The greenhouse has arrived

Annette from Heritage in Schools was back today for another busy, sunny day in the garden. The new Heptagon House greenhouse has arrived, so we covered the floor with lots of cardboard to keep the grass down. This will eventually rot away and become compost. We have added bark mulch on top to create a path and potting area and will make beds for planting into soon.

Wildflowers are starting to appear in our new orchard/meadow out the front of the school. We added some Comfrey here to help keep the Apple trees happy. 

We also planted some turnips, lettuce, and potatoes and took away lots of last year's dead stems from the perennial plants. The frogspawn in the pond was examined closely, some tadpoles might appear very soon. We spotted pond skaters and diving beetles too. 

Well Being Mandalas

To mark National Tree Week and Well Being Week in An Grianán, Ms Cahalin facilitated creative workshops for all classes in our gorgeous outdoor classroom. The pupils enjoyed identifying the native Irish trees and had great fun doing the scavenger hunt. They then used their finds to create some beautiful nature art. The senior classes learned all about Mandalas and created some beautiful Mandalas themselves using the natural resources around them! What better way to boost your mood and well being than to spend some time in nature. We're so lucky that our outdoor classroom and garden is the perfect spot for such a mini wellness retreat!

Spring has sprung!

We had a beautiful Spring day in An Grianán today, with lots happening in the garden with Annette from Heritage in Schools.

Crocuses, Snowdrops and Daffodils are in bloom; catkins and flowers have appeared on the Willow, Hazel and Alder. Rhubarb, Iris and other perennials are beginning to grow back too. We harvested seeds for the library from some biennials, Mullein and Teasel and cleared some of last year's dead growth from the sensory beds.

In the vegetable boxes the Junior Infants Broadbeans and the Second Class garlic sown in Autumn are doing well. Fifth Class are still waiting to harvest last year's Purple Sprouting Broccoli and the added some Carrot seeds to their box. Senior Infants and Fourth Class sowed Radishes and Sixth Class planted Onion sets. The First Class bed is still covered, warming the soil for potato planting soon. Third Class cleared out their bed and will add some Beetroot and Runner Beans in the next few weeks. 

We also did lots of observing signs of Spring and used the Merlin app to identify some of the birds who were singing loudly in the sun.

Trees on the Land planting

We had a very productive day at An Grianán today. We planted over 250 trees with the help of Brian Gaynor from Trees on the Land (they provided the free trees) and some parent volunteers. 5th and 6th did the majority of the planting and then some reps from those classes showed the other classes what we did and also demonstrated how to plant a tree! 

We planted a native hedgegrow the whole way along the inside of the front school wall. We then planted an 8 tree orchard near the prefab. Any remained trees were planted up and around the school garden, filling gaps etc.