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Thu 4 Apr 2024

Meeting

1. Move bank of grass
   1. Ask for volunteers in newsletter
   2. Find suitable location
   3. Deturf remaining grass
   4. Remove & level areas to new sizes
   5. Volunteers move turf/soil (Friday)
2. Find shale/clay hardcore
   1. Work out volume required
   2. Arrange transport
3. Spread hardcore
   1. Arrange breaker/tamper
   2. Volunteers shovel & spread hardcore (Friday)
   3. Tamp down hardcore, create path surface

Next stage:

• Wildlife lab - magnifying glass, microscope, trailcam, ID books
• Art materials - sand, clay, weaving, materials
• New curriculum - statutory requirement for outdoor learning in different subjects. Guidelines available?

Tue 6 Feb 2024

Trail cam

• CEYOMUR Solar Wildlife Camera 4K 30fps, WiFi Bluetooth 46MP Trail Camera, 120° Detection Angle Night Vision Motion Activated IP66 Waterproof for Wildlife Monitoring with U3 32GB Micro SD Card from Amazon

Horseshoe raised bed seating area, pond & gabions Fri 12 Jan 2024

Redesigned seating area, 1m² pond, wildlife gabions. Click for hi-res

• Design meeting between Megan and Jake Wed 10 Jan 2pm.
• Wanted to repurpose design using Wildlife Garden Package resources
• Jake to do:
  1. Horseshoe raised bed seating area
  2. Design & costing gabions
  3. Pond placement ideas

1. Horseshoed raised bed

• Using standard sleepers, can cut create seating area from 1.6m x 0.5m raised beds
• Six in total
• Ends cut to fit. Jake can calculate precise measurements. Megan can have wood cut to order.
• High raised beds, 0.8m high (4 sleepers high). Provide shelter for seating area

2. Gabions

Wildlife gabion, with slate roof held in place with old bricks

• 1.5m high, 0.45m square
• Wildlife habitat
  • Trail cam (viewing pond)
  • Bee logs
  • Hoverfly lagoons
  • Hedgehog hotel
  • Toad hall
  • Upcycled & graded aggregate
• Build in gates for habitat
• Cost ready made £110
• Barry at Castle Forge would probably do beskpoke for cheaper!
• Positioned either side of pond

Gabion quote for ready made

3. Pond placement

• In front of seating area (sunniest spot)
• 1m² as limited space
• Create tidy sloping drystone wall on 3 sides with local recovered stone - habitat and less weeding
• On 3rd side, use wildflower turf to provide cover strip for wildlife using pond

Meeting Megan & Jake Wed 10 Jan 2024

Design meeting, on how to incorporate Keep Wales Tidy elements into design.

• Use wooden sleepers for creating “octagon” seating area out of raised beds (rather than using gabions)? Square space is not very comfortable for seating. Action: Jake to mockup structure in CAD, to work out sizes and quantities.
• Costing for gabions, for Town Council. Need simple 2 column design to get idea of materials. Action: Jake to create simple design and costing. Also, mark up wildlife habitat for access points (bee logs, hoverfly lagoon, hedgehog hotel, toad hall etc).
• Pond placement and ideas. Possily echo shape of seating area? And keep entrance to pond open toward hedge? Create mini-stone wall on 3 sides? Habitat & tidy. Small, 1m x 1m. Possibly use gabion as hitching point for trailcam, looking down at pond (which will double as watering hole). Action: Jake sketch ideas and profile.
• Action: Jake mark up design on-site with bamboo & string.

Wildlife Garden Package Wed 10 Jan 2024

Keep Wales Tidy Wildlife Garden Package

Includes

• 20 square metres of wildflower turf
• Raised beds made of wooden sleepers
• Native fruit trees
• 100 wildlife friendly tree pack (small trees with biodegradable spiral tree guards and canes)
• Potted shrubs
• Climbing plants
• Pond liner and sand
• Aquatic plants and aquatic baskets
• Wheelbarrow
• Topsoil and compost
• Wildflower plug plants
• Soil membrane
• Native bulbs
• Two recycled plastic benches
• Metal tool store
• Gloves
• Watering can
• Hand tools
• Compost bin
• Habitat boxes, and/or bird feeders and seed
• Information manuals / books

Jake email to Megan Fri 15 Dec 2023

Kate has applied for the large pack as sh was advised to when she applied

Is that this one? keepwalestidy.cymru/our-work/conservation/nature/development-packages/wildlife-garden

which includes a small pond, so we may need to consider this in our plan

Ponds can be made safe in number of different ways (fencing, cover, depth), so all feasible. They’re great for monitoring larger wildlife with trail cams, as they’re a drinking hole. Generally best to put them in full sun, for health of the pond.

