ickleveggies

Veggie Beds Gallery - July 2011

2011-07-06T15:42:00.000-07:00

Peace Garden Update

2011-07-06T15:15:00.003-07:00

We have been doing our project on the peace garden and we are nearly there we have now got 2 shelters & 2 meadows. In the meadows are wildflowers and now poppies are popping up here and there. We have a log table which took a majority of the six weeks that Liz was here for. It is made of different sized logs and thick branches.

The Great British Elm Project

2011-07-06T15:15:00.001-07:00

Our Elm is doing great it is one of the tallest in the area and we are regularly updating our profile on, the girth, the height, the number of leaves and if there is any disease at all. We have had the elm for around 2 years it has developed so much since then so we are very pleased that it has not got the deadly disease!

Our Elm’s Record

Automatic Watering System

2011-07-06T15:14:00.001-07:00

The Noyse Family fitted our new watering system for the polytunnel which Mr Chatwin’s sister donated. Mrs & Mr Noyes bought us a timer and a 4 tap water system they then also fitted all of this for us. We have also fitted 4 small sprinklers and lots of drippers so that each individual plant gets the same amount of water. This brings our polytunnel great benefits as we don’t have to water it every day it comes on automatically at 4:30 in the morning as it’s the ideal time as the sun doesn’t evaporate the water.

Wood Work Artist Liz Dorton

2011-07-06T15:13:00.001-07:00

Liz has been working with ten families on Wednesdays from 3:30 until 5:00 for 6 weeks to produce a sculpture trail, pottery, and little animals made of wood. We managed to get Liz with the money from our Big Lottery Fund for the Peace Garden as this came out as one of the most popular things to do with part of the money. We felt that this linked all of our grounds and gardens together.

Working with Mr Hickling (RHS)

2011-07-06T15:12:00.003-07:00

Mr Hickling came in to our school to help us prepare for our open days. We planted up basil, salad leaves and rocket, we covered them in vermiculite which keeps the moisture in and the weeds out. He gave us some great art ideas including wands out of willow and patterned leaves. These ideas should help in our school seen as we are a creative school.

Cosmos Apprentice Challenge

2011-07-06T15:12:00.001-07:00

Class 6 have been running ‘The Apprentice’ in their class for the past 5 months. Our task was to grow cosmos flowers and take it right the way through to selling. We also had other tasks to do which were to produce a Business Plan (Task 1), Write A Letter To Local Business People (Task 2), Working As A Team (Task 3), Market Our Products (Task 4), Write Instructions (Task 5), The Health Of The Plants (Task 6), Making Money (Task 7). This task has been fun, exciting and we are all desperate to win!

Working on the Peace Garden

2011-07-06T15:11:00.001-07:00

On Saturdays children and parents have been coming to school to help build the peace garden. On Saturdays they did jobs such as planting, digging, watering and building. They all worked very hard knowing that in the end it would be something special. Some Saturdays it was adults only because on dangerous equipment but children have also done a lot of the work.

The Moving Of The Ash Tree

2011-07-06T15:10:00.001-07:00

In the wildlife area we recently had to cut down a Ash tree for several reasons. So there would be more light in the wildlife area, so we could use it in her sculpture work and so the wildlife area would be less crowded. Class 6 managed to shift the tree in just over 45 minutes. We used lots of string and lots of people to move the big trunk.

News Reports

2011-07-06T14:49:00.000-07:00

The RHS sent out an article to all the local news programmes, magazines and newspapers. We had visits from the Yorkshire Post, The Journal and Calendar News. Calendar News came and interviewed three of the school pupils, Ryhannan, Alice and Peter. They also interviewed Mr Roe. They videoed us doing little jobs round the garden like weeding, digging, and raking. We hope this will give us a real boost on our open garden days.

Our Yorkshire Post Article

"The Apprentice" Growing Cosmos Competition

2011-03-10T08:07:00.000-08:00

Class 6 are taking part in a business enterprise project based one the TV show "The Apprentice". There task is to grow cosmos, along the way there are a number of challenges to face before the sale we have to market the brand, grow the cosmos, learn to work as a team. The aim of the game is to earn as much profit as possible and get the most parents/carers to buy your product. Who will win, you decide!

