Eco Garden Advice

[ellwalthamstow]

Hi all, I work in a primary school in East London, our local area is very built up. I am looking to create an eco garden in the small piece of greenery we have in the playground. I'm really keen to turn this area into a sensory area using a lot of recycled materials from scrap projects and junk yards. I would like the children that don't have a garden to have access to gardening opportunities and to gain skills to grow their own for the future. I'm just very keen for them to have access to a green space as some sort of retreat. I have emailed a couple of colleges looking for help with landscaping ideas, another opportunity for a younger person to see their ideas come to life. I don't have huge amounts of money for this, but hope with recycling we could get there. I would appreciate any ideas/tips for this space, volunteer searching ideas and tips for a super eco garden is very much appreciated also!! Thanks, Ell xx

Hi, I have recently set up a sensory and exploratory garden in a small piece of land at the back of our school. We found our local council parks service to be really helpful. They donated pallets for a bug hotel, willow for a tunnel (easy built by 2 people with help from tou tube) tree stumps and slices of log to make seats/ stepping stones. We used the Lidl seed pots to set up a herb garden and asked pupils to donate £1 for start up.
Check out the Woodland Trust, Royal Horticultural Society, Eco schools websites for ideas, and free seeds, trees etc. Conservation volunteers helped with free planning and they had ideas for grants etc. It's much easier to get funding if you can somehow open the garden to your local community - local groups coming to help pupils etc. Men's sheds can also help with building work etc.