Morrisons Academy

Beorn’s Bee Garden

The Morrison’s Academy Eco Committee’s submission tells the story of “The Hobbit”. The students have chosen “The Hobbit” because it is the book they have been reading in English class this year. As a result, we have designed the garden to include a hobbit hole made with an upside down flower pot and surrounded by a fence made of sticks and a door made of lollipop sticks. The stone path up to the house is surrounded by a mini food garden on each side. In our garden, we have the river called the Running River which is made of blue plates. The main character of the garden is Beorn (a half bear and half man character).

Beorn collecting potatoes

The Running River

Watch out for Smaug!

Our garden is wildlife friendly because we have researched which plants attract bees and other insects and interviewed members of staff at school who are keen gardeners. The main edible parts for humans in our garden are the potatoes, onions, French beans, strawberries, nasturtiums. For the bees and insects, there are sweet peas, lupines, sunflowers, marigolds, honesty, nasturtiums, antirrhinum, and alliums.

Our reused garden materials include the planting box, the flower pot, the blue plates for the river (which were broken and destined to be rubbish), and our Beorn figurine. We found our Beorn at a charity shop on the Crieff high street and he is in the garden with his burlap sack collecting potatoes. The sign at the front of the garden is one of Beorn’s best quotes and is written in runes on a broken mini-whiteboard that was otherwise destined for rubbish. On the wall in the background we have Smaug the dragon breathing fire and a sign that says “MA Eco”. Smaug is made from the fabric of banners from the modern languages building that were faded and no longer could be put up on the walls. The “MA Eco” is made from cardboard and leaves.

We have learned about how to plant sustainably and how to care for our plants. We have also learned about different species of plants we did not know before and what makes a bee-friendly plant including about how the pollen must be easily accessible for the bees.

We have had many people who helped us bring our garden to life. We are grateful for the community donation of the planting box as well as all of the help we have received from the groundskeepers at school. We are also incredibly grateful to our English teacher, Mrs. Vevers, who helped us with all of the planting and gave us advice on what to plant to attract bees. The garden would not have been possible without her donations of seeds, her help planning and planting, and her valuable expertise.

Once the competition is finished we will be harvesting our potatoes to make chips at school. Then over the summer we will continue to water our garden for the benefit of the bees and insects and so that the next year’s Eco Committee can take over.

We really enjoyed making our garden and we look forward to seeing it continue to flower over the coming months. We are really proud of what we were able to produce.

Garden Design

Creating the garden - from design to reality