Bun Sgoil a'Phluic

The Living Garden, hosted by the Garden for Life Forum promotes wildlife friendly gardening. Schools were invited to design a small garden including celebrating the 2017 year of History, Heritage and Archaeology. Air a Mhachair - On the Machair.  Peas scramble up a fishing net and our coastal riches appear throughout this design that uses companion planting to protect the food plants from pests.

Growing veg

Miniature beach

Photos at the shore

Decorated with shells

Every garden tells a story about the people who helped make it, the challenges faced, solutions found, lessons learned and the unexpected pleasures along the way. Here is the Pocket Garden Story from Bun Sgoil a’ Phluic:

The machair, which is unusual in this part of the North West, is a light sandy soil which stretches to the sea. Gardeners in Plockton have spent many years growing on machair and developing plants that are hardy and don’t hate the salt air. We are also a bit warmer here than other places and we can grow palm trees.

We started planting out our seeds for the garden in the greenhouse, particularly, carrots and nasturtiums. We got the peat free compost from the Walled Garden nursery at Duncraig. We started by planting our beans against the driftwood so that they would curl around. We used Pearlite to simulate the coral from the coral sands around our shores and to help drainage. We planted marigolds and onions to keep away the beasties.

The tiny potatoes are from last year. We plant out potatoes, leeks, kale, carrots, onions and tomatoes every year and the potatoes are always wonderful. We have put sand paths through the crops and left a picnic blanket and flask of tea for the crofter.

All done with help from Bob Kennedy our mentor and friend. P1-3 Gàidhlig & English and Sgoil Àraich (nursery) Bun Sgoil a’ Phluic/Plockton Primary School.

Planting vegetables

At the shore

Teamwork