The garden was designed to represent the City of Perth and some of the history attached to Perth. The garden was shaped to show the North and South Inch’s – areas of parkland on the North and South sides of the city centre.  These were the areas for growing plants and crops in our garden as they are always green, with different wild flowers grown throughout the year.

Beside the North Inch was an area dedicated to the Black Watch Castle. Poppies were grown from the three towers to remember the soldiers who died from the Black Watch regiment in different conflicts. A soldier in traditional Black Watch uniform was painted onto a stone and placed on guard in front of the castle.

A bug hotel represents the Moot Hill Chapel where the Kings of Scotland were crowned centuries before.

The outside was decorated with drawings of a Highland Cow, found in different areas of Perthshire, a Unicorn – Scotland’s National animal and the words Perth and Scotland to represent where we feel connection to.

Between the North and South Inch we planted blue flowers to represent the river Tay, which flows along side both inch’s. Forget me nots, pansy’s and cornflowers were planted, unfortunately the blue flowers have yet to bloom.

Two bird houses were added to invite small birds into the garden. Coffee grounds were added to the soil to attract mini beasts and enrich the soil. Strawberries, Raspberries, Spring Onions and Potatoes were grown, alongside cornflowers, poppies and a variety of blue flowers, all of which are grown locally in Perth. 

The Garden was built from wood from old planters, and part of an old doorframe was used to elevate the bird houses. Compost was taken from the compost bays in school and topsoil from the polytunnel was added to the top layers.

All pupils really enjoyed every aspect of the design, build and growing and maintaining and decorating the garden. One pupil did a fantastic job on the artwork but all pupils contributed to the creation in many different ways. Seeing the garden come to life and match many of the original plans has been the best bit.

The pupils were faced with a challenge of whether to add a back to the garden, as per the original design, but being unable to source an adequate way of securing the back, without compromising the rest of the structure meant that adaptions had to be made – and the decorations were added as a replacement. The garden will be maintained and used as another planter once this season is over. It will hopefully inspire other groups to create something of their own, and make the school grounds a bit nicer.