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2/4/2019

Today Adam and Robert and Michael went to the garden to help Deirdre to

prepare the beds for planting. Some of the beds were in a terrible state

with weeds everywhere. We had to pull out all the weeds. We had trowels

to dig at the roots and that made it easier. Sometimes we had to use our

hands, but we were wearing gloves. We used the pitch-fork and the rake to

clear away the roots of the weeds too. The beds look much better now.

B

ird balls DIY tutori

al

by Eoin and Hazel

What you'll need:

Mashed potatoes

Mouldy bread

Bird seeds (or random seeds)

Pancake mix

Porridge oats

WARNING

it may smell like a nightmare

so watch out!

We all mixed the supplies

Here's the tools:

Gloves, spoon,

milk

Step1.

Mix the supplies with the spoon.

Step2.

Take the mixture and try turning it into

little balls.No need to cook or fry you put

it out into the bird feeders and that’s full

course meal- Enjoy Birds!

Byeeeee

Our Bird feeders

This week Aaron and Conor made more

bird-food balls for the birds in the school

garden.

We made DIY ones and we also had some

that Ms. Mac Hugh bought in the shop.

We made them with porridge oats, bird

seeds and cooking fat. We rolled them

into little balls and put them into bird

feeders and then we put the ones from

the shop into bird feeders as well.

Then we went outside into the garden and

put the feeders in some new places like

on the trees and on the fences as well.

Now we are going to check which ones are eaten

first.

09/01/19

Happy New Year!

We went to check the garden after the Christmas break. The beds are

really overgrown with weeds and dead plants. The scarecrow was blown

down and the ground was very covered in dead leaves. We had to do a bit

of a clean up. We weeded out two of the beds and picked up dead leaves

and litter that had blown into the garden.

We were surprised to see that the daffodils are nearly ready to open!

When we checked the bird feeders they were all empty, so we gathered

them again for refilling.

20/12/18

Teacher had bought some heathers for the garden, but they’re only small

yet so we planted them together in a pot and put them in a sheltered spot

outside the classroom window where we can keep an eye on them.

We also got a new bird feeder which

attaches to a window. We filled it with

seeds and decided on which window to put

it on. We’re hoping we will see birds

coming to it.

12/12/18

Today we made some food balls for the

birds. We melted cooking fat in bowls and

added porridge oats, mixed bird seeds,

peanut butter and shredded brown bread.

We mixed all the ingredients together and

formed it into ball shapes. We put the food

balls into the bird feeders.

Then we took them out to the garden and

looked for the best spots to hang them.

Aaron and Conor decided to see what

would happen if they hung the feeders on the fence. Adam and Michael

hung theirs on high tree branches.

24/10/18

We haven’t had a chance to get out to the garden in a while, so we were

expecting things to be pretty bad. We were right!

We’ve lost a tree in the back of the garden area. It was blown down by

Storm Bronagh.It fell over the garden fence into the playing field at the

front of the school! It had to be cut up for firewood.

Anyway, today we brought out gloves and trowels and litter pickers and a

bin.

1.

We used the litter pickers to collect all the litter that

had

blown into the garden.

2.

With the trowels we ripped out all the dead flowers from

two of the beds.

3.

Under the cover of all the dead leaves we found some

garden decorations which had been blown down also. We

brought them into the classroom to wash them.

There were too many dead leaves to deal with without a rake, so that’s

our job for the next time.

20/09/18

We went to the garden to see what had happened over the summer.

The first thing we noticed was that it was very overgrown and wild.

We checked the water butt and we were very glad to see it was filled to

the brim with water!

We did an audit on the jobs that needed to be done. Sharon helped us.

This is our list:

1.

Weed the beds- all 8 of them.

2.

Flip the soil we have there already and add some more.

3.

Repair the scarecrow and think of a name for him.

4.

Pick up the litter that has been blown into the garden.

5.

Sweep up the dead leaves.

6.

Plant new vegetables and flowers in the beds. (we’ll need

to check out what is best for this time of year)

12/06/2018

Teacher had bought a windmill, so we chose a place

to stick it. Here it is in one of the flower beds. You

can see the soil is very dry because there hasn’t

been much rain lately. In fact, we used up the last of

the water in the water butt today!!

We are really pleased at how well our plants are doing

.

5/6/2018

Yesterday we went out into the school garden. We got the plant pots that

had dead plants in them. So Aaron emptied the pot and there was an ant’s

nest in the soil in the pot. We saw ants carrying eggs. Then we saw the

tunnels that the ants made going around the side of the dry soil. We put

the soil back in the pot and added some more fresh soil. We planted some

spare tulip and narcissus bulbs in the pots and watered them. We lined

them up at the garden gate so we could keep an eye on them. Then we

watered the small trees in the pots at the edge of the car-park because

there hasn’t been much rain lately and they looked very dry.

