Autumn Allotment Clean-Up!
Despite dubious weather, children and adults turned up for an allotment clean up on Saturday morning.
Priorities were paving the poly tunnel and digging out the beds at the back of the allotment to make two new compost beds. Additionally, people harvested tomatoes and weeded some of the other raised beds.
Everyone worked extremely hard and super progress made. A HUGE thank you to everyone who turned up!
Allotment News (February 2022)
Classes are regularly out for Outdoor Learning on the allotment. The log pile gives children the chance to investigate mini beasts. Lots of planting, weeding and harvesting takes place inside the poly tunnel, using the raised beds and with the fruit trees. Children also use the allotment for scavenger hunts, orienteering, and many different maths lessons.
This session, former pupil Cailan Burt has been working towards his Duke of Edinburgh award and has chosen to help us with maintenance of the allotment as his community service section of the award. He and his father have been coming in at weekends to clear and weed the allotment. Because of all their hard work, several classes have already been able to go out this spring and sow crops of beans, peas, Brussel sprouts and potatoes. They continue to work hard every weekend and both staff and pupils are very grateful to them both. Thank you!
Ms Pincock
Second Lockdown maintenance
Despite a second Lockdown, maintenance of the allotment is still going on with weeding, watering, sanding and painting.
Activities on the allotment
Despite Covid restrictions, lots of activities are happening on the allotment this term. Alongside our usual planting, weeding and harvesting, we have also seen mini beasts hunts, composting, making shape pictures, orienteering, and scavenger hunts.
Autumn Harvest
Before lockdown, lots of seeds were planted and luckily, there was plenty of fruit and vegetables to harvest this autumn. Many classes have been out to harvest apples, pears and potatoes. A few carrots, a parsnip and quite a lot of broad beans have also been found.
LOCKDOWN Maintenance
Despite Lockdown, staff are going to the allotment regularly to maintain it. Initially, only two people at a time could work there. Since restrictions have eased now, a large group of staff went in the 9th June and repainted all the wood work on the allotment. Great job everyone!
Super Sunny Spring Clean!
Despite bad weather last week, we had lovely sunny weather for the allotment Spring Clean. Parents, pupils and staff turned up and lots was achieved. Thank you to everyone who made the effort. There are still things to do, so another slot will be arranged soon. Watch this space!
Allotment Activity!
After a wet summer the allotment was very overgrown and unsafe for pupils. Luckily, lots of fantastic parent helpers and some staff turned out on the two allotted Monday afternoons to clear all the beds and the poly tunnel. Thank you everyone.
A pupil allotment task force has also been formed. These pupils give up their Thursday lunch time to maintain the allotment, clearing up grass cutting and rotten apples, weeding the poly tunnel and digging. They have even been introduced to the compost heap!
Classes have been out to the allotment to pick apples and some have even used these for art. Potatoes have been dug up and a lot of these have been used by the nursery.
Once again, the sunflowers are spectacular. Let’s hope they last until the Harvest Assembly. Right now, we also have beautiful cornflowers blooming too.
Parents have been very kind handing in cuttings and these are being planted in the raised beds as they arrive. Unfortunately, one of our raised beds is now unsafe, and will need to be demolished. Volunteers to help with this will be needed soon. Watch this space!
Allotment Update – October 2018
A very hot, dry summer this year has meant the harvest on the allotment was poorer than previous years. The plum trees were also cut back last year to keep them at child height, and consequently had very little fruit this autumn but we hope they will fruit well in coming years.
However, some crops have been very successful.
The strawberries inside the polytunnel fruited well before the summer holidays, with many children going out to pick, wash and eat them. Potatoes have grown in abundance and children have really enjoyed digging them up. The apples grew well again and many classes have been out to pick them. Other crops that have had some success are carrots and courgettes.
Our most abundant harvest this year however has been the sunflowers. We grew around thirty plants and they reached giant heights of around two metres. These have been cut down by the children, the heads dried and are now being laid out weekly on the bird table to feed our feathered friends through the winter months.
Spring Clean – March 2018
On Saturday 17th March we held our second allotment Spring Clean. Despite the snow, parents, pupils and teachers turned up to help. An amazing amount of work was done and the allotment is now safe and ready for classes to use. The worms were even set free! Previously they lived in wormeries behind one of the sheds, but they are now free inside the one of larger compost heaps.
Thank you everyone for all your help!
In 2017, lots of pupils worked out on the allotment. A wide range of activities took place such as planting, weeding, reading, measuring, looking at mini beasts, making bird scarers, sowing a wild flower meadow, making compost and drawing. Primary 5 has even done a re-enactment and burnt down their Highland croft on the allotment! A bird hide has been created and younger classes go out regularly to feed the birds and look at them through binoculars.
The seeds for the 2018 growing season have now been ordered and every year group will grow something different in their class beds.
Here are some of the things we will grow:
Strawberries
Beans
Peas
Cabbage
Tomato
Beetroot
Carrots