Darvel Primary

A wee bug house

The solar fountain working

A clever bird feeder

The hedgehog is crossing the bridge

Stones to represent larger wildlife

The children populated the garden with their toys

The finished garden from above

🌿What was your favourite part of creating your garden?

We thoroughly enjoyed planting the seeds as a whole school, from P1 to P7.  Some children took their seeds home and we have featured 2 plants that were grown at home.  We enjoyed sourcing everything we needed and having parents getting involved, giving us bamboo sticks and stones.  We enjoyed making the bird feeder and the fairy mushrooms.

🌿Did you face any challenges and how did you respond to them?

We struggled with sowing some of our crop and ended up growing most of our produce indoors. We are getting work done in our growing area and we could not take the children up at all for the whole of May and April as it was inaccessible. My classroom has been our growing room and so each class have seen first-hand how the produce has become alive and grown.

🌿What did you learn whilst creating your garden?

We learnt that plants and various flowers need constant attention, some need more sunlight whilst some need less water as we lost some seedlings as we were possibly overwatering them. We found lots of bugs too. We learned how to support plants that became tall very quickly by giving them straws or sticks or reusing plastic straws from games for support. We learned that looking after plants bring us joy and make us feel happy, watching them grow. We learned that people are happy to help when we approached parents and carers.

🌿Did you have any links with your local community or a Pocket Garden mentor whilst creating your garden?

We asked the local community for donations of soil, stones and pots as our seeds grew and need to be re-potted.  We also had support of parents/carers when some children took their plant home.

🌿What will happen to your garden after the competition has finished?

It will be showcased for parents and carers. It will be positioned for all to see. I will invite the local newspaper if they would like to feature our story/journey in their paper. Ultimately, we will ask a staff member or parent to take care of it over the holidays and return it in August. As it is on a wheel, it would be able to be transported a short distance to a home.

🌿Is there anything else you would like to share?

It was a pleasure creating this pocket garden.  It was a real boost to Emmi and we highlighted the whole project to the whole school.  Everyone is aware it is nearly time to submit and there is a sense of anticipation.