school gardening

Ever since my children have been in school, I've volunteered in the permaculture garden that was set up by some beautiful and dedicated people.

Their passion for sustainability, fresh air, art and nature has always inspired and motivated me.

Last year, due to many and varied factors, the garden started to go into a decline. Let me not go too much into the politics that are involved in a project like this: suffice to say the support we hoped to get from the powers that be was not forthcoming.

It was frustrating, but most of all it was sad. For me, the team and especially for the kids.

This term, the garden has remained neglected and empty. But finally, a light... A grant finally approved, the right people back on board. We can finally get back into it.

This morning I went down to the patch, to weed and to brainstorm.

At first glance, the garden appears empty and overgrown...

 The children's artwork lies, broken and discarded, in crumbling piles around the site. The benches are rotting and our scarecrow appears to be missing in action.

We set to work, piling up those items we must remove. Later, we'll bring in a skip or trailer to clear the space.

As we worked, I started to notice that some of our hardier and happier plants were not doing too badly.

The passionfruit vines appear to be thriving....

Pots of geraniums are in flower, and although not destined for the food table, they certainly lift the mood of the garden

There are citrus trees in fruit...

 And although our worms sadly are no more, they have left us a lovely present..

Rich castings to improve our soil for our next round of plantings.

So it's not all bad. Inspiration lies all around. Sometimes we just need to dig below the surface to find it.

 And as we go, I hope to be posting lots of lovely photos. We've some grand plans ahead...