Secret Potters' Report on Garden Project

Transcription

1 Secret Potters' Report on Garden Project Who are we? We are a team of 6 Year 8's at Fairfield High School: Alfred I'm the only male member of this group, and I love reading. Alice I love ANIMALS!!!! I am a vegetarian and I love drama, music, art and ITALY!!!! I also love magic. Ellie I love being creative! Emma I have a gerbil that I like. Lillibeth I love doing sports. Ivy I'm Ivy. I love getting muddy and I'm an absolute tomboy. Why did we choose to do this Project? We all had different reasons to participate in the Green Plan It Challenge. These were: Alfred I wanted to do something new, that I wouldn't have done otherwise. Alice I joined because I love nature and animals. I wanted to create something that was eco-friendly, and fun!! Ellie I like designing things, and would like to know more about nature. Emma I like the general idea about gardens because my mum has an allotment, and I like food. Lillibeth I joined because when I grow up, I want to be an architect; this would help me with getting that job. Ivy I joined because I like creating things and I loved the idea I could have a garden so close by.

2 Where is our garden? We had three possibilities for the location of our garden. These were: the old B&Q, the old bus depot, and the old Ford Garage, all on Muller Road near our school in Bristol and are no longer used for anything. We decided to use the Ford Garage because both the B&Q and the Bus Depot would have been too large. The Ford Garage was the right size, and an interesting shape and is next to a public footpath which makes it extremely accessible.

3 Pros of the site: It's unused. It is easily accessible (being within walking distance of our school and off of a main road (Muller Road). It is shaped in an interesting way. It s very run down Cons of the site: We had less space, although this could also be used as a pro. It may not be seen, although this too could be a pro, aiding the mysterious element of our garden. The shape makes it harder to make a simple layout, but again, this could be seen as a pro too.

4 The Design of our garden The Secret Potters' Secret garden is a mysterious maze, with 5 sections: the calm area, the edible zone, the playground, the café and, in the centre, a fountain. The whole garden also, along with the secret, and mystery, has an eco theme, an example of this being the fact that we used pollinator plants and recycled materials. As a group we decided to each take a part of the garden to design in further detail. We worked as a team to create this report. Below there are details of the different sections of our garden.

5 The Fountain ~ Alfred The fountain is directly in the centre of the garden. After the fifth week in, all of our team members made mood boards and on mine, there was a picture of a fountain made from watering cans and another picture of one made from an old instrument. This fits in with the eco part of our theme because it fits under one of the three R's (reduce, reuse, and recycle). To have a fountain made from things that otherwise would have gone to landfill, is very environmentally friendly. It also fits in with the mysterious theme. As mentioned before, our garden is a maze. The fountain is directly in the centre, with arches around it. You cannot see very far through them, therefore keeping some parts a secret. I believe this would want to make people stay there and explore more in order to find more. Play Area by Ivy This section is the most playful and childish part of the garden, so naturally I volunteered to do it (being the child I am). It fits in with our recycled theme because it uses old tyres. Tyres can take over eighty years to decompose and, if burned, they let out toxic gases into the air, so you can see how using them as part of the playground, rather than burning them or sending them to landfill, is very eco-friendly. Some areas of this playground could be: Tyre swing Log benches Low tyre zipwire It would also be very useful for parents. If they wanted to relax at the café, their child could go to the playground, while they rested. Kids would adore it! Café by Alice I decided to choose this section because I love cafes and I wanted there to be plenty of vegetarian options (because I am vegetarian). First we wanted to have the area next to the Play Area so that it was easily accessible. Next, I wanted to have benches that have quotes on about protecting the environment. E.g. (destroy the environment, destroy all life on earth). I also wanted plants around the area to be nice to the touch, the nose and the eyes. I wanted Lambs Ears, Black Eyed Susan and Forget Me Nots. Finally, I wanted to have a soup of the day (like carrot and coriander grown in the edibles zone) as well as a small bite to eat (like cake and a cup of tea). Calm Area by Ellie The area that I chose to design is a very calm, quiet space, with the sub-theme of tranquillity. It also links in with the environmental theme of the whole garden because it helps animals. It would be an ideal place for small animals to live, with no littering and barely being disturbed by humans at all. The design would be based around East Asia, with sakura (cherry blossom) trees, and a bamboo lining. There may be a small koi pond, with benches around it. All these would definitely create the calm atmosphere.

