After our productive week last week, we knew what jobs we had to do so we quickly got busy with the top section of the allotment. There were so many different weeds and flowers growing together, we talked about which plants would attract the bees and why they would be important to keep on our allotment. There were so many mini beasts hiding amongst the grasses and in the soil. Some of the children found snails hiding under the leaves and decided to create a space for them to stay. As we pulled the weeds from the beds the piles began to mount up and our wheelbarrows were quickly filled. One of the children asked to empty the wheelbarrow into the compost bin and showed the grown ups how easy it is to manoeuvre a full-size wheelbarrow around the allotment. We were all amazed and helped to quickly fill the barrow up again so it could be emptied.
We explored different tools today to help with the allotment clear up introducing loppers, large brushes, and rakes. We worked together safely to gather everything together to prepare the beds ready for next week as we have lots of plants in the poly tunnel ready to be planted. The morning passed very quickly and we had worked up a good appetite for our picnic lunch. During lunch there was lots of laughter from the children but also lots of chattering from the magpie that sat in the trees above as we ate our sandwiches. The children continued to spot many different mini beasts, the centipede was the most exciting as one of the children explained this was his favourite minibeast. He then asked the grown ups if it was time to get to work yet as he was ready to finish off what he was doing before lunch. So off we went to finish clearing the bed.
The time began passing so quickly and we had to water both poly tunnels and the vegetable beds. Everyone picked a watering can and filled them up, it did not take long to give all of the plants a big drink. We quickly looked at how well they were growing and at the changes since last week. We discussed as a group what we could do next week and which beds the plants could be planted in. We then began packing up to head back to nursery. As Tara moved past the pond she spotted something moving. When she looked closer she gasped as she saw the biggest frog popping his head above the water. The children looked closer as he was camouflaged very well amongst the pond plants. We cleared some of the debris from the top of the pond so we could see closer. We noticed movement inside of the net, and saw several large tadpoles and a newt! We sat down so we could look more closely at the newt and some of the children wanted to hold it very carefully. We then released it back into the pond and waved goodbye to it as we had to head back to nursery.