School Holiday Working Bee Thanks to all our families who came along to help… Lynnette, Patrick, Daniella & Laurence; Karl and Quinn; Nathan, Hunter & Charlotte; Pakhi, Ravi, Tahu & Mo; Vanessa, Peter, Vincent & Julian; Nicolette & Leila; Michael, Katrina & Isaak; and of course our Principal, Mr Tim Bleakley. It was an unbelievably hot day – the hottest of the entire school holidays!! – but everyone pitched in and worked hard regardless. What great community spirit. Fortunately we had a garden hose available for cooling down the children! Thanks to Mr Bleakley for all the ice-cold bottles of water he shared with the group. Anaheke, the gardener from Brunswick Heads Primary School, came to have a look at our site and give us a bit of free friendly expert advice before we began work. She suggested a great use for our pile of gravelly soil (rescued from the playground): a “banana donut” garden. No, we are not growing banana-flavoured donuts, but we will be growing banana suckers in a donut-shaped raised layer garden. Karl led the shovelling to create the donut shape. We then topped the poor quality soil with layers of newspaper, manure, garden waste, compost and sugarcane mulch, and gave it a good watering-in. In a few weeks we will plant banana suckers around the donut ring. Everyone loves the idea of a “donut” garden. I’m sure our bananas will be even yummier than donuts though! Stay tuned for a taste in about 18 months time. More shovelling saw us create another layered garden beside the banana donut, this time in a regular circle shape. We used more of the soil rescued from the playground as the base, then built it up with layers (as above). Using layers in this way is called no-dig gardening (see www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s867068.htm for information). A big thankyou to the Barlow family for their donation of six bags of cow manure, and to Nicolette for the horse manure. Also, thank you to Peter who donated and delivered a ute-load of sugarcane mulch. Still more shovelling…and more shovelling…Nathan did an amazing job topping up the garden beds on the lower level of the playground near the amphitheatre. Lucky Nathan, got to work in the shade!! Lynnette, Vanessa, Pahki and Nicolette began the major task of removing the ivy and various other vines which had taken over the side fence, secateurs flashing with their efficient work. The children were great helpers taking away the clippings and dumping them in the skip bin.
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AuthorThe St John's Garden Group are a parents and friends of St John's who help help the school beautiful. ArchivesCategories |