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The haar made our walk very misty and humid this morning.
Today our first task was the hot bin which is a big polystyrene bin and a new addition to Gilmerton Gardens! It is black to trap heat and help bacteria break down the leaf and other veg matter.
We are keeping a graph of its temperature and we discussed ideas about why there might be a change. The temperature drops at night but has also changed across the month, partly depending on the weather.
The temperature also drops when the bacteria run out of food so we need to keep feeding it. We added cardboard /deciduous plants/ twigs etc).
The decomposition by the bacteria generates heat in the bin.
Just in case it gets too hot there is a vent at the top to let heat out, without this vent the bacteria could die if it got too hot.
Cardboard should be on top of the heap to stop it from drying out
A bigger surface area helps the bacteria because they can break it down quicker, so we need to rip the cardboard up into small pieces.
We don't add too much green stuff because the bacteria doesn't like it.
What went in -
Rhubarb leaves
Pear blossom which didn’t germinate
Coffee grounds and the inside of teabags
Caffeine is not great for the bacteria so w we don’t want to give the bacteria too much
Di has been taking a temperature reading every few days, and it's been going up! We noticed a drop when the weather got colder but overall it has increased.
While some of us were composting, the others visited the corner of the garden where there's a Herb garden -
We saw, felt, smelled, and tasted lots of different herbs like basil, thyme, rosemary, mint, parsley and others. We can use all of these when we are cooking. We used some of these when we booked with Will's mum making soup!
We also talked about the history of the garden today. It was an 18th century walled garden belonging to Gilmerton estate, but then wasn't used for a long time. In the war they grew vegetables to help feed local people, and sometimes wounded soldiers helped grow things.
Growing matters has a 25 year lease to run a community garden and that's how we've got involved.
Poems about the soil:
We listened to Mrs Mitchell reading some poetry inspired by nature. In our Literacy work we've been trying to recognise and include figurative language so we found some examples in the poems. When we got back to school, we developed our poetry writing talents and wrote our own nature poems. See these below!
Garden Poem
As you open the door all the plants stare,
Mother told you to stay safe and beware,
Of the roaring and bright sunflowers
And the ancient oak trees that stand for hours,
As you open the door the deer scamper for safety,
Caterpillars chewing the fruit that's tasty,
The rabbits dart swiftly for their holes,
Quickly followed by the moles
By Alicja and Amber
Garden Poetry
In my lush garden, where robins sing and the plants sway and dance,
In my lush garden continues in a trance,
In my lush garden, where black bird swoop, squirrels scuttle and scamper ,
In my lush garden butterflies flutter
By Will, Somhairle and Harris
The Ugly Garden
In my ugly garden there were loads of wildlife even though it appears unappealing it's not on the inside.
In my ugly garden the weeping willows swaying in the gentle breeze back and forth
In my ugly garden the tall oaks standing bravely in the wind
In my ugly garden the ugly snails leaving there slimy trails all along the rough ground
In my ugly garden the ugly frogs bathed on the ugly bank of the ugly pond
In my ugly garden the ugly birds sing there beautiful songs
In my ugly garden the logs rotted and got ate by the ugly bugs
In my ugly garden the ugly leaves slowly drifted to the floor
In my ugly garden the ugly deers jumped around
In my ugly garden the animals didnt care what it looked like they still loved it
By Seb and Ollie
Garden Poem
In the messy garden daffodils reached to the sky,
The birds tweeted their sweet song,
The sun lifted gently from behind the hills,
Beaming its golden light over the flourishing trees,
And there was tranquillity in the air,
The wildlife roamed peacefully,
Squirrels raced up the trees at the speed of light,
Deer jumped gracefully over the lush lawn
Rabbits hopped up and down while flicking the drops of dew off the overgrown grass,
And the soundless garden remained silent
The trees extended their teeming branches,
The apple trees continued to grow their luxurious fruits,
The ivy slowly but surely took over the decaying brick walls,
The huge oak tree with the massive acorns thrived more than ever,
The garden was, as always, as pleasant as could be,
Poppies sprouted cheerfully
Roses glamorously grow taller
The daisies popped up joyfully while occupied with friendly fairies,
And the garden was soothing and restful for the rest of time
By Mia and Rachael
The Garden
Over the wall there is a garden full of secrets and treasures.
As I sit in my chair, I have a good look and stare.
All the blackbirds and robins tweet themselves a lullaby as they begin to fall asleep.
Blowing in the wind the flowers get picked, and the bushes rustle.
Dandelions gently place their drowsy heads on the grassy mattress and call it a night.
By Katy and Elsie
In the Corner of my Garden
In the corner of my garden a tree sits there swaying slowly in the breeze,
In the corner of my garden sits beds of tall flowers connected by the roots that bind them together like family.
They stand tall and pure in this blissful pocket of wonder, like a father or mother
The old tree covers the young naive flowers that climb up the vines encircling the tree like snakes.
In the corner of my garden bugs crawl through the crumbling ruins of old plant pots,
Like the bustling streets of new york the plants and insects have their own network
In the corner of my garden lies an untold story of amazement
A story that cannot be told. And cannot be discovered. And never will.
In the corner of my garden lies the dandelions scared to raise their beautiful heads
In the corner of my garden stands the gazing sunflowers peering up at the sun.
By Heath, Max and Ben
My Peaceful Garden
In my peaceful garden,where the wind blows.
It is Spring time,and all the flowers grow.
The robins sing their song.
In the early morning dawn.
The worms wiggle away.
To their underground stay away
The squirrels racing up the trees.
Past the honey and the buzzing bees.
The little cheeky rabbits munching on.
All of the juicy vegetables till they are gone.
The prickly hedgehogs snoozing away.
Waiting till the night comes to play.
The itty bitty caterpillars crawling along.
Waiting for their time to dawn.
Beautiful butterflies flying through the flowers.
Siping on pollen and fruits galore.
Flowers growing tall.
Waiting for their favourite time of all.
When the bees come to collect their pollen and turn it in to yummy honey for everyone to enjoy
Then night time comes along and we all say goodnight
To the day time creatures
Who all take flight
By Aria and Willow
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