here is one of the forest garden beds we made last year starting to really settle in, this spring. the deep straw and compost mulch has started to really rot down and feed up the tired soil which is now full of worms and other signs of life. Most of the plants have survived and are growing back strongly, except some of the smaller understory plants, which struggled to get established in the deep mulch beds. Its easy enough to add more now, which we did.
Here is the pond at Geoffrey field Junior school, and a yellow flag Iris that I put in a few months ago. The root development is impressive, and even though the plant was fully floating in the water, it was growing happily. On the whole we were astounded by the sheer amount of pond life in the newly created pond, the water was fresh, and apart from the odd crisp packet, clean and healthy and teaming with water fleas, boatmen, and all sorts of other larvae, fantastic!

View across the forest garden at GF juniors, The idea was to create a bit of a refuge from all the mayhem around, layers of taller and shorter plants, many of which are fruiting and aromatic It will take a couple of years before it really comes into its own, mean while we have added textures and vertical height with tree stups and wood chips.

Here's a view looking down, its still early spring and many of the plants are only just beginning to show them selves

Rustic Furniture, made on the Chickenshack permaculture course, not part of our schools work currently, but I would like to involve more craft work such as this in the projects. It is very satisfying making simple fun furniture for the garden


We have worked with several different sets of volunteers over the project. Doing their bit for the community, on day release from their normal jobs. What struck me was the sheer amount of skills and talents there is out there, in the drivers and delivery people, office workers and personel officers, who don't normally get a chance to be creative with their hands. A joy to work with!




Soak away/Mulch pit for a water tank. The idea here is the where there will be a big water storage tank, it can over flow into a pit, to encourage water to soak into the compacted clay ground. we will plant bamboos around here, which will enjoy the damp conditions

Here is our secret to establishing gardens on tired compacted school grounds. A thick straw mulch, with a rich compost. It blankets out all the weeds/ grass, and the worms really get going and eat everything, leaving the soil clean and fed and ready to go with a new set of plants and a new lease of life, This cross section was 10 months ago a 12" thick layer of straw and compost, on top of brick hard ground. The straw is now well broken down and the soil is moist and full of worms and other signs of life



More of the wonderful volunteer team from John Lewis' who helped out on the Reading Girls School garden. The bed behind them is planted up with fruit trees and climbers that we hope to to eventually cover that stark bare wall behind them

Here are the lads from the same team

Here another typical school landscape. Rather stark bare walls, and well trodden, not particularly cared for ground. The aim is to bring some beauty and life in such corners as thee and turn a bit of dead ground between the gym and laundry and sports ground into a little haven of its own

X marks the spot, the yellow mark denotes the approximate sot for a fruit tree, and the divot a rather literal interpretation of where the hole was dug.. The volunteer crew were endlessly funny, enthusiastic and energetic to work with, thanks guys it was a gas!