He is happy to make slight tweaks to support our design but there are some rules we need to follow too

Do you know what the rules are?

• Jake will look at designs show today, the Keep Wales Tidy pack and we will meet next week.

The major saving is on landscaper’s labour. I still want to include standard rectangular gabions as part of the infrastructure of the garden, as can use them as “units of wildlife habitat” – putting in bee logs, hoverfly lagoons, earwig pots and hedgehog houses, as well as habitat for other invertebrates like spiders. These would be accessed by hinged gabion wire doors, very simple. And they’re cheap. The gabions can form part of the pergola and be incorporated with the raised beds.

I still think the paths and labyrinth should be hard standing reclaimed material, as way less maintenance than wood chip, and can be put together with volunteer labour.

Megan, Gary, Jake meeting Mon 11 Dec 2023

Meeting at the school about the garden. Megan wrote minutes:

• Kate, Crew ECO and I have sent letter to the local Council, they are willing to donate £100 to our garden and I will phone Alan Jones today to discuss the further support they’ve offered.
• I think Kate has applied for the small Wildlife Garden Keep Wales Tidy pack but maybe we could change it to the larger pack?- Matthew said this may be possible if our design meets the criteria.
• Matthew Collinson and Louise Morgan will be visiting the school 1.30pm on the 16th of January if you’d like to be present. If you can’t I will be there and will feedback the following week.
• I have explained that there’s work being done in the school so this will slow our project until March but this will give us time to plan and collect resources.
• Jake will look at designs show today, the Keep Wales Tidy pack and we will meet next week.
• Jake will also explain to the landscape designer that sadly we haven’t got the funds to go ahead with his support in the project.
• The First stage will be the landscaping and planting which will include Gary and hopefully funded by the Keep Wales Tidy Grant but cosmetic additions like the gabions, stage, wildlife cameras etc will be planned after the landscaping is complete. Megan will fund this with a Welly walk etc. There is no harm placing the additional things in the plan but they won’t be priority at this stage.
• Jake and I will be meeting next Monday at 9 am to create the final design and the ECO Crew will join at the end to see the design and option to discuss it.
• I will be creating a letter for local buisnesses following the final design meeting next week Kate and I will take ECO Crew out to deliver letters in the New Year to ask for donations with the garden design.
• The ECO Crew will be introducing the final design in an assembly next term so all the pupils are aware of the project. Maybe towards the end of January- Birdwatch week might be a great time to do this?

Kingsley bench Tue 14 Nov 2023

Regarding a bench. I can make something similar in Oak for £250. The bench should last at least 30 to 40 years, I can make a standard perch bench for £150 again in Oak using trees from a woodland using no nails or glue.

~ Kingsley, local wood worker

Site meeting Fri 6 Oct 2023

Present: Megan, Beki, Gary, Jake

1. Gary level circles, to level of tarmac footpah, sloping toward willow dome, Mon 9 Oct
2. Jake markout paths, 0.8m wide (for wheelchair), possibly Mon 9 Oct afternoon
3. Kate & Megan remove turf
4. Use scalpings or sub-base rather than hardcore, more reliable foundation
5. Keep track width the same as the maximum width on the gate to the fence
6. Remove mound by seating, keep 30cm topsoil/turf narrow mound for tree planting
7. Remove mound past willow

Meeting Thu 5 Oct 2023

Present: Megan, Kate, Beki, Gary, Jake

Possible grants

• PTA a registered charity
• Magic Little Grants
• Keep Wales Tidy
• Need to demonstrate community involvement for grants
• Meeting different criteria:
  • Art
  • Mental health
  • Food
  • Wildlife

Volunteers

• Volunteers & community organisations possibly using space. Increase chance of grants.
• Jake ask Cadernid Emlyn for volunteers & collaboration. DONE
• Other groups, eg gardening? HUTS? CAVS? BlueGreenCymru
• Megan get CRB checks for Becky, Gary & Jake?

Essential to have children involved.