Planting Trees

2011-03-10T07:46:00.000-08:00

Last week Eco/Gardening club planted 30 trees at the end of the field we hope they will grow to create a woodland. We moved the trees that we got last year from the Woodland Trust they were a mixture of Silver Birch, Cherry and Rowan trees. The Woodland Trust have just sent us the new ones for this year so we will be planting them soon and hopefully we will be able to make an even bigger woodland next year.

Sustainable gardening ... with strawberries!

2011-02-03T11:22:00.000-08:00

Today we dug up all our strawberry plants and potted on all the new plants we could find ... 126 in all.

The plan is to grow these on in the polytunnel on the work benches that Mr Chatwin has made for us.

Eventually we will sell these plants and try to make sure that we can fund all of our gardening from our gardening.

Cycling to school

2011-02-03T11:10:00.000-08:00

After the Christmas break and the terrible weather cycling seems to be making a comeback as a way of getting to school.

Peace Garden ... First Saturday Workday

2011-02-03T11:05:00.000-08:00

On Saturday 29th January we had our first Saturday workday in the new Peace Garden.

The temperature never really got much above zero and so we needed to keep busy.

We dug trenches for hedge planting, moved the Home Front Recall Memorial, began to create gravel paths with log-roll edging, pruned hedging, prepared the ground for paving and even managed to re-turf the Anderson Shelter.

Many thanks to all those that came to help out, your efforts are greatly appreciated.

Heeling In

2011-01-27T12:19:00.000-08:00

Last year parent helpers took cuttings from the wildlife area and we used them to plant a hedge. We now had to move the hedge to fit in with plans for the new Peace Garden.

We dug up all the plants (dogwood, hazel and dog-rose) and have heeled them in to a raised beg. This means the plants have been laid flat and had their roots covered over. When we create a new hedge in the peace garden we will re-plant these plants in it. For now the plants don't mind being moved because they are dormant (asleep for the winter).

Peace Garden Gets Going

2011-01-27T12:14:00.000-08:00

Today we the Gardening/Eco Club began to make the peace garden. We got stuck into uprooting a hedge that was made with cuttings from the wildlife area and then Mr Chatwin and Mr Roe marked out all the different areas of the garden with spray paint. The semi-circle in the picture will become the paved entrance to the garden.

On Saturday parents, teachers and children will be working hard to make pathways in the new garden.

Class 6 Getting Mucky

2011-01-12T02:32:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Class 6 went into the garden and tidied it up. Some of us went around the school grounds litter picking. A couple of us went and refilled our pond (we discovered that there was a leak in the pond). Meanwhile some of us tidied up the veggie beds that had a lot of weeds in. After some of us dug up the veggie beds to soften them up from the cold winter. Mr Roe and some others tidied up the shed. Some of us made a sign for the fruit waste bin, stuck it on and emptied it in the compost bin. We also took the seed heads from the artichoke plant and hug them up for the birds in the wildlife area.

We Welcome Mr Adey from Eco Schools

2011-01-12T02:12:00.000-08:00

Wednesday 12th January we are welcoming Mr Tony Adey from Eco Schools who will be with us to see how we are doing with our action plan and teaching about Green issues.

These are recent pictures of work done in school to help remind us about our eco-code.

Class 1. PLANET Protect our natural Environment

Class 2. PLANET Lights out when not in use

Class 3. PLANET Always recycle waste

Class 4. PLANET Nurture your love of nature

Class 5. PLANET Eat all your dinner

Class 6. PLANET Taps off when not in use

Parsnips on Parade

2011-01-11T08:31:00.000-08:00

Today we pulled up our Parsnips. These are the ones that we planted last March for around this January time. There are lots of different sizes big ones, small ones, skinny ones, and big fat juicy ones! We are going to ask Mrs Peacock to pull out her best roast parsnip recipe.

We've had enough of the snow!

2011-01-09T06:55:00.000-08:00

The snowy weather gave us 3 days off school, but it may have caused major damage to plants in the garden. We have also burned an enormous 1000 liters of heating oil.

Banana Pups Update

2011-01-09T06:51:00.000-08:00

Before Christmas it looked as if all of our banana pups were dead. All their leaves had turned brown and crispy. But when Mr Roe took them to the compost heap and tipped them on he could see that two of the three plants had begun to send out new roots. He quickly potted them up again.