09/05/18- The sunflowers seeds were ready so we took them to the garden

to replant them. We put them in the same bed as the chilli seeds. Then Ms

Sirr’s class came out and they had mange-tout growing in pots. We thought

it would be nice if they put the mange-tout in the same bed as the

sunflower and chilli seeds, so they did! Now there’s loads of plants growing

in there together.

02/05/18- We put our bird food balls into bird feeders and we hung them

up in the school garden.

Aaron used the spade to flip the dry soil over to make it damp again in one

of the flower beds. We took the chilli seeds from the mini-pots to the

garden because they hadn’t been growing. We planted them in a bed and

watered them. We’re hoping they might grow there.

Then we got a gift from a parent of a child in the after school club. Our

gift was a scarecrow. It was a happy scarecrow. We put him at the flower

beds at the back of the garden, and we now have to think of a name for

him.

30/04/18 – We made more bird food balls for the bird feeders. We mixed

cooking fat with oats, seeds and peanut butter and then formed the

mixture into ball shapes.

18/04/18 – We put compost in to a bucket up to about halfway. We put in

sunflower

seeds. We covered the seeds with the rest of the compost. We

watered them and put them on the window sill to get the sun and grow

strong. We need to leave them there for about 2 to 3 weeks.

We checked the other flowers we had planted, the narcissus and the

tulips....this is what we found.

17/4/18- We opened packets of Gladioli ‘Buggy’ and ‘Fiorentina’ and we

read the instructions. We selected three each. We got trowels and gloves

and went to the garden to plant the bulbs. We had to plant them 10 cm

deep, 8 to 10 cm apart.

8/2/18- We made fat-ball bird food. We melted butter. Then we added

oats, nuts, seeds, peanut butter and crushed walnuts. We mixed this all

together. We shaped them into balls and put them into the bird-feeders.

Then we went out and hung them in the garden for the birds.

6/2/18- We got peanut butter, bread slices and mixed seeds. We spread

the peanut butter on the bread and cut it into quarters. We dipped it into

bird seeds to cover them. Conor ate a seed...but he didn't like the taste.

We brought them out to the garden and put them down in different

locations.

5/2/18- We used grapes, oranges and ‘cheerios’ to make kebabs for the

birds. We used stitching needles and wool to make a line to put the food

on. We stuck the needle through the fruit and the ‘cheerios’ and made a

necklace of food. We brought them out to the garden and we hung them

up on trees.

2/2/18- We pruned some of the dead parts of the plants and we collected

all the bird feeders because they were empty. We brought them in for re-

filling. We checked the crushed plants in the hazel dome and they were

starting to strengthen and the tip was gone darker green.

30/01/18- The Post-Winter Inspection....

We went to the garden to check how things were after the winter. We

were very happy to see stems and stalks of some spring flowers such as

daffodils and the tulips and narcissus! We found bulbs that were uprooted

and we had to replant them. We found a crushed flower in the hazel dome

and moved a mushroom stool to get it into the light. We found the stand

for the water butt and we put it back under the butt. We attached the

pipe from the drain and put the cover back on top of the butt.

We made a list of things that need doing now.

15/11/17- Today we went to check the garden dome. We cleaned up lots

of leaves and put them into a pile behind a fence. We dug up blue

mushrooms and put them into the compost bin. We brought Miss Hogan out

to the garden to show her around and we explained to her all about the

plants.

6/11/17- After the mid-term break we went to check on the garden it was

a bit of a mess because the trees were shedding their leaves. We collected

all the leaves that were on the flower beds. We removed any stones from

the flower bed too.

12/10/17- So we went out to plant tulips and narcissus in our flower bed.

We planted these because they attract butterflies and bees. We dug holes

in the ground and we buried the bulbs under the ground. We planted two

types of Narcissus and three types of tulips.

Sunlover Double Late Tulip (Tulipa Sunlover) sports rich, sumptuous oranges

flecked with tangerine for color that shouts out across the landscape.

Double petaled, almost like a peony, these tulips are elegant garden stars.

Blooming in late spring, the flowers are spectacular, lushly petaled and

long lasting. At 16-18" tall they are gorgeous planted in a group or mixed

with other late season tulips. Plant plenty so you can enjoy them as cut

flowers too!

Darwin Hybrid Tulips are known for the HUGE

size of their brilliantly

coloured flowers. The blossoms are an almost perfect pyramid shaped

when closed, but they can measure as much as 15 cm in diameter when

fully opened.

