Corsehill Primary School

This garden has clever dual-purpose ideas. Above ground, a water wheel generates electricity while watering the veg patch. Below ground the soil is layered to let water filter through it and deep rooting plants are grown there to drink it up.

Clear panel shows layers

Types of plants

Manual water pump

This rain garden system holds water in a barrel and uses its flow when released, to generate power as well as to water the garden. In heavy rain, water is absorbed by layers of compost, soil and sand that allow water to move down into the soil and deep rooted plants. A clear panel at the back of the garden clearly shows the layers in the soil.  Rain water is caught in the gutter attached to the little house built from reclaimed wood and flows into the rain barrel.  From there a manual pump can be used to spray the stored water onto the plants.   The garden supports a number of native plants for pollinators as well as a vegetable patch. Below is the original design sent in by pupils.

This Pocket Garden is a Rain Garden.  A rain garden is an area of plants designed to hold rainfall, then slowly release it, helping to reduce the severity of flooding.  Rain gardens filter the water naturally through their plants, soil and gravel. This filtered, clean water then flows more slowly to our rivers and streams. Any way of temporarily holding rain can be a rain garden, like a planter box that sits below a downpipe. Ideas about how to grow a rain garden can be found here.