Grape vine leaf in autumn colour. Gardens and plants bring all sorts of unexpected beauty to a landscape, and this time of year is rich with autumn colours and textures, I love it! 

Here is the garden at Geoffry field juniors, its really taking shape now and we are increasingly pleased with it, the pond is still a bit of a probem however. In the picture we are half wasy through covering over the beds, the layers of compast and straw have rotted in well ow and we are closing off with cardboard and woodchip. This mulch layer will trap in the moisture and prevent weeds from getting in there before the plants are well established. Its the key with perennials if you want a low maintenance garden, is to fill up the space with the plants you do want, before the invaders can get in. All that remains now is the last few fruit trees to go in on the outer edges, those will go in over the winter sometime. The problem with the pond is that the drains from the school roofs are a bit blocked and it floods heavily when there is a rainfall - and the flood water over fills the pond and causes a bit of a lake. Now we have seen the problem we will have to try and come up with a solution when we finally finish the pond lining and planting process.  

Here is the completed courtyard garden at Christchurch road infants school... the plants are hardly visible in this, but by spring it will be a riot of herbs, climbers and fruit trees. (well lets hope !) We have lifted the concrete slabs from the far side of the courtyard and replaced them with a raised bed made from oak sleepers and filled with rotted straw and elephant poo compost (!). This has been left to soak up the autumn rain and them planted into with herbs, climbers and fruiting shrubs. There will be a pear tree in the right hand corner.

The raised beds to the let and right have been treated the same way, with all those surrounding trees the soil was very dried and nutrient poor, so we have built them up and fed them in the same way. Plants include Solomon's seal, chives and perennial onions, climbing Kiwi vines, american potato bean, russian comfrey, lavender, sages and thymes, the chilean ugni bush, plus many more. We really hope the children will explore there now garden and generate an interest in some of the plants themselves.

Dave and I will be going back in the spring to fill out any gaps, and more importantly to run a teacher training session on working with the plants and ideas of how to use them.