Banana and it's Pups

2010-11-11T08:39:00.000-08:00

This week we will be separating the baby banana plants (called 'pups'!) from their mum! We have spent some time researching how to do this. See these these links.
How to 1 How to 2

The transplanting went reasonably well. Two pups had roots and one didn't. We are praying and hoping and hoping and praying that they will all survive.

Mum looks healthy and beautiful if a little lonely. There is another pup coming already.

Next Year's Beans

2010-11-11T08:19:00.000-08:00

We harvested some beans and left them to dry out on a windowsill. Next we opened the bean pods. Then we got some envelopes and we put the beans inside for next year.

The tiny hedgehog

2010-11-08T03:20:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of a tiny hedgehog I found in my back garden. My mum, dad and brother suggested that I should put it on the Autumn Watch web site, so I did. Me and my mum put it onto Flickr and then onto the Autumn Watch web site so the world can see it.
Julia

Pumpkin Carvings

2010-11-03T01:16:00.000-07:00

Halloween meant that the Noyes family (pumpkin experts) had the opportunity to carve the pumpkins from the school garden into some amazing patterns. Which is your favourite?

Sunflowers for the birds

2010-10-17T12:25:00.000-07:00

Last week in gardening club we put the old sunflower heads out for the birds to eat in he winter food when there are no creepy crawlies ... apart from the children!

This week we tied the larger sunflower heads up in the wildlife area for the birds to eat. The seeds from the smaller flowers we put into bird feeders.

Shedsters!

2010-10-15T08:33:00.000-07:00

This lunchtime Lily , Gina and Alice tided the shed and it is now looking spotless! We came across plant pots, tools, gloves, wellies and lots more stuff that has been accidentally hidden away! We now know where more stuff is so we can use it an awful lot more!

Fungus

2010-10-14T07:41:00.000-07:00

Today we found a blue mushroom, in our wildlife area, and Mr. Chatwin has been bringing in Giant Puffballs to spread there spores in the wildlife area. We are planning to grow our own mushrooms next year from the spores.

Grapes from home

2010-10-11T00:40:00.000-07:00

Amazingly the Renwick family have managed to grow beautiful, juicy, sweet, delicious grapes at home.

Mr Roe gets to enjoy them frequently.

Paper Recycling

2010-10-11T00:38:00.000-07:00

This is our paper recycling from 2 weeks! We recycle in class 2,3,4,5,6, the office and staffroom.We empty it every 2 weeks so we don't end up with too much of an overflow.

Choosing what to grow

2010-10-07T07:58:00.000-07:00

Last week at gardening club we looked at the catalogues for veg and decided that we were going to grow weird and wonderful veg theme in our garden. the types of fruit and veg were e.g. black potatoes, purple carrots, pink beans and cream betroots and many more.

Melons

2010-10-07T07:43:00.000-07:00

Last week we harvested the last of the melons. We grew Cantelope melons in the polytunnel, which aren't the biggest but they are the most tasty.

We enjoyed making funny shapes out of them aswell as eating them!

Comma Butterfly and Squirrel

2010-10-07T00:40:00.001-07:00

Today Mr Roe photographed this Comma butterfly. It's not exactly rare but it's the first we've seen in the wildlife area. Maybe we are getting the range of plants right.

We have also seen a squirrel eating our apples. Again this is the first time we have seen this creature.

Pumkins from pumpkins from pumpkins ...

2010-10-01T07:03:00.000-07:00

Today was our Harvest Celebration.

Afterwards we had a sale of produce. The massive pumpkins were very popular and these alone raised £68 towards a solar water pump for an African village.

The pumpkins were grown from seed from one of last year's pumpkins bought by Mrs Noyes. She brought back seed for us to grow this year's crop. Mrs Noyes (pictured) bought two pumpkins herself!

Elm Tree Conservation Foundation

2010-09-30T11:32:00.000-07:00

We have updated our Elm tree data on the Conservation Foundation site. Click the image if you would like to see it or know more.

Weird and wonderful pumpkins

2010-09-30T08:33:00.000-07:00

Last year we planted Atlantic Giant pumpkins and Turks Turban pumpkins, we grew them together and made a new type of pumpkin. We named them Giant Turbans. Two of our massive pumpkins were grown in our polytunnel and we found out that because they are tropical fruits they grew bigger and better in the hot moist air. Whilst all the other pumpkins were grown in big tyres.

