This week was our very last week at the allotment for the year. The children helped to ensure all the weeds were pulled from the beds and the beds had been turned over. We collected the last of our apples (they still look delicious!) and took them back to nursery to share with all the nursery families. We placed all our equipment in our shed and finally locked up our allotment for the last time in 2025. Goodbye allotment, we will be back before you know it!
Thursday 2nd October
This week, the children had a great time at the allotment harvesting the last of their produce. We were excited to see that our sweetcorn were eventually ready. We took it in turns to pick them, twisting and pulling them off the plant. We then discarded the rest of the plant into the compost bin. We checked on our pumpkins and they were looking very good. There was one big orange pumpkin but the others were green. As their vine had snapped, we made the decision to take them back to nursery and see if they would change colour there.
There were lots more apples to harvest so we gave our tree a big shake and quickly filled our buckets. Before we took them back to nursery we needed to engage in the ‘taste test’. We cleaned the apples before taking a bite. They were some of the best tasting apples we had ever had! The thumbs up are to show just how amazing they were.
Thursday 25th September
This week was another busy week harvesting our produce. We had lots of courgettes, potatoes, pears and apples to tend to. We also cleared out some of our beds to prepare them for next years growing season. The children have been learning a lot about composting from what you can and cannot compost to how compost is made and what it is used for.
We took a look at our pumpkins and some of them are still green but we are hopeful they will catch up before Halloween arrives. Our sweetcorn are looking impressive and we hope we can harvest these next week. We have more plans for next week as we begin to create a new growing area from an old vegetable bed and decide where our new compost bin will be located.
Thursday 18th September
This week, we took a new group of children to the allotment, some of which had never seen our allotment before. We headed off in the minibus which is one of our favourite parts of the day as we spot different colour cars, bridges, shops and places we visit with our family. We often hear, “Look, there’s Morrisons. I go there with my Mummy and Daddy!”. We walked into our allotment and the children were immediately amazed by the amount of apples on our apple tree. We even had to duck our heads underneath it to get past!
After a look around the allotment at what was growing, we started to sort out our apple tree. We looked at some of the apples that had fallen on the ground and they did not look very tasty. Tara held up an apple and asked the children to decide whether they thought the apple was good to eat or needed to go on the compost. The children then worked as a team to place the apples in the correct places. We also did this with our plums and beans. We eventually stopped as we had three big buckets full of produce!
We worked on some our growing beds today and found more onions and potatoes which we had left behind. The children added these our buckets to bring back to nursery. We engaged in a little bit of weeding and we checked on our wonderful pumpkins (you may be able to see them in the background of the photo with the fruit cage). These will come in very handy around Halloween.
Tuesday 9th September
As we arrived on the allotment we were sad to find a bat lying on the ground. The bat was ‘not moving’ and the children became very worried when they spotted a cat nearby. We decided to move the bat into the safety of our allotment. One of our grown-ups put on a glove so she could safely move the bat and we placed it in a dark corner but not before the children had taken a look. Many had never seen a bat so close up before.
One of this weeks jobs was to chop up all the branches we cut down last week and create fire wood for our forest schoolers. The children were amazing at removing leaves from the branches before we cut them up using our loppers. We also realised that we have many, many apples, plums and pears which were ready to eat. One of our grown-ups shook the trees and all the fruit fell down onto the ground. The children collected it and placed it into our big orange buckets. We then counted out the apples and placed them into bags to sell in our nursery shop. It looks like there may be lots of apple crumbles being made tonight!
This week, we had a very special visitor join us at the allotment. Bunny had decided to help us however Bunny spent his day relaxing in our herb garden on a garden bench! Whilst everyone else had a power snooze on the bus back to nursery, Bunny enjoyed a cuddle with his favourite person. Thanks for all of your ‘help’ Bunny.
