Spire Infant School's Garden

Details of a second school garden is now available on the website. Spire Infant School is also in Chesterfield. Its pupils move on to Spire Junior School and then to our other example school Parkside Community School.

Thanks again to Liz - a governor at Parkside - for sharing the information posted on the my website. To read about the gardening activities at Spire Infant School click here.

With the summer break fast approaching I hope your gardens survive well without you for a little while - when you return in September maybe you would like to add your school garden to these two examples.

I am equally interested in schools that are just beginning their gardens and also to share any pitfalls and setbacks. Remember too you could involve the children/students in putting together a report. For ideas click here

August gardening calendar

Although there may be heavy downpours in August, this can fall on very dry soil meaning much of the water will run off rather than penetrating the soil. Watering is very important as many plants will have grown larger and be loosing more water through transpiration.

Daylight hours become noticeably shorter during August but during the day, in some areas, high temperatures may be achieved. There is still the possibility of strong winds.

For schools it will be essential to enlist some volunteer help to ensure that the garden survives the August break – some schools may choose to run summer clubs. Maybe a rota of willing helpers could be established. Each set of helpers could be made responsible for a given task. The main tasks will be watering, picking, weeding, cutting grass and ensuring adequate ventilation of greenhouses or polytunnels. If possible feeding plants can be added to the list of tasks. Alternatively groups could be asked to look after the garden for a given period over the summer break. Automatic watering systems may be worth considering.

Ensure that helpers understand how to look after the garden and which areas are priorities.

The activities for the August gardening calendar have been kept to a minimum but include some activities for those not restricted by schools' August break.

Click here for August gardening calendar

How does your school keep the garden going over the summer break?

At last our first example school garden

I'm really grateful to Parkside Community School in Chesterfield for being the first school brave enough to send information about their gardening projects. Parkside has around 500 students aged 11-16 and at the moment has three gardening projects on the go. Thanks to Liz - a governor at the school - for sharing the information posted on the my website.  To read about the gardening activities at Parkside click here.

Now Parkside has broken the ice maybe some more of you would feel brave enough to share your gardens with us. Remember you could get the children involved in writing an article and taking photographs  - maybe a good little project for the end of the year?