The garden idea was decided by two boys in P5. They researched different animals and insects and decided they liked the idea of ants and an ant hill. The way the ant hill has a labyrinth of tunnels unseen was fascinating. Our school does a lot to support hedgehogs and so decided to incorporate a hedgehog house under the ant hill. They also included a bug house close by and used plants that would attract bees and butterflies.

Each week the boys would invite someone from their class to help build the garden. They grew peas, marigolds, nasturtiums, sunflowers, rocket and pansies. They got some marjoram from someone who had a lot in their garden and was happy to dig some up for them. There were some wild strawberries growing in the school garden so they transplanted some of those too.

To add detail, the children created a sign and made ants using little yoghurt bottles and tinfoil. Some ants are black and the others are red as one of the boys had been researching about Red Fire Ants.

The children had the opportunity to learn how to use a variety of tools. They used loppers to clear the vegetation at the back to enable the willow canes to stand upright, they used a saw to enlarge the entrance to the hedgehog house and secateurs to cut through the chicken wire. The favourite part was actually putting the compost over the structure and planting it up and the group working as a team to make their garden.

A hedgehog home we already had in the school garden was repositioned. It had not been used last year and when we looked at the entrance we found that the entrance was not big enough (entrance should be 13cm x 13cm) so we used a saw and increased the size of the opening, fingers crossed it will now attract a hedgehog.

To make sure the hedgehog house is protected from water a bit of waterproof sheeting, that Mrs Carder found discarded by builders who had been re-roofing a house near to her home, was placed over the hedgehog house.

To make the hill some old chicken wire was cut and bent into a dome shape over the hedgehog house. We thought it would hold the compost and plant roots could grow through the mesh.

Old bread baskets were placed along the side of the structure to help hold in the compost while we built the shape. They were then removed and replaced with old bricks and wood from a broken planter which would hopefully provide areas for minibeasts to hide.

Willow canes that had been off cuts from a willow arch were used for the back of the garden structure, they were tied together using an old piece of bunting tape. Hopefully the peas will grow up them.

We have had a lot of issues with slugs, which are I suppose food for our hedgehogs!