Essex Can Do gardening project: Part Four

So many exciting things have been happening in the courtyard garden and I’m very excited to share all our news with you!

Our bespoke planters have arrived and have been wonderfully handmade by a local carpenter who is very much looking forward to seeing them filled with plants as the different classes get involved the project. 

Picture perfect

Our mural artist has started our wall mural much to the delight of everybody at the school. It is simply amazing and one pupil wrote in his project portfolio that what he liked most was the wall mural because he felt like he ‘could just step into it.’ If the wet weather holds off then the spring, summer, autumn and winter scenes should be finished by the end of May. Fingers crossed for good weather for planting too!

In April one of the classes took part in an ‘Incredible Edibles’ workshop run by a local organisation. They learnt about the importance of a healthy diet and eating vegetables! The class also learnt about growing vegetables and at the end of the day they made some funny Cress Heads out of a pair of tights, a soil mix, pipe cleaners and cress seeds. With a little watering the cress seeds will grow as funky green hair!

Celebrity guest

The class was also very excited about Mark Lane’s visit in April and they had a great time tasting all the herbs and learning how to cut back plants. The class thought up some questions they wanted to ask Mark about gardening and we even got our photograph taken for the local newspapers!

Two new classes have started taking part in the project and on a very wet Wednesday we made hanging bird feeders from apple, cheese, florist wire and garden string. There was a brief dry spell at the end of the day so we dashed out to hang up our feeders! Next week we will start planting up the vegetable patch and work our way around the courtyard planting as we go.

New additions

We also welcomed some new additions to the courtyard garden – two baby guinea pigs! They’re currently settling into their new home and little by little they’ll be handled by the pupils.

Having a Pet Therapy Corner in the sensory play area is so lovely and so beneficial for all the pupils. One of the classes has asked if we grow herbs for the guinea pigs to eat and their wish is our command!