Work to winter 2023

• Level circles (100mm depth) - 3 hours
• Jake: Mark out paths (bed between circles, protect cherry tree) - 1 hour with children
• Jake: Prune willow dome
• Deturf beds - 3 hours
• Sheet mulch bank and circles with plastic (Jake provide) - 1 hour with children
• Cover whole area with wood chip - 2 tipper loads? Megan? - 6 hours with children

Updated costings & amounts

• Gabions, 9 baskets £420
• Path edging, 40m x 2 £320
• Hard standing 70m² approx
• Blended Fill - 50mm depth. 8 tonnes approx x £75 = £600
• Sub-base - 50mm depth. 8 tonnes approx x £50 = £400. Use free hardcore?
• Wood chip - 2 tipper loads x £130 = £260. Free source of woodchip?
• Landscapers install hard standing & gabion
  • 3-4 days @ £350 per day = £1,050 - £1400

Wed 20 Sep 2023

Todo

• Kate find volunteers. Physical work, with Jake supervising
• Parents
  • Level circles (100mm depth) - 3 hours
  • Jake: Mark out paths (bed between circles, protect cherry tree) - 1 hour
  • Jake: Prune willow dome
  • Deturf beds - 3 hours
  • Sheet mulch bank and circles with plastic (Jake provide) - 1 hour
  • Cover whole area with wood chip - 2 tipper loads? Megan? - 6 hours
  • Jake: Order path edging
  • Install path edging - 6 hours
  • Find & deliver hardcore, 8 tonnes. Shale & clay mix (lot of it around here from building sites) acts as a good sub-base. Alternatively, hardcore with good amount of clay/dust.
  • Lay hardcore, use plate whacker to level - 6 hours
  • Jake: Order gabions
  • Construct gabion cages - 6 hours
  • Jake: Create wildlife gates in gabions - 6 hours
  • Jake: Choose path surface (local recycled hoggin is ideal)
  • Order path aggregate
• Landscaper - 3 days?
  • Install path surface
  • Install gabion semi-circle

Costing

• Gabions, 9 baskets £420
• Path edging, 40m x 2 £320
• Hard standing 70m² approx
• Blended Fill - 50mm depth. 8 tonnes approx x £75 = £600
• Sub-base - 50mm depth. 8 tonnes approx x £50 = £400. Use free hardcore?
• Landscapers install hard standing & gabion
  • 3-4 days @ £350 per day = £1,050 - £1400

Aprrox £2,500 for materials & landscapers

Gabions

• 1.5m x 0.5m baskets
  • Fine Mesh Metals - Gaflan coated, 4mm thickness, 75mm aperture, 1.5m x 0.5m. 4+ per basket, 6 baskets total. welded mesh panel GALFAN 3X3 8G 1.75ft x 5ft – x24, £353.09
  • Prefab from WireFence £590
• 1m x 0.5m baskets
  • 5 per basket, 9 baskets = 45 panels £418.84

Gary & Jake start excavating- Mon 10 Jul 2023

• Couple of weeks ago we deturfed, now we’re digging down 10cm through the clay and chippings, excavating for the hardcore that will form the basis of the seating area and labyrinth.
• Use existing fence as basis for dead hedge

Tumbling Playground - Mon 5 Jun 2023

Tumbling Bay Playground, play equipment in a natural landscape

Near Stanford International

Disappearing water fountain! Mon 15 May 2023

)
Click for hi-res

Disappearing Water Fountain on Instructables

Bee hotel

https://celticwildflowers.co.uk/products/bee-block

Trailcam

• Wild View Cameras

Features

• Mexican brick pyramid habitat
• Moss bed!
• Water bowl for wildlife, with cover

Plants for damp

• Meadowsweet, Sweet Cicely
• Creeping Buttercup, Wood Anemones, Bluebells, Wild Garlic
• Claytonia siberica
• Raspberry & Tayberry

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• Prune willow
• Cware Crug yr Eryr Quarry, Over-sized 125mm-250mm, £30 tonne+VAT+del Emlyn, 7 tonne £255+VAT

Beneath the soil!

The question is, where does the water go?

Seedballs

• Roots and All Podcast
• Website

Gabion

• 1.5m x 0.5m baskets
  • Fine Mesh Metals - Gaflan coated, 4mm thickness, 75mm aperture, 1.5m x 0.5m. 4+ per basket, 6 baskets total. welded mesh panel GALFAN 3X3 8G 1.75ft x 5ft – x24, £353.09
  • Prefab from WireFence £590
• 1m x 0.5m baskets
  • 5 per basket, 9 baskets = 45 panels £418.84

Tue 14 Mar 2023

• Clay mound, for art & wildlife
• Moss bed
• Cornus! Bloodtwig.

