Morchard Bishop School Garden
This morning has been chaotic; disorganised and wonderful!
Planting bareroot hedgerow species
Sometimes things don’t run to plan and they are all the better for embracing spontaneity and fun; which the tedium of complex instructions and scrupulous planning can get in the way of. In that sense it has been quite a learning curve for me; learning to recognise that creating a garden is as much about the process and the involvement of its custodians as it is about the outcome. I have to let go of the RHS textbook that is always in the back of my mind when I’m gardening at school.
On such a cold February Saturday morning we had an unexpectedly greater turn out of parents and children to volunteer for the school garden than any of our previous autumnal sessions. And it has been mayhem, in the most wonderful sense- no one was quite sure exactly what was going on, including me at various points, but everyone pitched in, literally with forks and spades. And we planted a mixed deciduous hedgerow along one of the playing field boundaries as well as a number of small trees including Mountain Ash, crab apples and fruit trees including Plums, Pears and Apples.
Planting fruit trees in the playing field
Everything happened in a wonderfully spontaneous and haphazard way, and it will be fantastic to watch these trees growing and thriving as a legacy for the children. For some it was the first time they had planted a tree and understandably not everyone was so keen to get to get their hands dirty on such a wintery sort of day and yet there was a lot of excitement and many of the little ones seemed more enthusiastic than the adults; perhaps understandably so. I hope some of them will be at school long enough to enjoy reaping the fruits of today’s planting efforts as the fruit trees will probably take 3 years before they start cropping well.
One of my favourite moments was glancing up to see the children playing together; scuttling along the top of a mature established hedgerow bank, weaving themselves in and out between the trees having a great time, I suspect more fun than we were having planting and digging!
Toasted Marshmallows in the roundhouse
At coffee time Mr Sargent rallied the children together in the round house for marshmallows toasted over the fire that had been lit and the children sat round; I watched from afar as I plodded up the hill for coffee and cake - the round house definitely looked like it was exclusively for children but secretly I would quite like to have joined in.
In these moments there is a little bit of magic and something very precious in witnessing the coming together of all ages, with a purpose and for fun. Time spent together in nature planting trees and hedgerow whips feels so nourishing after the past couple of years. It feels like there is something so valuable and worthwhile in this time and I almost (absolutely) don’t want the garden to be completed now as I’m so beginning to cherish these seasonal Saturday mornings and the momentum and excitement for the outdoors they seem to bring.
