The Patch

15th February 2005 - Part 2

And They're Off!

This photo was taken only about 15 minutes after the gang of helpers started to dig the garden. I had to act quick to catch them in action. Everyone managed to find their own patch of ground to dig or job to do, keeping everyone busy.

These Arn't Weeds!

The volunteers were careful to rescue the plants that didn't have to be weeds. (Remember - a weed is only a plant that is growing in the wrong place). These two plants, a Buddleja and a Foxglove, are destined for the nature area by the pond. We made sure that the plants came out with lots of soil around their roots. This was to make sure that they didn't have such a big shock by being dug out of the ground.

Is This All From Bananas?

After a year of growing, the Veg patch needed a bit of fresh food for the plants we will be planting this year. Where better to get the food from than our very own compost heap, made from old plants from the Veg Patch and Mr S.'s garden, and from the left over bits of fruit from the Key Stage 1 area? These two volunteers told me that they had been training hard for this heavy work.

Will It Grow?

As we were digging, we found allsorts of plant parts left over from last year. One volunteer found a carrot . Knowing that the flowers of carrots can be good for attracting helpful insects to our garden, she decided to plant it to see if it would grow next year. Another volunteer looks carefully on, just to check that it is being planted in the right place.

How Did These Get Here?

We have never planted potatoes in our garden, and yet one volunteer found a couple of potatoes as he was digging! The stranger thing is that we never seen any potato plants growing in the garden at all, which all potatoes need to do to grow. So how did these potatoes get here? Perhaps it is a secret known only to the Mini-Garden Hippo, and he wasn't going to tell.

Let's See What Happens This Year

The volunteers planted a potato again to see if we would be able to see it grow this year. However, only one of the potatoes made it into the ground. The other made it to his kitchen table. I wonder how it tasted...?

Smile Whilst You Work...

A happy garden needs a bunch of happy people to care for it, and you can't get much happier than everyone who turned up. They worked hard, they followed instructions perfectly and enjoyed every second of it! You just know it is going to grow well.

Almost Done

Barely an hour has gone by and we're just about finshed already! We were tempted to carry on and turn the whole of Mr S.'s garden in to one giant vegetable patch, but we suddenly had to have a tea break. During our break, we thought that a bigger vegetable patch means more planting and weeding, and that sound like a lot more hard work.

More Tea Hippo?

Everyone had a well deserved tea break, including the Mini-Garden Hippo. He seemed to enjoy his biscuit. It must make a change from the normal plants he eats from around the garden. We tried to guess his name. Somebody said 'Horace'. The Mini-Garden Hippo just smiled. He knows what his name is, and he's happy knowing that. To be safe from offending him, you can call him 'My friend'.

Can You See Us?

Proud of their work, the volunteers relaxed by the edge of the garden, looking at the hard work they had all just done. In a few months time, this will all be full of plants (some we want, and lots of weeds!). But the really hard work has been done for the year.

Let's Party!

So happy were the volunteers with their work that they couldn't resist having a cheer and a short dance by the garden. And why not? They deserved it.

Can We Have a New Home Please?

The Buddleja, Foxglove and a Cowslip wait in trays to be planted in the nature area. Mrs M. will be glad to have some new additions to the pond area, especially as all of these are 'home-grown', as they found their own ways into the Veg-Patch.