Staff at Drummond CHS staff have enlisted the help of volunteers in the first step to revive a multi-purpose vegetable garden at the back of the school.
By last spring, the raised beds behind the gym block had become overgrown and very weedy, so science technician Audrey Finlayson and Food & Consumer Technology (FCT) assistant Elaine Brackenridge decided to seize the nettles.
They contacted Scottish Business in the Community who put them in touch with a volunteer workforce at Scottish Gas. Work began in August when the group braved foul weather and mud to clear out all the old planters and replace the soil over 2 days.
[img_assist|nid=2269|title=|desc=|link=node|align=right|width=200|height=150]Very much in the spirit of the National Curriculum, the new resource will be useful across a range of subject areas and skill levels.
- Science students can use it to look at growth from small seedlings to fully established plants
- FCT students can grow herbs and study organic fruit and vegetables
- Art students can draw living plants, trees and insects.
As part of Wider Achievement Opportunities, 'Habitat Heroes' will use the large planter to encourage the return of wildlife (and so help with pollination); whilst the 'Ministry of Fun' will plant seeds as part of the Morrison's Healthy Eating initiative.
[img_assist|nid=2268|title=|desc=|link=node|align=right|width=178|height=200]'Drummond has already achieved the Bronze Award for Eco Schools,' writes Audrey Finlayson, 'and is now striving for the Silver. A community project with so many cross-curricular uses is ideally suited as one of the many projects we need to complete.'
However, there is still work to do. Elaine Brackenridge says: 'The next stages are to finish getting the area cleared and roped off for safety, and to paint the planters and prepare them for the coming winter'.
Spurtle will bring you photographs of harvest bounty – vast, groaning gourds or half-nibbled beans – in 2012.
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