Term 3 Week 5

Clearing the rhubarb bed

• We had a tricky week this week with two of the senior boys involved in setting up the garden arriving angry and taking out there frustrations in the garden and not following instructions. 
• I have spoken with them and told them we will not be returning to the garden until they can come to me with a written behavior contract outlining what behavior is acceptable in the garden. If i agree with it we will sign it with their dean and get back planting next week.
• I felt really let down by their behavior but hopefully putting the responsibility back on them will be a good learning exercise. 
• Good news is that we have had a good day of heavy rain to water the new plants!

Term 3 Week 4

Planting Rhubarb

• We had a good group of new students this week
• On Monday we managed to clear some weeds and added bark to the path as well as pruning some trees
• Thursday was our first planting day. We all planted a Rhubarb plant each.
• I was also approached by a couple of year 10 students this week who are keen to build a memorial garden for Phillip. They visited on Thursday to see what the area looked like and i will discuss their ideas with them more next week.

The team weeding the first beds

Term 3 Week 3

• First week in the garden! Had two lunchtimes with 3 year 10 students and took 2 boys down for a couple of hours on Friday as they weren't able to be in class. Mr Peseta came down to speak with them there and have a look around too. 
• Terra Viva nursery has given us some new seeds to trial and to then report back to them on how well they grew. 
• My boss at MacRae Landscape Design brought us 4 rhubarb plants. Id like to make sure we send photos of these being planted and again at harvest to say thank you.
• A number of year 7 and 8 students have seen us walking down with tools to the garden and have asked what we are doing. They are keen to join in with us. I have spoken to Sue about them and she is happy for them to join - i will let her know who is coming and how often.

Term 3 Week 1 and 2

• The Food farm proposal was put to the leadership team with positive feedback.
• I met with Leon Martin who has used an area in the existing garden for the past 10 years and who has looked after many of the old fruit trees. He is happy to share his knowledge with us. There are 2 other people who use parts of the garden and i will try to make contact with them too.
• I spoke to a couple of the science teachers and found that there are a few garden tools around the department that can be used. Stephanie has some tools and seeds we can have and could even help the students to make fertiliser from scratch.
• I wet with Pete and had a wander round the garden. He will organise a locked cupboard for us in the glasshouse for storing tools.