6 Edibles by Emma The overall design of this section covers: The Green house The Mini orchard The Compost bins The Veg and fruit patches These (mostly the compost bin) fit in with the environmental part, because what better way to use food waste than use it to grow plants? The whole idea of being environmental is to help wildlife; obviously, food waste will help with that. Also, it could provide charity, like a food bank. The food grown would be donated to places which can aid people that need it. Why wouldn t this be a good thing? Eco (whole garden) by Lillibeth My area that I wanted to do was eco. I chose this because I really wanted the garden to be extremely eco-friendly and I wanted to include my ideas into it. For example, I had the idea that we could use pollinator plants scattered around the garden so that there would be bees and butterflies wherever you went. Also, I thought that maybe we could reuse tires and plastic bottles etc. to make sure that our garden isn t made with any harm to the environment. Overall, I wanted the whole garden to be eco-friendly and wouldn t harm any environment in the process of it. Maze The maze is all throughout the garden. We were not originally going to include it in the report, but since it takes up so much of the garden, we felt it is very important. The maze is a vital part of our secret garden. It splits it into different sections, and prevents you from seeing the garden all in one go. This would help keep it very mysterious. It would definitely have pollinator plants and environmentally-friendly hedges, linking in with the theme. Throughout the garden, we had the idea of scattering different plants so that there would be bees and butterflies wherever you went.

7 The process Week 1 We thought about possible locations and themes for our garden. Week 2 We decided that we wanted an eco/secret theme, and came up with an idea for a pond or fountain in the centre of our garden. Week 3 We thought about the layout, and each of the separate areas; then we came up with the maze idea to connect our garden together. Week 4 It was half term, so we didn't meet, but we made a sketch/plan for the layout.

8 Week 5 All of us made mood boards, and all of our ideas started to take shape. Week 6 We each started to design our separate areas and thought of some more details. For example, what specific plants we wanted in our section. We also stayed after school on Monday to work on the report, model and the final drawing. Week 7 On this week, we all decided that we would write about our different sections into page long reports, and then we would edit it down so that the report wouldn t go on for ages and so people wouldn t get bored. As well as this, we decided that we will get some flowers to show our ideas to the judges. Week 8 We all had our separate reports finished, and this was the week that we edited the report so it would all fit together and make all of it linked. Me (Alice) and Alfred stayed after school on the Wednesday to proof read it and make sure that it all made sense. As well as this, we also found loads of different craft materials to start making the model. Week 9 We practice how we are going to present what we have done to the judges and continued with the model. Week 10 The presentation has been completed, the model is finished and we are ready to present what we have done to the judges.

9 The Model When we were planning and designing our garden, some of it wasn t to scale. However, we decided to try to make our model as to scale as possible. We would have a wooden base with a green paper/card layer to make grass. As the hedges, we decided to get a material that we could cut up into equal strips to show that the hedges are all at roughly the same height. We then wanted to have origami pieces to make chairs etc. but resorted to a range of materials to complete the design. The Learning Process Through the process of this project, I believe that we all learned important skills. If we didn t already know, we learnt what the word, botanic, means, and we all learnt how to take care of different plants. For instance, that Victoria amazonica, or the amazon giant lily, needs to be in a hot environment so that it can survive (and therefore can t be used in our garden). Also that Lotus lilies aren t wet when they come up from underneath the water. WhatsApp Chat As well as meeting up every Wednesday and meeting up after school, we also made a WhatsApp chat. WhatsApp is a social media that you can download from the App Store. We made a group chat on the app so that we could all communicate with each other, we also tell each other what to do and keep tabs on managing when to meet up. Conclusion Our overall garden is a huge maze with different sections in it such as the Edibles and the Café. It is a space which everyone can go to, it is easily accessible and is a place where you can go time and again to discover and find a place to spend time, regardless of your mood. Thank you Andy Winfield and Clare Billany for being our amazing mentors during the Green Plan It Challenge.