Preparing for a New Year

We took advantage of the mild spell today in order to clear out our raised beds. The Year 6 Garden Team dug out and composted the lettuce, broccoli and cauliflower crops left over from the summer plantings. After removing any weeds, they dug in some soil improver and raked over the the surface ready for planting in the spring.

It is a bit early for us to sow many crops yet as we are expecting some frosty weather soon. Some crops such as garlic and broad beans actually benefit from a cold snap (known as a stratification period) so are fine to plant out in winter. Most other vegetable crops that we grow in our school beds like to have warmer soil to get them off to a good start.

There are still plenty of jobs to be getting on with at this time of year. We still have some hedgerow shrubs to plant before the the tree planting season comes to a close in March. We also plan to add some more willow to our willow bed.

Any pots that are to be reused need to be washed out and disinfected to prevent any lingering diseases being passed on to new plants.

Walkways can suffer in the wet winter weather, so it is a good idea to add some bark chippings or similar to prevent the paths from becoming too churned up. Cardboard can be placed under the bark chippings to stop them sinking into the soil. The cardboard will eventually decompose into the soil.

It is also a great time to look through seed catalogues a create a planting plan for the year. A good indoor activity is to create information signs to tell people information about what is planted in the gardens. We will be collecting some twigs around the school grounds to turn into plant markers. The children can try their hand at pyrography to write the names of the plants on the twig markers.

Winter Planting

Our Olympic Rings put on a fabulously fragrant show over the summer, but it was finally time to clear the bed out ready for our winter planting.


Bradford Council Landscape Division kindly provided us with 500 winter pansies for us to use to make our winter display.

We have spelled out the word ‘Fagley’ in pale yellow pansies in the centre of the bed. Children from Year One and Year Six joined me to plant some gorgeous deep blue pansies to frame the edge of the bed.

The children had to work out how many flowers they would have each to plant. We had two trays of flowers each containing 28 plants. We wanted to share the two trays of flowers between the four corners of the flowerbed. Can you work out how many flowers we had to plant in each corner?

We also had huge fun racing to collect dozens of bags of leaves which will be turned into leaf mulch to feed our vegetable beds, fruit trees and flowering borders.

Make sure you take a look at our ‘Fagley’ flowerbed next time you are passing the school entrance and if you have any suggestions for future planting plans, we would love to hear them.

 

The Year 4 and 6 Garden Teams joined me outside on Friday to continue planting our Woodland Trust hedging shrubs. Chelsea and Abdullah worked together to plant some blackthorn (prunus spinosa) and elder (sambucus nigra) shrubs. These shrubs both produce wonderful dark berries which will provide a valuable food source for birds.

Marceli and Jack added some winter pansies and dog rose plants to our butterfly border, whilst Charlotte and Abby planted dogwood (cornus) down the edge of the entrance path. The new growth of the dogwood tree is a spectacularly rich red colour making it a valuable addition to a winter planting scheme. In the Springtime, the crimson stems can be pruned and used for weaving projects.

Building a Butterfly Border

The next phase of building work has begun at Fagley Primary. The latest phase will see the creation of new more spacious Year 5 and 6 classrooms and common room; a food technology room; new cloakrooms and lavatories; a first floor technology suite. There will also be a covered outdoor area to provide extra opportunities for outdoor learning.

The extension of the existing building necessitates the re-loaction of the multi-sports pitch.
The re-modelling has required the removal of several small trees and established shrubs. Ever aware of our environmental responsibility at Fagley Primary, we asked if the trees and shrubs could be salvaged so that we could plant them elsewhere in the school grounds.

We are currently working on creating a bee and butterfly garden opposite our kitchen garden. The woody perennial shrubs including lavender, rosemary and hebe will provide structure and maturity in our new butterfly border. Once these had been planted, we were be able to add spring flowering bulbs and a selection of perennials and annuals to provide year round interest. 

RHS Schools Regional Conference at Harlow Carr

The first Annual Schools Regional Conference took place at Harlow Carr on 17th October 2012. This was a fantastic opportunity for representatives from schools all over the North of England to meet and hear about all the fun and exciting ways in which growing can be weaving into the curriculum.
http://apps.rhs.org.uk/schoolgardening/teachershome/news/schoolsregionalconference.aspa

At Fagley Primary we are particularly keen to explore ways in which we can link growing to enterprise activities.

On school which was done this to great effect is St John's of Beverly Catholic Primary. The former Deputy Head gave the keynote speech in which he highlighted how growing can lie at the heart of the curriculum and how running an enterprise project around gardening enables children to gain real life business skills.

During the day, we attended a number of workshops including 'Sneaky Ways to Teach Maths and Science Through Gardening' and 'How to Make Your School Garden Pay'. I picked up many useful ideas, some of which  have already implemented at school, such as potting up your strawberry runners to sell in spring.

I am also looking forward to making the giant vegetable rulers and willow plant pot stars with the Garden Team.

Meanwhile, back at school there is still plenty to be getting on with. We still have some more spring bulbs to plant and mulch to spread. We also have just taken delivery of our hedgerow plants from the Woodland Trust. These include, holly, dogwood, hazel and hawthorn.  As well as planting our hedgerow shrubs, we need to clear out the Olympic Flowerbed which put on such a fabulous show over the summer and replace the old bedding plants with winter flowering pansies (generously supplied by Bradford Council Landscape Division.

We are always keen to involve parents and grandparents, so if you have greenfingers and some spare time on your hands, please feel free to come along and lend a hand.

On Friday, seven children from Fagley Primary attended the annual Bradford Schools Flower & Vegetable Show, hosted this year by Cottingley Village Primary School. Many children throughout school helped to prepare the entries for the show. I am proud to announce that Fagley Primary came away with the top prize in the 'Best Group of Potatoes' category and came runner-up in the 'Best Vegetable in Show' category with our pointed red cabbage. A great day was had by all and we look forward to attending the show again next year, when it will be hosted by Hollingwood Primary.  

Making use of our produce

Whilst some of our crops have struggled with the cool wet summer, others have positively relished the soggy summer!
Turn your back on a courgette plant for a second and before you know it, you have massive marrows. After a week away, I popped in to school to check on the vegetable garden. I was greeted by some rather impressive courgettes/marrows. The more courgettes you pick, the more the plant will crop.

I headed home with a basketful of the big green beauties and set about looking for inspiration of what to make with them. Stuffed marrow is a traditional way of using up a glut of these veggies to create a cheap and filling family meal.

Below is my twist on the traditional recipe using one of my favourite ingredients, Hungarian paprika sausage (similar to cooking chorizo).

In a food processor combine:

1 Paprika sausage or cooking chorizo
3 minced cloves of garlic
1/2 a red sweet pepper
1 slice of bread (great way to use up the crust)
2 medium sized mushrooms
6 sunblush tomatoes
sea salt and freshly cracked pepper
1 red onion

Once the ingredients have been chopped together, stir in an egg.

Slice the marrow into thick rounds and scoop out the flesh. Place the rounds on an oiled baking tray

Stuff the marrow rounds with the mixture and top with dried breadcrumbs.

Bake in an oven preheated to 180c until the marrow has softened an the breadcrumb topping has crisped up.

Serve on a bed of sauteed vegetables. I used baby pak choi and fine asparagus.

RHS Campaign for School Gardening Photo of the Month

A picture of our Olympic flowerbed has been selected as the RHS Campaign for School Gardening website's 'Photo of the Month' for August.

You can view it here: http://apps.rhs.org.uk/schoolgardening/default.aspa