Tuesday 2nd September
Today at the allotment, the grownups and children chatted about the jobs which needed to be completed. Now that the bark had been moved into our allotment, we had to rake it out and make sure our orchard was covered however we needed to remove the fallen apples and pears and pop them into the compost bin first. It was then time to rake the bark. Our orchard is now complete so we decided to have our picnic underneath the fruit trees. It was perfect until it started to rain. It was very light rain to begin with, then it came down much heavier. We all ran to the big shed where we sheltered from the rain. It was lovely to hear the rain dripping onto the roof and watching the rain water our garden.
Our other jobs were pulling out our cabbages which are looking particularly tasty. As we pulled out the cabbages, we noticed lots of different caterpillars and it was clear they thought our cabbages were tasty too! In the afternoon, we cut back all of the trees around our pond and pulled out the weeds around our strawberries as well as harvesting our green beans, potatoes, cabbages, beetroot and courgettes.
Tuesday 26th August
This week the children were ready to get on with more of their bark delivery. Everyone collected their buckets and spades and worked really hard to get our bark into the allotment. What an amazing job they did! Our allotment is now almost fully covered and looking rather fabulous!
Another job which had to be addressed this week was the pulling up of our potatoes. We planted three different varieties and we were all keen to see how they had grown. Some of the children helped to lift the plants out before turning over the soil and searching for potatoes. We had some tiny potatoes as well as some HUGE potatoes. Now we just need to decide what to do with them!
Tuesday 19th August
We arrived to our allotment on a rather grey and rainy day but we wouldn’t allow it to dampen our spirits. The children had come prepared with wetsuits and a ‘we can do this!’ attitude. We looked around our allotment as this was the first visit for many of the children. They were keen to look at what was growing and the pond was of particular interest. We were all excited to take a close look at our pumpkins which are getting very big but are still green. It won’t be long before they start to change.
We checked on our winter vegetables and were surprised to see a very large family of caterpillars living on our cauliflowers. They had munched quite a bit of them! We checked on the courgettes and they were huge! We decided to pick them and take them back to nursery. Just look at the size of them!
Some of the courgettes were so big, we needed a grown up to help us lift them!
After checking all of our vegetables it was time to work on the huge bark delivery we received yesterday. The children chose a big bucket, a medium size or a small. Then it was time to walk up the big bank to collect the bark (or a wheelbarrow ride up if you were lucky!).
Tuesday 1st July
This week the adults hardly had a chance to take any photos as the children had clearly come ready to do lots of work. Even when the adults said “Come on let’s have a five minute break”, the children replied “It’s ok, we just want to get our work done!”.
The day began with a discussion about what we needed to do that day. One group decided to work on the old rhubarb bed, emptying the soil out and creating a whole new bed with our tools. The two other groups helped to weed the vegetable beds which was very exciting as it gave us time to see what was growing and wow were we shocked. We have potatoes, sprouts, broccoli, cabbage, pumpkins, courgettes, onions and sweetcorn! That is not including everything growing in our polytunnel.
In the afternoon we continued working on our new herb garden. The rest of the membrane was placed on the ground which was then covered in bark. The children collected all of our beautiful pots and began to fill them with compost. Finally we filled some of the pots with flowers whilst our herb seedlings are still growing in the polytunnel.
Some children also helped to trim back some of our larger plants and bushes which we hope will create a pathway to our new composting area. What a busy day!
Tuesday 24th June
This week the children were ready to get busy and work super hard on the allotment. Our first job was to dig out the old vegetable beds and replace them with our new herb garden. Some children helped to do this whilst others helped to do more planting. It was hard work but we managed to clear out the old bed, cover it with weed membrane and bark. It is now ready for next week when we will be creating our herb garden.
Another bed which needed our attention was the old rhubarb bed. The children emptied it out and also helped to fill up our brand new bed. We will be adding the seeds to these beds next week. Some children helped to weed our fruit cage before planting our courgette plants. What a busy day!
Thursday 19th June
This week the children were very excited to get to the allotment and see if the space had changed. As we arrived we were greeted by beautiful sunshine. The children commented that they could see the whole world from our allotment!