They were so big and heavy that two people had to carry them, and even Mr Chatwin struggled to carry them.

The pumpkins we grew are going to get sold at our Harvest Festival tomorrow which is on 31.09.10.

Bloomin Marvellous!

2010-09-23T13:45:00.000-07:00

What an amazing day we had at the Yorkshire in Bloom Awards Ceremony at the Royal Armouries Leeds.

The bronze group winners? We weren't in that group. Silver we weren't in that either. Silver gilt? No sign of our school. Gold? We weren't in that either. Then on the screen we read ''gold and category winner'' and then in a flash our name ''St John of Beverley RC Primary School'' ... magic!

Thank you to all those children, parents, teachers, governors (not forgetting an amazing caretaker) who made this happen.

New Club Members

2010-09-23T08:50:00.000-07:00

This term we have got a new group of gardeners these members will carry on until the end of November. Today we harvested our first pepper along with courgettes, tomatoes, and beans, and cleared out and replanted our pots on the ramp. The new gardening club members are Alice, Lily, Peter, Eva, Monica, Francesca, Aidan, Kelsey, Ryhannan.

Veggie beds

2009-02-05T07:40:00.000-08:00

Bed A "Donaghy and Woodmancy" Orchard

2007/2008 1 pear and 1 apple

2008/2009 3 pears, 3 apples, 2 plums

2009/2010 3 pears, 3 apples, 2 plums
2010/2011 3 pears, 3 apples, 2 plums

Bed B "Frog Pile"

2007/2008 composting area

2008/2009 stick pile that was taken over by lots of frogs

2009/2010 stick pile that is a home to dozens of frogs
2010/2011 stick pile that is a home to dozens of frogs

Bed C Poly Tunnel

2009/1010 tomatoes, aubergines, melons, pumpkins, peppers, cucumbers

2010/2011 striped cucumbers, striped tomatoes, melons, bananas, red aubergines, lemon grass, spikey cucumbers, basil

Bed D Native Trees

2007/2008 potatoes, Pink Fir Apple, King Edward
2008/2009 potatoes, Arran Pilot, Home Guard

2009/2010 horse chestnut, oak, elm, ash, silver birch, beech, field maple
2010/2011 horse chestnut, oak, elm, beech, rowan

Bed E "Squash" Tyres

x6 Car Tyres (well rotted cow manure/bedding on gravel bed)

2007/2008 pumpkin Invincible

2008/2009 pumpkin Turks Turban

2009/2010 hybrid turks turban x

2010/2011 various varieties of gourds

x2 Tractor Tyres (well rotted cow manure/bedding on gravel bed)

2007/2008 butternut squash (one from saved seed one from packet seed)

2008/2009 courgettes

2009/2010 courgettes

2010/2011 various varieties of gourds

Large Tractor Tyre (well rotted cow manure/bedding on gravel bed)

2007/2008 pumpkin Giant

2008/2009 pumpkin Atlantic Giant

2009/2010 hybrid turks turban x

2010/2011 various varieties of gourds

Bed F (raised bed)

2007/2008 Peas and sweetcorn

2008/2009 Strawberry Popcorn

2009/2010 Peas

2010/2011 Potato, carrot, beetroot, parsnip, red lettuce

Bed G (raised bed)
2007/2008 carrots, beets, spinach, leeks, onions, turnips, radish

2008/2009 beetroot, snowball turnips, parsnips, perpetual spinach, rhubarb chard, endive, radishes and carrots

2009/2010 beetroot, carrots and turnips

2010/2011 radish, carrot, red lettuce

Bed H (raised bed)

2007/2008 carrots, beets, spinach, leeks, onions, turnips, radish

2008/2009 celery, leeks, parsnips

2009/2010 onions, shallots, fennel, dahlias

2010/2011 peas, sweet peas

Bed I (raised bed)

2007/2008 celeriac, tomatoes, parsnips

2008/2009 sprouts, cabbage, globe artichoke

2009/2010 sweet peas, runner beans, globe artichoke, cabbage

2010/2011 kale, leek, carrot, parsnip

Bed J (raised bed)
2007/2008 soft fruit - Raspberries, Blueberries and Tayberries

