GARDENING
GOLD AWARD FOR TINTINHULL PRIMARY The Woodland Trust Gold Award for Tintinhull Primary School puts it in the top 8 per cent of greenest primary schools in the UK Tintinhull Primary School (St Margaret’s) near Yeovil has scooped one of the UK’s top green awards. The village school has won the prestigious Gold Award from The Woodland Trust for their dedicated care of the environment. In the whole of the UK only 1,364 out of 17,000 primary schools have won Woodland Gold and this recognition follows the Silver medal gained last year. This puts the Tintinhull Primary pupils in the top 8 per cent of green primary schools in the UK. The Gold Award is for a project called Share Your Woodland Words and Images where groups of the children spent time outside in the four acres of grounds and Field School, noting the changes in seasons and the feelings that come from these. Different age groups wrote or drew pictures of what they could see, hear, feel, smell and taste, and the younger children created a group poem. One of the poems read: ‘I can see white petals dotted through the rich, green grass. I can hear children laughing and having fun. I can feel the softness of the long green leaves. I can smell sweet, beautiful flowers. The petals are as white as snow. The daffodils are yellow as a banana. I feel happy when I look at them, excited about what the summer might bring.’
‘We’re really thrilled to receive this award,’ says Head Teacher Hayley Robinson, ‘the children and staff love nature and we teach them to respect, enjoy and cultivate the environment. ‘The green agenda is a central part of our values at Tintinhull Primary and this latest Woodland Trust gong follows on from the RHS Level 2 certificate we received last summer. We’ve also been doing other outdoor activities like The Big Garden Birdwatch and have lots of plans for our growing area. The children have decided what fruit and veg they would like to grow this year, using the £50 voucher we won with our RHS gardening award.’ www.stmargaretsceva.com
TO WATER OR NOT TO WATER? THAT IS THE QUESTION Mayhem UK, a small London design company, has come up with the solution to the age-old dilemma which weighs over every house-plant owner who is terrified of killing their house plants with either too little or too much watering. The answer is an ingenious device which works as a simple traffic light system. Just pop the moisture sensor into the soil and it features a flower which flashes red when your houseplant needs watering and green when it is OK. It looks good and avoids stress for you and your plants. Overwatering is the number one killer of house plants. Forget underwatering or cold draughts or lack of sunlight. Overwatering and waterlogged roots cause bacterial asphyxiation which is killing millions of house plants every year. Symptoms of overwatering and underwatering can be almost identical. The problem is exacerbated when 12
worried plant owners see their plants wilting and pour on more water and effectively snuff out their beloved leafy friends. Experts such as Monty Don and James Wong have been warning us about the danger of overwatering plants for some time. But it does not seem to have got through to the general public. So what can you do to avoid this? The solution is to use this moisture sensor. It is designed to look like a rose or a lotus flower, sits comfortably in your plant pot and detects the moisture level at root level. This is important because the soil maybe dry at the surface but waterlogged at root level. The sensor will flash red when the plant needs watering. It flashes green to reassure you when the plant has sufficient moisture and only switches to red when it detects there is a need for water. This simple
traffic-light system is virtually fool proof. We hope this can put an end to the misery of losing favourite plants and the premature demise of our beloved flowery companions. Current stockists: Robert Dyas, Gift Universe, Milestone Garden Centre, Meadow Grange Nursery, Palmers Garden Centre, Bernaville Garden Centre, House of Marble. Or buy direct from Mayhem UK at www.pocketsmoovie. com/plant. Price range £7.99-£9.99.
To advertise – 01935 424724 • email: info@theconduitmagazine.co.uk • www.theconduitmagazine.co.uk