Because of their long stems, lovely pyramid shape, and brilliant colours,

Darwin Hybrids are often considered the very best type of tulip to raise for

cut flowers. However, there are definite advantages to growing them for

beds and borders, especially in areas where they can be sheltered from

strong winds.

Key Information

Botanical name:

Narcissus 'Golden Dawn' /

Common name:

Daffodil

Plant type:

Bulb /

Height:

40cm /

Spread:

10cm

Narcissus

‘Golden Dawn’ is a cup-shaped daffodil, with up to three flowers

forming on each stem. Petals are greenish yellow, which contrast

beautifully with a deep orange cup.

Narcissus small cupped sportsman

.

Easily grown in average, medium moisture, well-drained soils in full sun to

part shade. Flowers usually face the sun, so bulbs should be grown with

any shade areas at the rear of the planting. Good soil drainage is essential.

Best in organically rich loams. Soils should be kept uniformly moist during

the growing season. Plant bulbs in early to mid fall. 'Sportsman' is a large-

cupped daffodil (Division II).

Tulipa

‘Van Eijk’ is a Darwin hybrid tulip. These are all single-flowered and

brightly coloured varieties, with long-lasting flowers on strong stems.

Unlike many tulip cultivars, Darwin hybrids usually flower again for several

years after they were first planted, making them more reliable than other

options.

‘Van Eijk’ has vibrant, dark pink-red, weather-resistant blooms. It’s a great

option for growing in containers and herbaceous borders, and works well

when grown with other tulips. It makes an excellent cut flower.

02/10/17 – We dug a big hole using a trowel. We held the Geranium

Rozanne by the stem. Then we tipped it upside down. Next we put the

plant into the huge hole. Finally we covered in around the roots with soil

but we had to hold the leaves and flowers up. We also planted two acorns

and another small seed in our outdoor tray.

This is Geranium Rozanne.

It grows to 60cm tall, with neat, dense foliage and bowl-shaped violet-blue

flowers 5cm wide, with a white centre, opening from early summer to

early autumn. It does not grow well in winter. It grows best in moist but

well-drained soil. It is deciduous which means that the leaves will fall off

in autumn.

This is Spirea -

Spiraea, is a genus of about 80 to 100 species of shrubs in

the family Rosaceae. They are native to the temperate Northern

Hemisphere, with the greatest diversity in Eastern Asia

15/09/17- We brought some soil and some chilli seeds into school. After

big lunch, we went down to Room 14 and put the soil into slots of a tray.

The chilli seeds were attached to a cardboard stick with a pointed end,

like an upside-down fence. We put them into the soil and then we watered

them with a small little cup because we didn’t have a spray. We put the

tray of seeds on the window sill. We will move them to Ms Mac Hugh’s

room when it is ready.

13/9/2017 – First we went and looked for soil. We found none so we took

some from the wheelbarrow with the flowers in the corner of the garden.

Next we got the trowel and gloves and the green tray with the seeds. We

took soil from the wheelbarrow and put it in the tray. We put the seeds in

the middle of each slot of the tray. We covered them with soil and watered

them using water that was over-flowing from the gutter. We got the water

on the trowel and poured it onto the slots while we were also cleaning the

trowel. We put the tray beside the fern because rain falls there and sun

shines there so it was the perfect spot.

5/9/2017 – We were out in the garden just having a look around and we

found the seeds lying in the strawberry bed. Then we picked them up and

we got the idea of planting them. We brought six inside and put them in a

green basket with a rock that looked like a fossil that we also found in the

garden.

By Adam On Tuesday 21st May we went to the school garden to clean around the flower beds and to plant some shrubs. First we took out all the weeds in the butterfly and bee bed, and put them in the compost. Then I got my rake and raked the muck. I then got my own trowel and dug a hole in the bed. I decided to plant the shrub in the middle of the bed because there were ant nests around the edge. First I planted the Buddleja Davidii (silver anniversary morning mist pier). I then filled the watering can with water from the water barrel in the garden and made sure to give the new shrub plenty of water. Then I planted the Lavandula/Lavender. Again I was careful not to plant at the ants nest. I then watered the new plant and the rest of the flower bed.

15/10/2019 These lovely autumn flowers are growing in our school garden at the moment 26/06/2019 Birds eating at the Bird feeder The bird feeder wasn't attracting any visitors on the classroom window. We reckoned it was because it opened out onto the busy yard. Laura at our Play school/ After school club very kindly offered to take the bird feeder to their window which opens onto our school garden. It wasn't long before they had a regular visitor as you can see from the photos.