Our intergenerational gardening group includes local adult volunteers and Primary School children from our 3 local schools in Raploch, Stirling. The group have been working in the school campus gardens for 9 years. We were really excited to all work together to design and create of our very own ROC Pocket Garden.

Natures Engineers: We ran two rainy day nest building workshops where children tried to build their own nests from natural materials. It was not easy and we learned what amazing engineers birds are! One of the nests was put in our Pocket Garden as its very own habitat for minibeasts.

We used some human engineering in the form of our Pocket Wallace Monument to add height to our garden and use as a frame for climbing plants, and trailing plants too.  We also created a twig pile for insects and a pebble pile by our mini pond for insects and newts if we are lucky!

Edible Garden
We grew carrot, potato, radish, lettuce, beans and thyme from seed. Courgette, strawberries and various herbs were donated by volunteers, with a very healthy tomato plant donated by a 93 year old local gardener! We also have edible flowers to add some colour including viola and nasturtiums. The herbs are a lovely sensory addition for our pupils with additional support needs.

What have we learned?  So much! Highlights include:
Growing from seed, natures engineers, butterfly and frog lifecycles, how to support wildlife through gardening, how to grow our own food. Also we all experienced how gardening and being in nature can help you feel better. Children enjoyed recording how everyone felt from 1 – 10 before gardening and then again after gardening. Every week it was clear, everyone felt better and happier after gardening together.

Favourite part of creating the garden?  Everyone had different aspects they like best, but overall I think it would be volunteers and the children from 3 different schools all learning and working together to create a beautiful, nature boosting garden. The juice and biscuits donated by one of our volunteers every week were always a hit too!

Wildlife Friendly
We were very excited to create the school’s first ever mini pond. We included mud, gravel and stones so insects and birds could safely use the pond and included dragonfly perches by the pond. A volunteer also collected some tadpoles for the children to learn about frog lifecycles, and following advice from Froglife, the tadpoles spent a few days in our pond before being safely returned to their original home.  We included a bird box donated by a volunteer to go with our birds nest. We also made our own bee house out of a recycled plastic bottle and garden canes.

We chose plants which best supported wildlife, with wildflower seeds donated from our friends at On the Verge. We also were very lucky to work with Alice from Butterfly Conservation Scotland who donated many butterfly and caterpillar loving plants including birds foot trefoil, garlic mustard, lesser knapweed, cowslip and scabious. We also added caterpillar loving nasturtiums to trail, and lavender for the bees to enjoy, with the children planning to harvest later in the year for lavender bags. Can you spot the photo of a bee enjoying our pocket garden? 

A volunteer also donated some teasel seedlings which will provide seeds for the birds, hopefully bringing a goldfinch to the garden in autumn.

Reused Materials
The 3 planters we used to construct the garden were made from recycled planks and were donated from a member of the local community.  The old sink to create our minipond was donated by volunteers.
The Wallace Monument was made by our volunteers for a previous project and reused in our Pocket Garden.
The bee house was made from recycled bottle and canes.
The compost was from our local recycling centre.
Our beautiful bunting was kindly designed and created by our Simple Stitches Craft Group, using recycled material remnants in the school colours.
Canes supporting our sweet peas and beans were made out of natural construction materials - willow trimmings.

Challenges: Slugs, poor weather and a leaky pond, but we overcame them as a community, with volunteers and their friends donating extra plants and materials.

What next?  Our Pocket Garden will stay on display in the Castleview School’s sensory garden for the pupils to enjoy.  The edible plants will be looked after over the summer and then harvested. Any seeds will also be collected for planting next year. Perennial plants will then be planted in the school gardens, and the wooden planters and Wallace Monument kept to be reused again.