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?

Guest books

I've added guestbooks to both my website and blog so please spare a minute to pop by and leave a message - it's good to know who my visitors are.

Click here to go to the guestbook on my website. I have been making some alterations to my website which I hope makes things easier to find. Any suggestions for additions to the website or any improvements are always welcome even if they are not always carried out.

If you prefer I have also created a visitors comments area on the sidebar of this blog. I'm still patiently waiting for some reports of school vegetable patches to include on the examples page of my website so please try to send something that I can include here. With vegetable patches beginning to fill up with plants it's a great time to take a few photos!

Request for help at Horbury Fayre

The Home Grown Horbury stall for Horbury Fayre is in the process of being finalised and the Home Grown Horbury group are running a "Spot the growing plot" competition to get people thinking about the plots of unused land around Horbury and Ossett that could be used to grow fruit and vegetables.

Competition entrants can win one of two beginner’s growing kits that have been put together by the group. They have also have various leaflets & bookmarks etc to give away.

The Fayre takes place next weekend - Saturday 19th from 9am ‘til 5pm and Sunday 20th June from 10am to 5pm.

The group could do with some help in running the stall and giving out leaflets etc. If anyone can spare an hour or two to help, please email Andy or ring 07971 098510.

July's calendar is now available

In theory July is one of the hottest months of the year with low rainfall. Although brief showers can be heavy and the rain that falls may run off dry soil or quickly evaporate. Hot days can also mean thunderstorms.

There may also be spells of windy weather which can flatten plants as well as speed water evaporation.

Although the days are beginning to shorten light levels are still good.

July is an important month for school gardening projects. With the fast approaching summer break it is important that preparations are made to try and ensure that your school patch survives until school reopens.

Watering will be an essential task – you should either invest in an irrigation system or gather together a willing band of garden watchers who can water your plants for you and maybe do a bit of weeding. Make sure that your helpers understand the need for consistent watering and the need not to overwater should the conditions be wet. Watering is best carried out in early morning or late afternoon especially in a greenhouse.

Mulching around plants especially fruit trees and bushes will help conserve moisture and also keep weeds down. Water well before mulching.

Greenhouses will also need to be adequately ventilated. Doors are often left open during the summer months but this can be a problem if it becomes suddenly windy. Also an open door is an invitation to cats and birds so if you do wish to leave it open then place some type of netting over the opening to keep out unwanted guests.

You could reward garden helpers by letting them pick any crops such as courgettes and beans that won’t hang on until you are back at school. This will also help in that crops such as courgettes and beans will keep producing if mature 'fruits' are regularly removed.

The complete July calendar is here

If you can think of anything I have missed then please add to the comments on this blog posting