Raploch Primary School

A waterfall into a river

Hollow stems like bamboo make good bug hotels

Our wee pond

What a team!

Runner beans will race up the poles

🌿What was your favourite part of creating your garden?

We enjoyed planting all the seeds and looking after them in our classes, then putting it all together to make the garden.

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

Having somewhere safe to place our garden was a bit of an issue, as most of our playground is open to the public out of school time and plants have been previously damaged. The garden is now in our enclosed P1 playground, but we have had to ensure that the P1s aren't picking/pulling up the plants. Getting everything ready in time was challenging. We didn't plant before the Easter holidays as we wouldn't be around to look after the seedlings for 2 weeks but lots of our plants aren't really ready now.

🌿What did you learn whilst creating your garden?

We learned how to make newspaper pots, what grows well in Scotland, and a bit about the various plants that we planted.

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

Yes, we work with an intergenerational gardening group from Inspiring Communities, a community-based group based in our campus.

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

It will remain in our P1 playground, which can be seen/accessed by other classes too.