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Post by SueA on Oct 21, 2011 11:45:37 GMT
You look very relaxed in your deckchair there Derek! ;D
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Post by derekbrooks on Oct 21, 2011 21:13:50 GMT
Well noticed,Sue
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Post by derekbrooks on Nov 3, 2011 23:18:40 GMT
After the school has been closed for a week for half term I went again today for the life skills class and garden club.However,Gina was off sick and Steve,the caretaker was looking after the children.There is not much for the children to do at this time of year so I don,t know what Gina would have wanted them to do.Steve had the life skills children shovelling the wood chip into a wheel barrow and spreading it on the paths as they were doing before the holidays.I didn,t need to help them with this. There was quite a lot of scrap wood piled up behind the polytunnel .There is a bonfire on the allotment this weekend so I pushed all this wood through the railings onto the allotments ,then walked round and shifted it onto the site where the bonfire is going to be.It would have been a lot easier if there was a gate that I could walk through .Not gardening of course but at least I had done something useful. The garden club children started weeding some tubs at the front of the school but Steve let them go early so I did so as well.
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Post by derekbrooks on Nov 10, 2011 22:32:30 GMT
Today the "life skills"children were shifting wood chip and spreading it on paths as they have been doing the last 2 weeks.I didn,t need to help with this so I decided to fork over and weed one of the veg beds.I had done the others previously. The garden club children planted up some hanging baskets with pansies.They had to empty them first.They had some geraniums in which I thought we would keep till next year.I thought I would show the children how to pot them up.We had no suitable pots though so I planted them temporarily in a spare bed.I will get some pots for next week.
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Post by derekbrooks on Nov 17, 2011 22:44:10 GMT
The children in the life skills class weren't doing gardening today so I didn,t have to go till 3,30 for the gardening club.(I mormally go at 2.30).Three girls worked with me.At the front of the school there was a row of begonias in a border and some geraniums in tubs.I tried to explain to them that some plants are hardy and could be left out all winter but begonias and geraniums are not and would die if they were left out.We took some trays and trowels and dug them all up and took them into the polytunnel.We then potted them up into 5 inch pots.There is a long potting bench in the polytunnel containing multipurpose compost.However it was bone dry and I explained that it was no use potting plants in it like this.We watered the compost on the bench and kept mixing it with trowels until it was all completely moist before potting the plants. The other children worked with Gina tidying "Fred the head"The grass needed cutting and they spread wood chip round him.
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Post by derekbrooks on Nov 24, 2011 22:52:19 GMT
No "life skills"gardening class again today and the after school garden club was the last one till March 1st next year.This has been decided because it is difficult to find the children enough to do in the winter.We didn,t do any gardening today either.We had a party as we always do on the last day.The children just did some word searches and other puzzles ,did some colouring and had some eats There are so many children wanting to do gardening now that they have been split into two groups and each group is in for 4 or 5 weeks at a time. Group 1 was in in October then group 2 in November.When we start again next March it will be group 1 again for 5 weeks then group 2 again. and so on.With short sessions like this children are more likely to be able to harvest and take home veg that they have sown or planted themselves.Previously children who start in mid summer have been harvesting veg that other children have planted which is rather unfair.
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Post by derekbrooks on Dec 7, 2011 11:34:35 GMT
I have written an article about the school gardens for the National Vegetable society magazine and sent it to the editor yesterday.It was too late for the January edition but it will be in in April.I am hopefully going to write some more next summer showing pictures of the children growing and harvesting their crops.
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Post by steve on Jan 7, 2012 17:41:42 GMT
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Post by derekbrooks on Jan 7, 2012 20:22:36 GMT
Thanks Steve .I will tell Gina about it
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Post by derekbrooks on Mar 1, 2012 20:54:43 GMT
The "Life skills"class and the garden club started again today after the winter break.The life skills class planted some daffodil bulbs.I know they should have been planted in the autumn but we didn,t get time to plant them all.Gina decided that we had better plant them.Some were almost in flower but if they don't do much this year they will hopefully establish and give a better show next year. The garden club children did some of these as well then tidied up the butterfly bed.There is a large buddleia in this garden which I pruned.
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Post by derekbrooks on Mar 8, 2012 23:19:41 GMT
I know some of you on this forum,as I do, take part in Thompson and Morgan's trials. Last April they sent me 2 tree peonies,and 3 hibiscus.Also 3 magnolias (can,t remember when those came).I have no room for large plants like those in my garden and I have asked them not to send me any more such plants.Anyway I asked at school if I could plant them there and was given permission.I planted them in pots until Gina and Steve (the manager) decided where they could go.Last autumn I asked them to decide and let me know ,then I would go and plant them.Apparently there was some disaggreement so the didn't get planted.When I arrived today Gina asked me if they could go in the butterfly bed. There is not much room in there and they would grow far too big . Steve suggested they be planted at the front of the school in a grass area.This is where I wanted them anyway so I was FINALLY given permission to plant them.They had been in pots at school for nearly a year waiting to be planted.The "life skills"children and those in garden club were barrowing wood chip and spreading it onto the paths.They didn't need me to help them with this so I PLANTED THE TREES.
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Post by derekbrooks on Mar 15, 2012 19:51:19 GMT
I did some turfing with the "life skills"children today.When I planted the trees last week I cut out squares in the grass about 18 inches square .There is a bare area in some other grass where there used to be a greenhouse so we turfed part of this area .There wasn,t enough turf to finish it though. A warehouse near us is selling peat free growbags £5.00 for 10 ( ie 50p each).They are last years from Tesco. The ones we sell at the hut are £1.75. Because they are so cheap Gina phoned me last week to ask my opinion as to whether she should get some for school.I am always wary of cheap compost .I have heard reports of compost containing pieces of wood and stones and even glass.Anyway I suggested that she got some and I would have a look at it and we would try it on some things. The garden club children were planting potatoes for a competition between schools for the highest yield from 3 tubers .The bags to grow them in have been provided and there were 2 varieties-Rocket and Vales emerald.They planted the Vales emerald in fresh multipurpose compost from our hut .I have some Rocket at home so I suggested we grow some in the multipurpose and some in the old growbag compost and compare the results.So they planted some in growbag compost and I will take some next week and they can plant them in multipurpose. The old growbag compost did look O.K.though.There didn't seem to be any rubbish in it. Have any of you had any experience with cheap compost? If you have,please let me know.
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Post by derekbrooks on Mar 22, 2012 21:02:07 GMT
I have told you about "Fred the head" before .It is a mound of soil covered in grass with eyes,nose ears and mouth to make a mans head.Gina decided that he neened a haircut so the life skills children were trimming the grass with scissors. As I suggested last week one of the boys planted some rocket potatoes in a bag of multipurpose compost to compare results with some planted in the old growbag compost.Have none of you had experience with cheap compost? Nobody has replied to say that you have. I also told you last year that a lady had started making a dry garden at school the abandoned it half finished.It had been decided to turf over the whole area but there has been a change of mind since that.Gina has thought of sowing wild flowers in it so the garden club children started weeding and levelling the beds .I forked one of the beds over then they could get the weeds out easier.There are 4 beds altogether but we only did one.
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Post by Cherry on Mar 22, 2012 21:16:54 GMT
The school is lucky to have you Derek. It must look fabulous.
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Post by derekbrooks on Mar 22, 2012 21:38:03 GMT
Pity you don't live nearer'Cherry.You could come and have a look.
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