God you lot are good!

[Muppet194]

Just spent a lovely hour reading through the growing in schools threads. Am now armed with loads of ideas and inspiration so a huge thank you to everyone who has posted on there at some point. I went and did another hour at the school garden this morning, I always come home really down and fed up because its such an uphill struggle trying to bring the jungle under some control. What I have done so far just seems totally inadequate and hasn't made much difference to the overall appearance of the garden but reading all the advice has really cheered me up.
Thanks guys!!!

[rustylady]

Are you doing it on your own Muppet, or can you get some help?

[marchogaeth]

Why don't you tap in to some of the ideas available about bringing big areas of weeds under control on the Vine eg cardboard covering.

You could get the children to investigate how different sorts work say cardboard cf plastic cf newspaper: monitor how the weeds change underneath: how persistent some are: what's breaking down the plants: what's eating them. (I could go ion and on.)

Or you could just do one type of mulch and see what happens if you take it off after 3, 6 or 9 months in terms of what weeds then grow.

In the meantime you can focus on one area and really get it going to inspire the children. You can even throw the mulch down and then grow in containers/grow bags on top or you could try growing through the mulch (I didn't have much joy with this in year one as too many weeds using the holes!).

The school is really lucky to have the garden and you so you should get some fun out of it, too and the pupils should get the whole learning experience. (Anything I do has to be done in pots and containers as there is no space that can be stolen for a garden (While there is the "need" for a full sized football/rugby pitch but let's not go there!))

[Kirk]

Don't know how you are going about it but remember that at the end of the day you simply want every weed dead!! There is a case of removal with extreme prejuduce.

Unless there are restrictions on what you can use then just go about it in the fastest quickest way you can. That may not match with everyones approach but if you have to produce a "garden" quickly you probably cannot use a delicate approach. Weeds will grow faster then you advance if you do.

My garden was cleared by: 2 sprayings of strong glyphosphate, waited until DEAD, then a propane burner.

2 weeks for everything to be dead, then about 3 minutes with the burner. Expected longer with the propane burner but it was summer, hottish and dry and everything was then dead and very dry and it burnt immediatly I applied flame to it. My only words were along the lines of:- Oh s*** as the flame front advanced across the garden. About 3 minutes later I had a clear garden, with a fine layer of ash, and a high pulse rate.

[Muppet194]

It's just me, Rusty. I have semi selfish motives though- come September all teaching assistants (me) have to start running lunchtime clubs so I jumped at saying oo Ill do a gardening club rather than end up doing something boring or sporty. But the head wants to hit the ground running so I foolishly agreed in haste that the garden will be ready for action. Two or three years ago a parent worked on it and it was lovely but then her daughter left and the gardens not been touched since. I know once its done again it'll be a doddle for the gardening club to maintain but they've got no chance starting as it is now.
My main issue is no electricity so can't even strim the weeds/grass down!

[SarzWix]

... come September all teaching assistants (me) have to start running lunchtime clubs ...
...But the head wants to hit the ground running...

Errr, what? Teaching assistants *have* to start running lunch-time clubs?! What about your lunch break? Midday supervisors (ie dinner-ladies) are there to ensure teaching staff get a proper break, are they not? Is it legal to make you give up your lunch time?

And as for 'hitting the ground running', what does the head think you'll be doing in September? If they had any clue whatsoever, they'd know that autumn and winter are for harvesting, and clearing. Seeing as there's no harvesting, if you do all the work over the summer there'll be chuff all for the kids to do when they get back! And if your kids are anything like my groups, digging is one of their favourite things to do...


If you're determined to crack on anyway, I'd hire a petrol strimmer and then the lack of electricity is irrelevant.

[marchogaeth]

^^^^ What she said. (apart from dinner-ladies - we have male ones, too.) I am disgusted with the attitude shown by your head. I come back to what I said only more so - get the club running, in September by getting the students to do the work. Realistically, you will only have half an hour (which you should be paid for) so it's slowly, slowly and teach the children stuff. If it is "hard work/boring" you will only get the children who are interested or who really need a club because lunch times are hell. I feel like a rant now!

[zazen999]

Don't know how you are going about it but remember that at the end of the day you simply want every weed dead!!

Totally disagree. If the garden is perfect then what are the kids going to do/learn about? We deliberately keep some of our patches weedy as it's a teaching garden, not a showgarden.

[Muppet194]

Thanks all I know what you are all saying and agree to some extent but want to do it for the sake of the children really - it'll be so much more inspiring for them to see it nice and want to keep it that way. Then I thought I'd be able to chillax whilst doing garden themed craft type stuff when the bad weather creeps in! Bird feeders, paper pot making and the like...

