Early March - planting the sensory garden

The students have been working over the past few weeks to design and build a sensory garden within our garden area.  Raised beds have been constructed out of decking boards, they carefully planned out a shape which fitted around our pond.  They used their functional maths skills to measure the boards, cutting them to create the shape they wanted.

It was really hard work to dig out all the grass and roots from the bottom of each bed.

The plants which had been given to us by Dobbies Garden centre have been cared for in our poly-tunnel for the past few weeks.  We brought all the plants outside and decided where they should be planted.

We learnt about how tall each plant was going to grow and thought about where each plant would look best.  

We talked about symmetry and how making a symmetrical pattern can look really nice in a garden.

The soil was raked nice and smooth before the plants were planted.

We removed the pots from the plants and looked at the roots.

Some of the plants had become very pot-bound.  Christine explained that the roots needed to be loosened so that the plant would put out new roots and grow well in the raised beds.

When we had decided where each plant should go, a hole was dug in the raised bed using a trowel - the students estimated the size by looking at the size and shape of each pot.

This is a Yuka plant - we were surprised to see the roots looked a bit like worms when we took the pot off.  This plant should grow until it is about 5ft tall, we decided to put this plant at the back behind our bench - which we have not built yet.

Our borage we planted during half-term has started to germinate, you can just see the first shoots appearing in the pot.

We are experimenting this year and have planted some Okra seeds.

Onion sets planted in the poly-tunnel

Primulas - for a Mothers Day stall later in the Month.

The sensory garden getting watered in.

We will need to make sure the plants get well watered over the next few weeks.

The sensory bed as we left it today - you can also see the ducks have been fenced out of some of the garden, just to keep them away from the young plants we will be putting into the raised beds.  When we first got the ducks they couldn't work out how to get into the raised beds - putting wood chip on the paths has made it easier for the ducks to get in and out of the raised beds!

More seeds germinating in the greenhouse in our little micro-climate.