Growing in the garden.

Hello All,

Duncan and I have been busy today transporting to and from College Rd, ready for our day of teaching tomorrow. The plan is to fill a planter box (one per class) with all the plants that have started maturing and now need more space! We are both also splendidly excited about viewing all the 'Ideal Garden' drawings that the children have created.For now though, i will leave you with some images of things sprouting up in the garden, and house, and windowsill(s)...come to think of it everywhere in the house is covered in seed trays! Yippee!
Emma

A New Discovery!

This project is not just about gardening but also about looking into the social bond between people and how process based art can appropriate social forms in order to bring people together. Therefore i am planning to use famous paintings and artworks as the front covers of the art journals for each of the children. I have chosen to do this to try and evoke conversations about what art is, and the value and impact it has in todays society.

Today i have been looking through many artworks to pick some of my favourites for front covers, when i came across Giuseppe Arcimboldo. This painting 'Vertumnus (Emperor Rudolph II)' was created in 1590, and I love how he has depicted his subject through a variety of different fruit and vegetables.

This painting will be definitely the front cover to some ones book. Along with Arcimboldo i also plan to use works by well known artists Paul Cezanne & Vincent Van Gogh, but also more modern artists such as Patrick Caulfield, and the fabulous prints created by Angie Lewin.

Happy Gardening (particularly in this lovely weather!)
Emma  

Progress report

Emma and I are working hard making the planters, seven for College Road primary School and possibly six extra-to be used in our exhibition. The material we are using is used wood from disassembled pallets, this is labor intensive work, taking care to remove nails and not damage the  wood.These pallets are collected from local businesses free of charge, recycling in place of dumping them. I have been sowing seeds at home where I can keep a look out for the dreaded  slugs and being able to water them when necessary. Hopefully these will be ready for planting out on 28 April so there is plenty to do on the day. Emma and I will be demonstrating transplanting seedlings to pots for planting out.  If time permits, we will be assessing the plant boxes that surround the covered area in the playground, one for each class to plant up and take care of (remember the prize). As you can see from the photographs we have been sowing seeds, there will be plenty to do.The next stage for Emma I  will be to organizing the creation of the garden, using the strong muscle power of student volunteers from the Plymouth University plus parents and grandparents, more on this and the garden club later.
 Till the next time Duncan

Update!

Apart from my little entry a moment ago about the SIFE dinner, it feels like ages ago since i updated you all with the general progress of the project. So i will try and get you up to date without rambling too much!

Duncan and I had our second day at College Rd Primary on the 5th April, which was really just a general catch up to check they were all looking after the seed trays we planted with them in the previous workshop. It was fab to see the plants emerging, lots of Beans and Lettuces in particular! We also checked in with their researching skills as the previous homework was for the class as a whole to research a particular vegetable - i must admit i was most impressed with Foundation class, who even gave us a demonstration of how Carrots grow, and how their leafy tops wave around in the wind!
The next homework we have set the children, is for them all to draw their perfect gardens, looking at what fruit and vegetables they would like to include, whether the garden would have a certain theme or colour pallete. What insects they do and dont want to attract, and for the older children we have asked them to think about how they could include companion planting too! Lots for them to think about, however they do have the whole Easter break, until our next visit on the 28th April. I am really looking forward to the drawings we recieve!!! The winning classes drawings get to pick a fruit bush of their choice for their allotment patch!

As for my work at home, i have been making up the gardening journals for the children of gardening club - as we are aiming for this to start after Easter. I had to transplant my little Spinach and Lettuce seedlings into bigger pots as they had outgrown their allocated space in my garden and have also been trying to source more recycled wood to make planter boxes, and raised beds. Homebase have kindly said we can have some old pallets which i plan to pick up on Thursday, if i can fit them in my car! It is currently overloaded with spades and seeds, compost and wood, not to mention all the other stuff it usually houses - coats and boots etc etc.

For the moment i think that is all i have to tell, we get access to the garden in less than 3 weeks now - so the final countdown is on and Duncan and I are racing around to try and get this garden as good as it can possibly be! I won't leave it as long until i update you next, that way hopefully my ramblings will be in small bite sized, managable chunks!
Speak soon, Emma.

SIFE Promotional Dinner.

I have just been emailed over images from the promotional dinner Duncan and I took part in on 31st March, so i thought i would share them with you all. The dinner was to raise awareness and money for SIFE's main project START which helps refugees in Plymouth. Nevertheless lots of smaller projects such as Sowing Seeds were invited along to share some of the limelight and expose our projects to new audiences. There were lots of silly games, and a plentyfull amount of food and overall the evening raised over a thousand pounds for START. Duncan and I met lots of new people which we hope to turn into friendly faces to help out with the project. Emma.