Having taken a look at our school garden we agreed that it needed some love and attention. We decided this was a project to work on in the school as part of both our Discover Primary Science and Maths project, and our sustainability project. In 6th class we all drew our own pictures and wrote short descriptive pieces of writing about how our garden currently is. We then put our landscaping skills to the test in planning how we would like our school garden to be. We also did some video interviews on yard at break time with children from other classes to get some of their ideas. We discussed possibilities and in the end we had to be realistic with what we were hoping to achieve. Here is a sample of our garden transformation so far…
Dylan and Billy loosening the soil before we sow some flowers. We realized we will be needing to give some TLC to the grassy areas. We hope our finished garden will have lots of luscious grass.
Ms Barret working with Casey and Amber to fill our raised beds. We tried out a few different designs before deciding.
We decided to keep our other raised beds to sow some pumpkins. First class are going to sow some pumpkins in the coming weeks. We hope we will have a pumpkin for each class next Halloween.
Amber sowing a climber which will decorate our garden fence when it flowers.
Huge thanks to Liz for collecting some colourful welly boots to add even more colour. Any more old pairs are welcome.
Raised bed perimeters painted by Brooke, Kia, Kelsey, Brigid, Amber and Caithlin. 6th class working very hard to loosen soil by the fence and sow lots of daffodil bulbs which will hopefully flower for us next year.
We painted old tyres and sowed some flowers inside.
We found some nice ideas on Pinterest and we decided that because our garden is quite small in area, we need to make the most of the surrounding fence. We decided to recycle plastic bottles to make herb ladders. This process involved concentration and precision to ensure the bottles remained parallel. 6th class boys took the lead on this project.
Jerry and Maddie from 5th did some running repairs and positioned the herb ladders on the fence.
Senior infants are very inquisitive about the transformation which is happening in the garden during lunch times.
Second class taking advantage of the recent good weather and sowing our herbs into the herb ladders.
Ryan and Billy trying some new ideas for securing our bamboo bee hotels. We used bamboo with different diameters to attract multiple varieties of bees to our garden.
Billy experimenting with design features.
Brigid and Brooke making some more bee hotels.
Dylan and Ryan securing the bee hotels to the fence.
An injured bee found on yard was helped to the bee hotel. We hope he enjoys our new additions to the garden.
Handyman Dylan putting the finishing touches to our bug palace or Buggingham Palace as we like to call it!!
Dean and Kelsey are organizing the different areas of the palace to entice the minibeasts in.
Colourful tin can wind chime designed by Caithlin.
Ava joining us at lunch time to secure our wind chimes without restricting them.
Maddie positioning some bunting to further brighten our garden.
What a difference a fortnight of school makes. So much work has been done by the children so far, with more projects in the pipeline to further enhance our garden. Amongst these are a wishing well and a fairy door! We are also taking an allotment in Fassaroe in which 5th class will be sowing a variety of vegetables.
7:18 pm on February 28th, 2018
Congratulations to all involved .. the garden looks amazing .. I love the herb ladder, welly planters and especially the painted tyre planter .. I can’t wait until everything blossoms .. Ada
9:39 pm on April 26th, 2018
I’m so impressed by the beautiful garden and that it’s such a team effort – well done Ms Ward and 6th class for helping everyone to get involved!