Tuesday 17th
February 2015
Fourteen P5s, P6s and P7s met along with Mrs Whyte and Mrs
Morrison inside. The weather was cold and a bit showery outside so we told each
other what we did in the garden – sometimes it was our own garden or our
grandparents’ gardens.
Mostly it was weeding, between plants and between the
paving; one of us cut the grass and some helped to plant spuds and seeds.
We decided that a weed was not really a bad thing but just a
plant in the wrong place. When we see dandelions and daisies along the roadside
they look nice but we don’t want them among our flowers and vegetables. We also
thought it was sometimes quite difficult to decide what was a weed and what was
not, when we did the weeding.
We talked about the things we could do this year in the 7
beds and also some other things we could do in the grounds around the school.
In the first bed some had noticed that there were already
some bulbs showing through – these were daffodils from last year. We decided
that we could add tulips and snowdrops for a nice spring show (although not
till next year) and some lillies for the summer. We liked the way the smelled
and had a wee talk about how some people were allergic to the but cutting off
the stamens – the bits that stuck out where the pollen was – would stop them
making people cough and splutter and get runny eyes and wheezes.
We suggested primroses and pansies between the bulbs to make
a nice show in the spring.
In the summer, once the bulbs had died down, we could plant
nasturtiums (lots of colour), lobelia (blue) and alyssum (white) which would
give colour all summer.
In the second bed we thought we could do some lettuce,
spring onions and radish. Some of us liked each of these although we don’t
think anyone liked all three!
In the third bed there was a suggestion that we planted peas
since almost everyone seemed to like them; and some broad beans. Mrs Whyte
reminded us that last year we had planted some French beans on “wigwams” –
several long canes gathered together at the top like a wigwam, because French
beans like to climb up something. She also told us that we could eat the wee
new leaves of the pea plants in a salad.
In the fourth bed we suggested “root vegetables – vegetables
where the part we eat grows beneath the ground. So we are going to grow carrots
and white turnip.
In the fifth bed we thought, rather than try pumpkins which
often don’t do too well outside in Scotland, we could plant courgettes in grow
bags; and most people liked beetroot so we could put those in as well.
In the sixth bed we thought we have better have some flowers
for the autumn so we agreed on dahlias and chrysanthemums. Someone suggested
poinsettias but Mrs Whyte and Mrs Morrison explained they come from a hot
country and would not grow outside in Scotland. We have to find out where
exactly they come from for next week.
In the seventh bed we already have raspberry canes. Indeed
they have spread to the next door bed and we thought we have better get rid of
those ones. We also wanted to grow strawberries, so we will have to pull out
have the raspberry canes in plot 6 as well.
As well as all the beds we thought we could grow some stuff
against the fence. We decided on honeysuckle because it smells so sweet and is
not jaggy so it’s safe for the smaller children, some sunflowers because they
grow so big and are good for the birds when the seeds appear, and some sweet
peas because they are pretty and smell nice.
We wanted to plant potatoes because all of like them
(especially as chips!) so we thought we could grow them in bags.
And of course we have a green house (which needs to be
repaired). So everyone wanted tomatoes, and we added cucumbers and peppers as
well.
Mrs Whyte said the apple trees in the “secret garden” needed
a bit of help with some fertiliser and some weed control fabric to keep the
grass from growing and taking all the food from the soil that the apple trees
need.
She could also do with some help in pruning (cutting back)
the roses and weeding the beds in front of the school entrance, as well as
planting some new things there.
Mrs Morrison suggested we put some weed control fabric down
between the beds to stop the grass growing and getting into the beds, as well
as making it less muddy round the beds. She explained that plants (and that
includes grass) need light to grow and putting down the black fabric stops the
light from getting to the grass and so the grass stops growing. Mrs Whyte said
that was just the thing for round the apple trees as well.
After all of that talking and thinking, we all got boots and
jackets on and went for a look at the beds. They all need weeding and some more
earth. We took out all the raspberry canes in bed 6 – some had very deep roots
put we got them all up. The canes in bed 7 are a bit deeper and we’ll need
spades and forks for them. The strawberry plants we thought were there have all
disappeared so we need more.
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| Chrysanthemum |
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| Daffodil |
 |
| Dahlia |
 |
| Lilly |
 |
| Lobelia |
 |
| Nasturtium |
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| Pansy |
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| Poinsettia |
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| Primula |
 |
| Snowdrops |
 |
| Tulips |
 |
| Alyssum |