The day began with the us clearing out an old bed and repairing it with some new wooden planks. The children showed us their amazing tool skills and hammered the nails in to keep the wood in place. We then rolled out the weed membrane to cover the existing soil before covering it with new compost and top soil. It was then time to plant. One of the children had kindly donated some bulbs. She worked hard with her friends and one of the adults to plant every bulb in the new bed. We can’t wait to see the flowers in all their glory come next spring.
Thursday 12th June
This week on our allotment, the children got straight to work weeding the top beds. The beds are looking a little overgrown now and are in need of some much needed cleaning. As well as lots of weeds, the beds are also home to lots of mini beasts. The children always find mini beasts intriguing and all work stopped so we could take a closer look.
Some children continued to weed whilst others decided they should water all of the vegetables we have growing and we do have quite a lot. Outside we have pumpkins, onions, potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, sprouts and sweetcorn. Inside the polytunnel we have French beans, courgettes, pumpkins, a variety of herbs, chilli, peppers and tomatoes so there was a lot of watering to do!
Thursday 5th June
This week the children were ready to get busy as soon as we arrived however we were faced by something we have never had to deal with before (even the grown-ups weren’t sure what to do). We found that our allotment had been taken over by hundreds of baby frogs. They were everywhere! The children were on hand to move the frogs to a safer spot as we got busy. Our plan was to get some new vegetable beds built however every time we began weeding, another frog popped out! Then we found a huge frog who did not want to be moved. He sat quite happily watching what we were doing.
We eventually moved as many frogs as we could so we could get on with planting and vegetable bed building. The children helped to keep the weed membrane down by sitting inside the new beds. The grown ups joked that we could grow some more children which the children thought was hilarious! Once the membrane was secure it was time to fill the beds, cover the paths with bark, plant the rhubarb crown and strawberries. As you can see from the photo below, it was a very busy day!
Thursday 29th May
This week we had so many jobs to get busy with. We were very late in our planting efforts so it was full steam ahead planting as well as repairing our steps and building our new poly tunnel door. We separated into small groups so we could tackle all our jobs. Two groups helped to plant whilst the other tended to repair work.
One of our steps had slipped and we needed to ensure it was safe for everyone to use. The group thought about how they might fix it and what tools they would need. We measured out some wood to make the step, cut it to size and fix it down. There was lots of communication and negotiation to get the work done and after a tool safety talk, the step was repaired. Time to get on with the poly tunnel door.
The children helped to build the new door, securing it with nuts and bolts. The adult then held it in place whilst the children screwed the hinges on and by the end of the day we had all of our jobs complete. As we closed the door to our poly tunnel, we noticed something moving on the ground. It was a very small frog. We transferred the frog to the pond where he would be safe and then it was time to pack up and head back to nursery. We had all had a productive day.
Tuesday 13th May
This week we continued our list of jobs and first on the agenda was to sort out the huge bark delivery which has been waiting to be spread out. We pulled out any weeds around our vegetable beds, covered with weed membrane and then the children and adults worked together to distribute the bark into the places we needed it. The children then collected their rakes from the big shed and off to work they went. No one realised how much hard work raking is but everyone worked hard to uncover the paving slabs before ensuring the new paths and our fire pit were covered and looking amazing. The motto of teamwork makes the dream work was used by the children with others cheering on their peers by saying, “Come on, we can do this!”.
The sun shone all day so we spent some time under the gazebo having plenty drinks and breaks. The children love nothing more than working on the allotment however we are all learning about keeping ourselves safe in the warmer weather and the children have identified that they need to have plenty of fluids, take off layers and have regular breaks.
Tuesday 29th April
Today we had lots planned. We had decided to finish our fruit cage, put the new door on our poly tunnel, do some planting…… but then we had a phone call. Would you like some bark for your fire pit? Of course, the answer was yes, please! The children weeded some of their vegetable beds whilst we awaited our delivery. Very soon, the driver arrived and we stood patiently as he drove the truck into position. The very kind man asked if one of the children would like to operate the tipper and the answer was a definite yes!
