Who has been eating our brassicas?

It would appear that some little pest has been munching on our brassicas. On first inspection, we thought that it was slugs and snails. However, the extent of the damage and the telltale droppings suggest our vegetable assassin is of the winged variety. So the question is how do we stop the pigeons!!

The best option is probably going to be netting, though the children quite fancy the idea of making scarecrows so we may go for a 'belt and braces' option.

Unperturbed by the damage to our current crops, the children got on with sowing some rocket and radishes. They also topped up the potato tubs with what remained of the compost stockpile. At the rate the potato plants are growing, we will need to buy in some more compost very soon.

Pumpkins are in

Today, the children planted out some pumpkin plants. The variety we are growing are called 'Ghost Rider' and are particularly good for using as Halloween lanterns.

We also watered the veg that had been planted out on Tuesday and labelled the beds with the names of the veggies growing in them.

So in time honoured Bullseye style, here is a rundown of what has been planted so far!

In 1 - the Italians call them zucchini, they can be green or yellow - yes they're courgettes.

In 2 - they are big orange can can be very spooky - they're pumpkins

In 3 - no Christmas lunch would be complete without them - they're Brussels sprouts

In 4 - this variety is January King - It's winter cabbages

In 5 - just keep cutting and they'll come again - they're salad leaves

In 6 - nothing yet (unless you count the weeds!)

In 7 - great with cheese - It's cauliflower

In 8 - don't cry about this one - they're Spanish onions

In 9 - they dig a good beat - It's beetroot

And bully's special prize, the crazy guys on the block - they're wildflowers!

Hoe, Hoe, Hoe

Today, we tackled the weeds with a vengence.

The children got busy and hoed the weeds out of three of the unused raised beds. They then planted out the courgettes, brussel sprouts and cabbages that had been started off in pots.

Over the holiday, the salad leaves had run to seed, so these were pulled out to make way for new sowings. The beetroot and cauliflower beds also had a thorough weeding.

The potatoes are coming along nicely. Today, the children added extra compost to the poato barrels and gave them a good watering.

And then the heavens opened!

Today, we ventured out hoping to dodge the showers.

The children transplanted the climbing beans sown by class 2, into larger growing containers. We just managed to get two of the containers planted up and a wigwam of support canes into one of the containers before the heavens opened. So we hastily beat a retreat indoors.

The children planted up the final container indoors. Hopefully we will be able to dodge the showers for long enough this week to get outside and put support canes in the other two containers.


Whilst inside, the children planted some more courgette seeds. We have put these seeds into the mini-greenhouse to germinate as the ones put in the heated propagator last week grew too leggy.

With all the rain forecast, at least we don't have to worry about the raised beds drying out over the spring bank holiday!

Anyone for salad?

Today the children planted out the flower seedlings that were sown a few weeks ago. They have been placed in the grounds of the children's centre and will provide a splash of colour in the coming months (provided they survive the marauding snail population!)

The cauliflower plants have taken a bit of a battering in the high winds over the last week so it may be necessary to transplant a few more and provide them with some cover until they can become more established.

The cut and come again salad leaves planted several weeks ago have done very well and we were able to harvest some today. The children all had a little taste and the rest of the leaves will be accompanying tomorrow's school lunch. The children are very excited about the rest of the school sampling their first crop. We also sowed some more salad leaves so that hopefully we can provide the kitchen with a regular supply of fresh produce!

Day of the Triffids!

Last week, the children sowed strawberry, wildflower, tomato and courgette seeds in pots and we popped them into our new propagator.

When we returned on Tuesday after the bank holiday, we made an amazing discovery. Some seeds had germinated and the courgette plants were actually scraping on the top of the propagator! Some of the shoots are looking a little bit leggy. Perhaps because it was a little too warm and not quite light enough in the propagator.

We have transferred the courgette plants to the mini greenhouse to harden off and will plant them out next week.

After a spot more weeding, the children planted the cauliflower and beetroot plants into the raised beds, so now we will have to begin snail watch to protect our tender young plants!


The cold frames arrived form the Morrison's Let's grow campaign this week, so once we have decided the best spot to site them, we will be able to start some plants off in them.

We have been aiming to get the whole school in on the growing and so potato tubs have been distributed to each class so be planted up over the next few weeks.

To tie in with Class 2's science topic of 'Plants and Animals in the Local Environment' the children have planted climbing beans. They will be studying the bean's progress over the coming weeks.

Not to be outdone, the children in class one have sown cress seeds.

It's all growing on!!!!!

Weeds Galore!

After a relatively sunny Easter break, we came back to discover a whole host of little shoots had appeared in our raised beds. Unfortunately, we hadn't been responsible for planting them! Yes, hundreds of little weeds had sprung up everywhere. So we set to work plucking them out. We even got the children involved at break times and luckily, there were plenty of willing hands.

During gardening club this week, the children also potted a variety of flower seeds including, sweet peas, marigolds, impatiens and nemesia. The intention is for them to provide a welcoming splash of colour in the Children's Centre garden.

The children checked on the cauliflower and broccoli seedlings that they planting a few weeks ago. They look to be doing very well and once we have ousted all the weeds from the raised beds, we should be able to plant them out.

This week, the heated propagator arrived from the Morrison's Let's Grow campaign, so next week we will be looking at what we can get started in there.

There is also good news on the watering front. It seems we are to have an external tap fitted, which will certainly make it easier to keep the raised beds hydrated.
We are still hoping to incorporate some water butts at some point though, to enable us to utilise the rainwater.