Eco Council session Wed 8 Mar 2023

• Marked out 3x apple trees & 5x fruit bushes
• Brought over
• Tested soil – 4” soil, weed suppressing fabric, then solid surface!!
• Demonstration of how gabion works

PTA meeting Tue 7 Mar 2023

• Gabion seating area ballpark costs
  • Labour £1400
  • Gabions £400
  • Hardcore £100
• Jake ask Oly if can use volunteers to keep costs down
• Jake book Oly in for August
• Jake find prices for gabions
• Jake provide sketches of garden

Recycled aggregate

• Self-binding gravel Recyled Blended Fill £60/t+VAT+del
• MD Recycling hardcore 70mm to dust (also 40mm), also without dust £17/t+VAT+del

Hoverfly lagoons

• https://hoverflylagoons.co.uk/hoverfly-lagoons-2020/

Curved gabion

Horseshoe shape, approx 4m diameter, the outside length is 9m-ish, the height would be 60cm-ish, 50cm wide

Metal from Barry, Castle Forge

• 3” square, 4mm gauge, 8’ x 4’ sheet
• 75mm square, 4mm dia, 2.4m x 1.2m sheet
• 0.6m high, 9.4m long - 4 sheets (9.4/2.4)
• 0.6m high, 7m long - 3 sheet (7/2.4)

7 sheets total

0.6m high, 0.6m wi

50cm foundation, 30cm basecourse

Bits

• mini gabion house! wildlife
• miniature wildlife house, mice & things, pics twitter

PlaySmart playground surfaces

• PlaySmart UK

Labyrinth

• Labyrinth Society
• Download Classical & Chartres labyrinths

Features

Moss bed, by Celtic Wild Flowers

• Seating area with firepit?
• Moss bed, with rainwater harvesting
• Bog (ditto rainwater)
• Native Fernery for shadier patches
• Gabions, filled with recycled materials
• Labyrinth, different substrates & plants. Primary movement.
• Nest boxes
• Piles
  • Clay
  • Sand
  • Gravel
  • Wood chip
  • Compost
  • Leaf bin
• Standing dead wood
• Photos, drawings & paintings

Berries

• Aronia
• Blackcurrant
• Honeyberry
• Japanese Wineberry
• Boysenberry
• Tayberry
• Thornless Blackberry
• Redcurrant
• Summer Raspberry
• Autumn Raspberry
• Whitecurrant
• Gooseberry

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Features

• Moss bed
• Fernery
• Bog
• Gabions
  • Hedgehog home
  • Bee logs
  • Hoverfly lagoons
  • Different coloured substrates
• Sheltered warm seat
• Nest boxes

Ideas

• Different coloured substrates form patterns
• Seat facing south, accessible only from front
• Seat protected by circle of gabions!
• Network of paths
• Labyrinth - rubble and path
• Track from coloured, contained rubble

Top plants

• Guelder Rose
• Fennel
• Red Valerian
• Tayberry
• Aronia - autumn colour
• Blueberry - autumn colour
• Blackcurrant
• Redcurrant
• Whitecurrant
• Gooseberry
• Wineberry - winter colour
• Elderberry
• Bog Myrtle
• Bloodtwig Dogwood
• Dogwood ‘Midwinter Fire’
• Siberian Dogwood
• Golden-twig Dogwood

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• every guest was asked to bring a word written on a stone instead of a present

• Wildflower Guides, April-August https://botanicgarden.wales/science/growing-the-future/learning-at-home-and-at-school/
• Piles of raw materials for art classes! Clay. Clay mound.
• Labyrinth?

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Notes relating to setting up a forest garden in a school.

1. Arrange meeting with outdoor learning teacher
2. Visit potential site
3. With school Eco Council, teacher organises pupil questionnaire.

List opportunities

• Quiet space
• Forest school
• Nature study
• Food

Brownfield materials make excellent low-fertility beds. Photo by John Little

List ideas!

eg

• Brownfield circle
• Dead wood
• Odd fruit
• Autumn colour leaves
• Wild flower beds
• Horseshoe shape
• Screen, privacy
• Resourceful areas
• EDITED BED etc etc etc

Tools for sharing information

• Pencil & paper 📝 (5mm grid A3 paper)
• Simplenote
• Cloudinary
• Pinterest
• Satellite photo (eg Bing, Google)
• QCAD
• Google (meh) Sheets

This page online: https://grwd.uk/primary/notes