Composting Talk from Scottish Water

We had a visit recently from Andy from Scottish Water.  As we are due to receive a large delivery of free compost from Scottish Water in the Spring time, he came out to let us know how the compost was made.  It is being sent from their Deerdykes recycling plant near Cumbernauld however they also have another recycling plant at Linwood which makes a rouger style of compost.  The ECO committee attended the talk and members of the gardening club from P4-P7 were invited.  As you can see from the photo many took up the invitation and showed great interest in this form of recycling.  Andy also showed the pupils the future plans for food recycling.

Gardeners Contribute Towards ECO Accreditation

Well done to the group of six gardeners who took the ECO inspector on a tour of the school garden recently when trying for our second ECO flag.  Pupils were asked many questions about the garden and grounds which they answered well.  This contributed to the rest of the hard work carried out by the school and our efforts were rewarded when we were awarded our second green ECO flag.  More details about ECO schools in Scotland can be found at the ECO Schools (Scotland) website.

Colder Days

The school gardening group has now wound down for the coldest months of the winter but here is a photo of one of our last days in the garden, prior to stopping. As you can see the sun was very low in the sky and there was a definite nip in the air. We had been clearing some of the weeds from the beds to fill our compost bins before winter set in. Both bins are now full to the brim! In the herb garden we have left a lot of the foliage on the plants. We were advised to do this by Bridge of Weir Horticultural Society members as it will give the insects who have been using our garden somewhere to shelter for the winter. They crawl inside the hollow tubes of stems and hide under the bushier leaves. We will cut the herb garden back and give it a good clear out in the Spring time when it starts to heat up. We raised £51 at the school Christmas Fayre with our craft goods and will use this to bulk out the garden in 2011. Our thanks go to Mr McSherry who comes in to help us with the garden every week and to the Mums who helped us with our bulb planting and crafting last term.  The school garden club restarts after the February break but full details will be issued prior to the first meeting.