The mountain of bark (child for scale)
We could not believe the size of the mount of bark which we had to move. It was all hands on deck and with our usual motto of team work makes the dream work, we had the whole load into the allotment so watch this space as next week you might just get the chance to see our finished fire pit!
Thursday 24th April
Today’s sessions started with the children looking at our pond. We are very excited about the huge number of tadpoles we have but today they were difficult to spot so we engaged in a spot of pond dipping. The children were able to observe the tadpoles close up and we are looking forward to watching them change over time. We then discussed the life cycle of a tadpole and the children were quick to point out that we start with frogspawn then tadpoles before we have froglets and eventually fully grown frogs before the cycle starts all over again!
We then took a seat in our fire pit where we discussed the jobs of the day. These were planting potatoes and onions, finishing our fruit cage netting, repairing our polytunnel and putting on the new cover. There was a lot of jobs but we were all feeling very positive that we could get them finished.
The children began weeding the beds before planting their potatoes and onions. We discussed what we would have to do once the plants appear. The children thought it was rather strange that we would build up the soil around them. One of our grownups had the tricky job of trying to finish the fruit cage. We thought about what sort of animals may get in and nibble our vegetables if we don’t get it finished. We thought about butterflies, rabbits and apparently deer!
Another grownup was working on repairing our polytunnel. One of the children were keen to help and cleaned and tidied all the pots and seeds before placing the new cover on. Wow, what a difference it makes! We can’t wait to get planting now!
Wednesday 16th April
We arrived at the allotment today and it was wet and rainy but that did not stop us! We looked closely at the pond to see if the tadpoles had grown. The children pointed them out as they were everywhere and looked much bigger than last week. The plants are beginning to flourish and we could see movement in the pond. We wonder what we might see next week!
We are excited to start planting on the allotment, but before we can do that we need to prepare our vegetable beds. We popped on our gardening gloves and began pulling the weeds out (there are lots of them) but we made a very good start and have two beds ready to plants our potatoes and onions in next week.
We have also worked hard to prepare our new growing space this week and managed to cover the cage with fresh new netting. We were very proud of our hard work and thrilled to see the allotment taking shape for the growing season.
Thursday 10th April
This morning we started our day by taking a close look in our pond as we wondered if anything had changed? As we looked down, we noticed that we had hundreds and hundreds of tadpoles and they were much bigger than last week. A discussion then ensued about the life cycle of a frog.
After checking out our pond we got straight to work completing our fire pit. We rolled out the membrane, cut it to size and the children took it in turn to hammer the pegs into the ground. Once the membrane was secure, we transported our fire bricks into the middle. We thought about what shape it should be and chose a circle shape. We started to place the stones into a circular shape and before we knew it our fire pit was complete. We moved our benches and our tree stumps and arranged them around the fire. We just need a a bark delivery now and our fire pit is complete.
It may not look like much at the minute but we have gone from a grassy, weed ridden area to a beautiful fire pit area in two weeks. We have also moved the large polytunnel frame which next week will be covered in net and made into a new, protected growing space ready for our seeds.
Thursday 3rd April
It’s official! We have started our allotment sessions for the 2025 growing season. Our new group were so excited to get onto the minibus and head off to the allotment. We chatted about what we might see and do when we got there. The grown-ups spoke to the children about the jobs we needed to get started and one involved building a new fire pit however when we arrived we were amazed to spot something in our pond. Tadpoles! Everyone was thrilled to see the little tadpoles swimming around and this instigated lots of discussions about pond life and pond safety so the fire pit building was delayed a little.
After a chat around the pond, it was time to get busy. The children began clearing back the area for the new fire pit and pulling up the weeds. This was a tricky job, especially when we had so many things going on to distract us. We found the ‘Worlds Biggest Worm’, lots of centipedes and a rather large spider who is currently living in our shed. We finally finished the area but we were all feeling rather hungry so the gazebo went up and it was picnic time!
After lunch we collected our tools and the weed membrane and got to work. We chatted about tool safety and how we use a hammer correctly. The children then got to work securing the membrane to the ground. By the end of the day, the ground was half covered and we are looking forward to finishing it off next week.