2008/2009 soft fruit - Raspberries, Blueberries and Tayberries

2009/2010 soft fruit - Raspberries, Blueberries and Tayberries

2010/2011 soft fruit - raspberry, blackcurrant, redcurrant

Bed K (raised bed)

2007/2008 broccoli and cabbages

2008/2009 onions and shallots

2009/2010 potatoes

2010/2011 red onion, shallot, sunflower,sweetcorn, nasturtians

Bed L (raised bed)
2007/2008 broccoli, cabbages, runner beans

2008/2009 broad beans, peas and runner beans

2009/2010 potatoes

2010/2011 kohl rabi, brussels sprouts (red), purple sprouting broccoli

Bed M (raised bed)

2007/2008 celeriac, courgette, shallots

2008/2009 radishes, purple sprouting broccoli

2009/2010 potatoes, radish, endive, Swiss chard
2010/2011 borad bean, potato

Bed N (raised bed)

2007/2008 herbs

2008/2009 herbs

2009/2010 herbs, nasturtiums and tomatoes

2010/2011 french climbing bean, runner bean, carrot, radish, beetroot

Bed O (raised bed)

2007/2008 strawberries and rhubarb

2008/2009 strawberries and rhubarb

2009/2010 strawberries and rhubarb

2010/2011 strawberries and rhubarb

Bed P (raised bed)

2007/2008 sweetcorn

2008/2009 tomatoes

2009/2010 broad beans, parsnips

2010/2011 pak choi, lettuce, rainbow chard, celery

Bed Q Composting Area

2007/2008 plastic compost bins

2008/2009 plastic compost bins

2009/2010 pallet built double compost area
2010/2011 pallet built double compost area

Bed R "Back Bed"

2007/2008 plastic compost bins in this area

2008/2009 plastic compost bins in this area

2009/2010 sunflowers
2010/2011 "waste" soil reclaim area

Bed S Wildlife Area

2007/2008 maintained the wildlife area and created a wildlife pond

2008/2009 maintained the wildlife area and created bird-cam box

2010/2011 maintained the wildlife area and created bird-cam box

Bed T - Willow Sculpture

Bed U - Hayfeeder Baskets and Tub Planters

Bed V - Flower beds

Bed W - Key Stage 1 Bed

2007/2008 Hollyhocks and buddleia

2008/2009 Hollyhocks, buddleia and cosmos grown as a Year 6 enterprise project

2009/2010 tomatoes and courgettes alongside buddleia and hollyhocks

2010/2011 buddleia and herb bed (herbs transplanted from organic veggie garden)

Bed X - Potato Tyre Stacks

2008/2009 Class 1 and Class 6 grew potatoes together as part of a Potato Council project.

2009/2010 Class 1 and Class 6 grew potatoes together as part of a Potato Council project.

2009/2010 Class 1 and Class 6 grew potatoes together as part of a Potato Council project.

Cold Frame

Built by Mr Chatwin in 2008. We have used it for hardening off seeds grown on windowsills.

Daffodil Snail Trail

Created by parents in October 2009.

Anderson Shelter
June/July 2010 - constructed as part of Class 4 and Class 5 studies into WWII in summer 2010.

Eco Club Minutes

2008-10-23T07:56:00.000-07:00

04.11.10
In Attendance: All Ickleveggies and Mr Roe and Mr Chatwin.
Reduce Electricity Poster Campaign

14.10.10
In Attendance: All Ickleveggies and Mr Roe and Mr Chatwin.
Review of Action Plan so far this year. Need to get cracking with our Peace Garden Plans once Richard Lancaster has drawn them up.

Eco Schools Action Plan

16.09.10

In Attendance: All Ickleveggies and Mr Roe and Mr Chatwin.
Today was our first meeting of the new term. We reviewed our action plan and found it was almost all done. We considered what we wanted to achieve this coming year and created a new plan which is on the Eco-Club notice board.

14.07.10

Today was our "Green Day". We had a range of eco-activities happening across the whole school including;

paper making using recycled paper
making bunting for our WWII Dig For Victory garden using old fabrics
making carrot muffins from produce grown in the garden

The whole school also took part in a sponsored "Walk for Water" to raise money to give to CAFOD to provide an African village with a solar powered water pump. We raised more than £700 pounds today!

