Garden Project

The School Garden

The school garden has been given a wonderful re-design by landscaper Greg Flynn and over 50 volunteers who worked over the weekend to move the veg beds, create flower beds and a sanctuary corner with a pond.  A huge thank you to all the volunteers!  We had pupils, parents, teachers, local residents, members of GIY (Grow It Yourself), Friends of the Earth and Walk working together to make a wonderful new garden for the pupils of the school to enjoy.  It was a wonderful community weekend.  A special thanks to Greg Flynn who designed the garden for free and donated so many plants and gave up so much time and effort to make it happen.  All the beds will be filled with vegetables, fruit, herbs and flowers grown by the pupils in their gardening classes, which are run by volunteers.

News from The Gardening Team

The New Gardening Team was formed in April 2019, to help Claire in the garden.  As part of the project, compost bins have been put into 3rd, 4th, 5th & 6th Classes. Raw fruit and vegetables only will be put into the bins, and each day the Gardening Team will empty the classroom bins into the compost bin in the garden. A layer of paper will also be added, and we should see the compost forming over the coming weeks and months.

------------------------------------------------------------------

How Our Garden Began........

In April 2013 the first beds were laid for the school Garden Project. The school garden was established with the help of Claire O’ Brien, a parent with children in the school. Gardening classes were provided for all students by local volunteers from the community, Crumlin/Walkinstown GIY and Pearse College allotments.  In May 2014 larger beds were laid to extend the size of the project and include the Early Start participants. Volunteers continued to give weekly classes to pupils in school.

In November 2014 a polytunnel was erected on the roof overlooking the junior yard, with funding provided by Dublin City Council. Thanks to the polytunnel our gardening classes can take place all year round. We can also start planting plants earlier so that they are ready to harvest before the school closes for the summer in June each year.

On the 11th March 2015 the Minister of Education, Jan O’ Sullivan visited the school along with GIY (Grow It Yourself) and Innocent Smoothies http://www.innocentdrinks.ie/ to see all our work with the Garden Project as well as the Polytunnel on the roof. We were very fortunate to get a food demo from Chef Lilly Higgins and Innocent Smoothies gave each child a smoothie. Have a listen to the link below where the children talk to RTÉ about their school garden.

http://www.rte.ie/news/special-reports/2015/0311/686268-schoolchildren-greens/

http://www.rte.ie/player/ie/show/10385739/

Enjoy!