Lockerbie Academy

This Pocket Garden is a three layered tower beginning with a wormery at the bottom with four logs either side, and a pallet sitting on top of the logs. The pallets are filled with veg and mosses. 

Talking about plants

Eating chives

Watering the garden

Every Pocket Garden tells a story.  Here's the story of Lockerbie Academy's Pocket Garden in their own words.

Automatic drain water Watering system- As it rains I have constructed a diverting system from the gutter to divert most of the water along a pipe and through small homes to water my plants. If it so happens that my plants are going to get flooded I have got a releasing system to release all the water down a pipe into a bucket for later use. I have got moss to naturally hold water to ensure every last drop available can be used by my plants. When the water reaches the bottom of my structure it goes into my wormery, which is drunk by my worms who inturn fill the water with vitamins and minerals for the plants. The mineral water in held in a tank which can be released on demand with the tap to feed my plants in a sustainable way. If the plants are getting flooded I have a special system to avoid water logging, there are plugs to plug the holes in the gutter.

My logs will provide great homes for small insects to live on the surface and inside their bark.

The moss will add more biodiversity since this is a wetland habitat and will attract and retain different creatures.

I will put sheep’s wool as a natural pest deterrent around the edge of plants likely to be eaten by slugs.

Structure- My structure begins with a wormery at the bottom with 4 logs either side, with a pallet sitting on top of the 4 logs. The pallets will be filled with veg and mosses. The structure keeps on going for another 3 layers. I will have a pallet facing south with tin cans attached full of bee friendly flowers, there will be a bird box resting on the side. The bird box will be made of recycled plywood. I will not have bird feeders near my bird box since this is not advised since feeding birds will bring predators and disease to the bird box. Stones will be present to absorb and retain heat for the plants

Building materials My logs will be from roadside windfall trees, pallets will be sourced from a local roadside fly tipping ground, stones will be sourced from builders rubble years, gutter off cuts will be sourced from the same builders rubble yard suppling the stones. Soil will be sourced from the waste picked out of gutters by our window cleaner, this should be very fertile and very sustainable. I will also get soil soil from the wormery. Did you know a household composting makes more of a positive impact on the planet than a household who recycles.

Plants-

Honey suckle- will be trained to grow up the north facing and south facing side of the structure to ensure there is still plenty of light from East and West. Honey suckle is fragrant and attractive and attracts the insects and bees, particularly the native wood bee.

Clematis- will grow along the south and north face to attract insects to my structure to pollinate all of my vegetables.

Climbing roses- will grow along the south and north walls.

Insect friendly self seeding flowers – these will be located on the tin can wall facing south such as dwarf sunflowers, lavender, bluebells, rosemary, foxglove, crocus, chives, salvia, Echinacea Purpurea, cosmos, etc

Spring bulbs such as crocuses, snowdrops, daffoldils- will prevent insect starvation during the hungry time of the year and provide food early season for the first foraging bees and insects of the year.

Primroses- these are native flowers which provide spring food for insects and bees.

Vegetables

My aim is to produce sustainable local food all year round with out chemical pest control. One of the plants will be onions (because you can grow them in a relatively small space and they store well after harvest), mixed varieties of lettuce (because they are colourful and tasty and have a long growing season, if they bolt they are excellent for insects and ultimately to feed my wormery), beetroot (because it is easy to grow, the leaves can be used for salads and the roots can be pickled and preserved for use months after harvest), carrots (because they can stay in the ground during winter and will supply me with fresh zero plastic veg during the winter), strawberries (because they will bring flamboyance to my garden and will supply with a very special treat during the hot summer months)

Herbs

I will plant herbs above my bird boxes to prevent the herbs spreading their runners too far. The fragrance, seeds and flowers from the herbs will be excellent for insects, birds and me to eat.