24.06.10

We are still waiting to hear about the possibility of getting solar panels installed. Mr Roe has to get the Council to survey the roof to make sure it can manage the weight. Some felt that that we need to check how the younger children are recycling paper as their bin seems to have things in it that shouldn't be there. Mr Roe informed us that we have been successful in getting money for our Peace Garden from Awards for All.

20.05.10

We checked our progress on our Action Plan. We now have our double glazing so we can cross that off the list. Mr Chatwin has also installed the 2 water butts that we got from our Morrison Vouchers so we can say that that is completed as well. Mr Roe has also reapplied for our Green Flag.

22.04.10

Today we put up our polytunnel which will let us grow tropical fruits like melons, cucumbers and aubergines. We have all these seed germinating in class.
All children have made plans and sketches of what they would like the peace garden to look like.

18.03.10
We checked our action plan. We have the go ahead and the money to get double glazed windows throughout the whole school. We have got our Green Award from The Big Wildlife Garden Scheme and a plaque to put up in the wildlife area.

24.02.10
The Governing Body has agreed the action plan.
Eco Code
28.01.10
The School Council has met and has decided to go ahead with the "Peace Garden" idea. We had feedback from Mr Bailey-Dalton about all the work parent helpers have been doing in the shcool garden. Mr Chatwin took us into the boiler house to monitor how much oil we have used since the beginning of January. It is 800 gallons which is about 3600 litres! We need double glazing.

21.01.10
The New Eco-Team for this year are Robert, Peter, Alys, Katie, Ryhannan, Monica, Aaron, Aran, Laura, Max, William, Jack, Aidan, Mr Roe (teacher), Mr Bailey-Dalton (Governor) and Mr Chatwin (Caretaker). Today we carried out our Full Environmental review and agreed our action plan;

Double glazing throughout the school

Investigate solar power on the school roof

Get our Green Award from Big Wildlife Garden

Design and make a Peace Garden and whole school nature trail

Get Water Butts round the back of the school.

16.10.09
Today we finished our review of our action so far as we are working towards getting our Green Flag again. We will then carry out our detailed review in January and get the suggestions to the Head, School Council and Governors.

29.09.09
Visit from Paul Barker of Energy Options Ltd. The quote for solar panels is £29,000 plus vat. Maybe double glazing should be our priority.

12.06.09
Continued our audit of the school environment. Talked with Mr Roe who will look into finding someone to talk to us about solar power.

22.05.09
Began our Audit of the school environment. Went litter picking.

13.03.09
Visit from Angela Merrills (School Travel Plan Coordinator) who showed us our school travel plan and encouraged us to try out some new ideas to encourage paople to travel to school without burning carbon.

12.02.09
Recycled paper in the whole school. Finished detailed drawings of the school wildlife garden and veggie plots. Started to think about Action Plan for 2009.

22.01.09
Recycled paper in the whole school. Completed our survey of all the raised beds. Added organic compost and some topsoil to those beds that needed it.

15.01.09
Recycled paper in the whole school. Checked all the birdboxes in the school grounds. Took down those that were damaged for Mr Chatwin to fix. Repositioned wonky ones.

04.12.08
Recycled paper in the whole school. This week members of Eco club have been recycling, and gathering ideas for our bird day to raise funds for our bird box camera.

27.11.08
Recycled paper in the whole school. The members of Eco Club today have been recycling the waste paper from each class room and the office. They have also been completeing the travel surveys from last week and thinking of ways we could raise enough funds to buy a bird camera.

20.11.08
Recycled paper in the whole school. We continued investigating travel to school patterns and distances. We also put up our Green Flag.

06.11.08
Recycled paper in the whole school. This week we began a review of how well we are doing as an EcoSchool. We carried out a simple environmental review and have chosen 2 areas to investigate more fully - water use and how we travel to school.

23.10.08
Recycled paper in the whole school. The members of the eco-club that aren't drawing are visiting the boiler room to see how much energy each room in the school uses. I'm not sure of their results yet but will yet you know when they have finished/bring their results back to class. Oh yes, our eco-club has won the Eco-Schools green flag award. In a few years, it will be taken away from us unless we prove that we deserve to keep it. I expect that this blog will be part of the entrance to that.