[Two_Sheds]

a huge thank you to everyone who has posted

and thank you for thanking us
It's nice to know that the hours we put in (gardening, photographing, and posting) aren't wasted. I sometimes think "why do I bother" when all I get is carping & negative comments back

at the end of the day you simply want every weed dead

Totally disagree. ... We deliberately keep some of our patches weedy as it's a teaching garden, not a showgarden.

I agree with Zaz, not with Kirk.
A lot of our "weeds" are very useful: nettles are colonised with peacock butterfly larvae, with nettle aphid & are a source of fascination to the Wildlife Club
Comfrey & borage are used to make hi-potash plant food
Dandelions, grasses, sow thistle, clover & chickweed are used to feed the school guinea pigs

etc. etc.

However: I don't encourage these weeds to set seed. We cut them before they do.

I foolishly agreed in haste that the garden will be ready for action. ..My main issue is no electricity so can't even strim the weeds/grass down!

You can use shears (chop & drop: leave them on the ground as a mulch), or buy a cordless strimmer. This is mine, it's great. I sold some stuff on eBay first, and used that money to buy it


Muppet, put some photos up and we'll be able to give you some tips on what to tackle first, what to leave, and what to plan next

[Two_Sheds]

I thought I'd be able to chillax whilst doing garden themed craft type stuff ... Bird feeders, paper pot making and the like...

When I started, the Head and I thought the children would be maintaining the gardens and they'd always look perfect, but it hasn't worked out like that. Kids need so much supervision, and attention, that I can't leave them to just "do" the gardening.
Even seed-sowing is a headache. The kids do everything at 100 mph, they want all tasks done in 2 seconds and "what's next Miss?". They don't seem able to just sit and look at a flower, or take their time about something, they want to be on to the next thing.
I can't leave them to "pull out the horsetail" because 12 kids will constantly come over to me asking me to check that it IS a horsetail, and arguments to break up and nettle stings to deal with.

So I relaxed a bit about it, and no longer expect to get a task done in the time given: usually we'll spend the hour (Garden Club) doing watering, snail hunting, or frog watching. The actual gardening work is done by myself, before or after class.
For every one hour I do with the children, I put in an extra 3-6 hours of prep, I reckon. All of it unpaid and unthanked, mostly

[Muppet194]

Yes I can imagine that's how it might end up for me, despite my good intentions lol! I can see me getting a little bit precious over the garden after slogging away all summer and not wanting the kids over enthusiastically "weeding" and pulling out what I've put in! I'll want to do it myself and have it done right. They'll be year 3 to 6 (but I cant imagine many of the year 6s wanting to get involved, it wont be cool enough for their liking. So yes can also imagine the 100 mile an hour seed sowing etc too!
Am liking the idea of leaving a bit rough with weeds though for wildlife - year 4 do habitats in science so will be a nice teaching resource too.
Am beginning to lower my expectations of what the club will be able to achieve but as long as I give them a taster of growing, health & safety around plants etc, an introduction to wildlife, connecting with the seasons and a love of the environment around them I'll be happy. They've got to enjoy it at the end of the day or they'll abandon me and go join someone's art or book club or something!

[Two_Sheds]

I can see me getting a little bit precious over the garden after slogging away all summer

Yes, you will. My heart just sinks when a member of staff says to me "what garden? I didn't know we had a garden"

Am liking the idea of leaving a bit rough with weeds though for wildlife - year 4 do habitats in science so will be a nice teaching resource

It's essential, imo.
If we want birds & butterflies, then we have to put up with their food sources: weeds & aphids

Am beginning to lower my expectations of what the club will be able to achieve

Yes, but that isn't a bad thing. It's very liberating. Keep a photo diary ~ I've been given a bit of wall to put our photos on, so the whole school can see the garden & its inhabitants, what we're doing and why

They've got to enjoy it at the end of the day

Absolutely.
My Club doesn't teach kids how to garden: it lets them enjoy the garden.
Some days we don't do any "work" at all, we just observe, and hunt, and find, and smell and feel

[Muppet194]

Sorry Two Sheds I don't know how to quote what someone else has said in a reply but YES a display board for the gardening club (or Eco Club? What do you think?) what a great idea. We can put pics of what we've done, what wildlife we've attracted, what veg we've grown, requests for donations of seeds etc from staff & parents... I've registered with the RHS gardening benchmark scheme thing as well so our certificates can go up as we get them. I'll nab a board for myself on the first inset day in Sept!! Oooh I'm getting all ahead of myself again!
You're a flipping genius.

[Two_Sheds]

I don't know how to quote what someone else has said in a reply

- click on 'Reply With Quote'

- take out the words you don't want to use with the delete button. Make sure you leave the brackets in place

it's easy