Le Jardin de Marie: 2014

18 November 2014

What did SUNNY TEAM do on Monday 17th November?

The weather was okay; there was light rain when we went to the garden, but then it cleared up and there was even a few minutes of sun. It was not very cold.

We got changed into our gardening kit, then listened to the SECURITY instructions.

We must not forget our gardening hats!

Two pupils from La Source were working hard on cleaning their old plot with the help of two adults.

The rhubarb we planted last time did not look very healthy...

We picked up more litter from our plot; lots of little pieces of plastic and metal and paper keep popping up out of the soil!

We had to measure our plot again (make it smaller) because the pupils from La Source had moved their plot to half of the MOONY TROOP part of the garden!

We dug a shallow trench along the edge of our plot and transplanted five rosemary bushes along the trench to start a hedge (we will add lavender bushes soon).

Rosemary

We drew half a big circle on the edge of our plot, in between our plot and MOONY TROOP'S plot.

The SUNNY TEAM + MOONY TROOP plots together will make up a "sun and moon" garden.

How we drew the semicircle...

We will put plants around our half of the circle: tall ones (maybe a quince tree or a cherry tree?), medium-sized ones (like rose bushes), and small ones (lots of different yellow and red flowers).

Will the center of the "sun & moon" garden look like this?!

We will plant a cosy grass lawn on the circle.

The circle will symbolize both the sun and the moon; it will be a place to sit and talk and draw and dream! We will put a lovely wooden bench on it.

Next time, we will transplant (again) the rhubarb plants (if they are still alive!).

We must not forget to clean and put away the tools next time!

Next time, we will plant bulbs and bushes.

12 November 2014

What did MOONY TROOP do on Monday 10th November?

ARDEN CLUB

This was our second visit to the Jardin de Marie.

Last time we just visited the garden, talked to the gardener (who gave us some beans with funny colours), and ate too many raspberries...

A HUGE raspberry!

We were very lucky because the weather was sunny and quite warm.

It had rained on and off all morning so the soil was damp.

We put on our gardening kit: rubber boots, aprons, gloves, and hats and took a group photo!

We talked about SAFETY with our teacher.

He gave us our name: MOONY TROOP!

We will design our team logo soon...

What will our LOGO look like?!

He said that the plants we will put in our garden will be magical like the moon: white and pink and blue and purple and violet and even pale yellow and orange.

We picked up the litter on our garden plot.

We measured our garden plot using the gardening lines.

Measuring the plot

We marked our plot. It is a BIG garden: 3m x 7m!

We used the big tools (leaf rake, rake, hoe, fork and spade) plus the wheelbarrow to start tidying the garden: get rid of leaves, weeds, bits of grass, plants and roots; turn over the soil to let it breathe and soak up the rain.

This was hard work!

We put all the organic matter in the new composter which is in the corner of our plot.

A composter just like ours

We transplanted a big rosemary bush. We will plant several more to make a hedge (with other plants like lavender, thyme, mint, chamomile, chives and box plants).

Our hedge will look like something like this!

We put away the tools and put our gardening kit in our bags.

We said thank you and goodbye to our teacher, Mr Nettleship.

Before we go back to the garden (in two weeks) we have to think about the plants we would like to put in our “moon” garden.

All of us must remember to bring our COMPLETE gardening kit!

5 November 2014

Autumn in the garden...

Autumn by Arcimboldo

What happens in the garden in Autumn?

The trees lose their leaves.
The colours of Nature are mostly brown, red and yellow.
The plants start to fall asleep (slow their growth).

What is the weather like in Autumn?

Days get shorter (it gets dark early).
There is some sunshine.
It rains a lot (heavy rain).
Sometimes there is frost.
Sometimes there is mist or fog.
The wind is cold.

What work must we do?

Pick the last vegetables.
Pick blackberries and raspberries.
Pick walnuts and hazelnuts.
Pick the last fruit on the fruit trees (apples and pears).
Clean up.
Prune the trees and bushes.
Weed the plot.
Rake the soil.
Turn over the soil.
Put dead leaves and grass on the compost.
Turn over the compost.
Spread the compost on the plot.
Get rid of slugs and snails.
Trim the parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme, etc.
Bury Spring-flowering bulbs.
Plant trees and bushes.
Mulch.

What tools do we use?

Hand tools (weeding sickle, hoe and fork, transplanter, cultivator, trowel)
Shears (clippers)
Dibble
Leaf rake
Rake
Hoes
Fork
Spade
Shovel
Watering can
Wheelbarrow

Things to do...

Create an Arcimboldo portrait using leaves and stuff you find in the garden or during a walk!
Make pumpkin soup!
Feed the birds in the garden!

4 November 2014

What did SUNNY TEAM do on Monday 3rd November 2014?

ARDEN CLUB

This was our second visit to the Jardin de Marie.

Last time we just visited the garden, talked to the gardener (who gave us some beans with funny colours), and ate too many raspberries...

Raspberries!

We were very lucky because the weather was sunny and quite warm.

It had rained on and off all morning so the soil was damp.

We put on our gardening kit: rubber boots, aprons, gloves, and hats.

We talked about SAFETY with our teacher.

He gave us our name: SUNNY TEAM!

We will design our team logo soon...

What will our LOGO look like?!

He said that the plants we will put in our garden will be bright-coloured like the sun: yellow and gold, orange and red.

We picked up the litter on our garden plot and threw it in the rubbish bin.

We measured our garden plot using the gardening lines.

Measuring the plot

We marked our plot.

This was hard work!

The Head Gardener used the rototiller to turn over the soil (1m x 3m) to mark the separation between our plot and MOONY TROOP’s plot (the other GARDEN CLUB team is called MOONY TROOP).