We have a spiders web themed climbing space for sweetpeas made from wool. We have woven bird houses which we found and a stick and wool teepee for climbing tomatoes. We made a logpile similar to the ones you would find created by insects.  The rock pond, log piles and flowering plants make our garden attractive to insects and wildlife. We already have wood lice, caterpillars and bees visiting the garden.

We enjoyed using our lunchtimes productively and being part of a group that has achieved something. We enjoyed building the garden and seeing things grow. We were surprised how quickly things grew and flowered.  We have used creativity skills and adapted as we have gone along. We have learned what plants will grow and what will struggle in the school grounds and when they should be put outside. We have worked as a team and shared ideas.

We have chives, parsley, chocolate mint and strawberries and other herbs in pots. Tomato plants and beetroot are in the tyre. Unfortunately our courgettes, squash and chard were eaten by slugs.

We used pallets and old tires for the main structure.  We have a watering system made from donated gutters and the planters have been used in our school garden for years. The local garden centre donated seeds and burst bags of compost.

We faced the challenge of slugs and snails eating lots of our plants. Some seeds didn’t grow like we expected them to and we had to adapt our design and expectations. We decided not to add the roof from our design because the garden was drying out quickly and hoped the rain would help it to grow. We tried save some of the plants by putting mint in which slugs don’t like.

Our garden will remain in place over the summer holidays to help wildlife and we hope to have more flowers and food when we get back to school. We will compost plants when they have died away in winter and add seasonal vegetables at the end of summer. We are planning to ask the nursery next door to help us look after the garden. We would like to expand the garden to include more food.