes and colours.

Corn Marigold

Kidney Vetch 

And here is a picture of the meadow which has provided all the above:

Back To School

The children return to school today and here is what will greet them in the school garden:

Now it is time for a spot the difference quiz:

A

B

Aside from the net to keep the pigeons off the kohlrabi, the difference is that a mature bulb of Florence fennel along with its feathery plumage has been removed by an agency unknown (middle left square foot) leaving a much weaker bulb.  I hope this remaining specimen will grow on now its competition has been removed.

These are in the "Autumn" square foot bed. The neighbouring "Winter" bed is already full to brimming.  It is the Swede that has been ravaged by the pigeons here (and now has a net over it)

You would have thought a tomato in a bucket in  a greenhouse would be safe?

 

Well you would be wrong.  Somebody selected a specimen from the back of this greenhouse .  Curious because - as you can see the fence is higher than the greenhouse (7 or 8ft high)

Now before the bell rings don't forget the neighbouring wildflower meadow.  I think it is high time for a haircut!

In the Summertime - 4 Seasons in One

The summer solstice has arrived and it is time to review the four seasons square foot beds: 

Summer

Swiss Chard			Garlic			Onions
Parsley			Pea Jaguar			Strawberry
Radish			Leaf Beet			Elephant Garlic

These items should be ready for harvesting in a week's time. All except the radish which seedlings the birds demolished!

Crop Shop!

We had a garden gate sale at the school today. Fair to say that there was a bit more colour compared to two weeks ago when the potatoes and broad beans were sold. 

Between the two we have added £70 to the garden fund.

There are flowers as well as veg.

And demonstration beds like the "4 Seasons" veg beds designed to have something cropping at any time of the year.

We also maintain a rotation.  Here are the legumes (with soft fruit to the left).

Here are the netted brassicas

And some exotics like sweetcorn and pumpkins.

Let's not forget the wildflower bed:

The level of interest from pupils, parents and passersby (it is beside a public footpath) is a source of great encouragement.

November? - The Salad Bar Is Open

Today, at the school garden, I lifted the fleece on the salad bed:

This is where the peas and beans grew this year,  but then we planted out plug plants at the beginning of September.  The fleece was deployed in the middle of October just before the first frost arrived.

In the foreground the Mizuna is looking nice and frilly. At the other end the Land Cress or American Cress is thriving :

Land Cress

This provides a peppery aftertaste.  When the children were sampling the salads last week I warned them off this, and didn't provide any tasting samples for them.  The result was that it became the highlight of the session with, I think, every child trying it just to prove me wrong, or to prove they weren't wimps!

There were four sorts of lettuce, with the Marveille de Quatre Saisons stealing the show with its rouged leaves.

Lettuces

 The most prolific salad has been Winter Purslane (Claytonia, Miners' Lettuce).  Still mild despite starting to flower.

Winter Purslane

 I've tucked them all up again under the fleece and it is going to be interesting to see how they do when winter bites.  I will leave them to see if we get a new flush come spring.  As this is going to be the brassica bed next year there is no rush to clear the ground.

Just while I am on the subject of summer crops I can't resist showing of the solitary chilli from last year.  It was an unsuccessful experiment for me spanning some four varieties.  I did learn that they really do need to be treated as indoor plants in Scotland.  The unheated greenhouse was ok for tomatoes and cucumber but the chillis just refused to grow.  Add to this my over enthusiastic watering (in a vain attempt to encourage growth) and you can understand why they protested.  It was only when I brought them back indoors that this one fruit eventually ripened.

As you see the leaves are protesting about the cold nights.  Despite all this I will try again  next year, in a limited indoor windowsill way,  to grow chillies.

School Gardening

I have been helping out at a local school garden for a couple of seasons now.  I had hoped to launch a dedicated blog on the subject but this no longer seems practical.*  I will do a couple of posts here to describe some of the experiences we have had to date.

By way of introduction here is how the garden looked last year: 

Wildflower Garden

Gateway off Playground

Side on view

Brassicas and Salad Beds

Our Greenhouse

Cucurbits

Potatoes in Sacks

*Such a blog would best be run by the schoolchildren themselves as part of the curriculum.  The school does have a page devoted to the garden which has a calendar and some updates.  You can see this at the following link Garden Page .