The School is set in 65 acres of parkland and gardens, all beautifully maintained by a team of grounds staff. Head Groundsman, David Bell, will be posting regular updates to keep you informed about what is happening in the gardens at the moment:
Please click here to link to the Garden Watch photo Gallery
February 2012
W. E. Johns once said ‘One of the most delightful things about a garden is the anticipation it provides.’
And so it is for us on working in the grounds at this time of year. The winter jobs are being finished off, our snow plough has had a run out, and again this winter we have been busy working on the school boundary, in the woods, clearing scrub, making trees safe. This year have we have also surveyed a further 145 trees across an area of 3600m2.
Since the snow left we have been enjoying mild, dry weather, and the anticipation of spring is turning to reality with first cuts of the grass taking place. One of the early signs of spring is bulbs coming into flower but in recent years the badgers have enjoyed eating them. So this year we have pre-grown bulbs in bread crates with a protective mesh over the top.
These are being placed in the ground, so 200 daffodils, with 200 tulips to follow, should hopefully be emerging on the drive in the coming weeks!
The new St. Joseph's Courtyard has now been planted up. We have retained the original Acer trees, and to compliment them, we have used oriental plants such as Cyrtomium Fortunei and Helleborus Orientalis. There are also Azaleas, and various pot plants which should flower during March.
Finally this month, inspiration is easy to find for planting in 2012, with both the Olympics, and the Diamond Jubilee. Look out in late spring for the Olympic Colours in the Millenium Lawn and new border for the Jubilee.
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September 2011
On 19 July a group of judges descended on the school to look at the gardens, since we had entered Rushmoor in Bloom for the first time in its 25 year history.
On 19 July a group of judges descended on the school to look at the gardens, since we had entered for the first time in its 25 year history.
Two months of waiting and in mid-September David was delighted to win the category for Best Landscaping for a commercial property with a Silver Gilt award, and to come home with the Nigel Baines Cup. This was in particular for the Millennium Lawn, borders and beds, which were shown at the presentation evening at Princes Hall, Aldershot.
As if one presentation wasn’t enough, Mrs Buckle then presented the cup to the grounds team in Assembly on the 26 September where the reception from the whole school was rapturous and an unexpected delight. David and his team hope that the school can now enjoy its ‘award winning’ grounds all the more.
Planning ahead for next year is already underway; with an Olympic year and the Diamond Jubilee there are plenty of ideas for the gardens and plants.
Over the autumn in the gardens the team is often busy clearing leaves, although with the unseasonably warm weather this whole process seems to have stopped in its tracks; we even have Rhododendrons in flower 6 months after they should be.
British Apples are at their best at this time of year, and being keen that ours weren’t wasted a group of year 8s have been enthusiastically picking over 700lbs worth to be made into apple juice. More on this soon.
Finally for this month, while we are busy planting fresh bedding, and pruning in other borders, everything green is not welcome, and behind the scenes we are busy trialling as new moss/algaecide which has just come from America; it is used by Wallmart. It has become more difficult recently to use any kind of chemicals due to EU rules and so we hope that this will be both a success and less harmful to the environment.
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May 2011
It seems that whenever we discuss ‘the garden’ we begin with the weather. And so it is this year following the driest March on record followed by the warmest April. In the south east we have had barely 10% of average rainfall, and this inevitably presents some challenges.
In particular when we were unable to find a suitable band of rain coming in we had to put down fertilizer and then water afterwards. Hanging baskets dry out quickly and a lack of rain makes keeping them alive many times harder. There are areas where a lack of rain helps, such as weeding. Because the ground is so dry, weeds only grow shallow roots, and are very easy to take out.
Another Rhododendron Season is upon us and for me there is a small window to try to get round each year to identify and inspect them all. This year we have made good progress and we now have 11 varieties, covering almost the whole colour spectrum.
Finally of special interest this month, alongside our usual summer bedding, is the shield on the entrance drive. This will be transformed this week to represent the school badge with ‘carpet bedding’ plants such as Sedum and Althernantera. We will be entering this along with other areas of the gardens in this year's 25th Rushmoor in Bloom Competition. More on that next time!
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