Muintir na Tire School Garden Competition

Daisy Dreams How to pick a star performing daisy for your School  garden. School gardens should be relaxed, free flowering and fun; they can. and with plants that bees love  ; there are no rules, just plant what you love to create a garden that appeals to you. A School garden just wouldn't be the same without patches of great big daisies blooming right throughout the season and into autumn. Did you know that daisies love sunshine? You shouldn't plant them in the shade – they hate it. To smile and perform, they really require warm sunshine. Daisies love to be dry. Most people over water them at the beginning of the season, so try to avoid doing this. Go on, have a crazy summer – grow some daisies ! This is also why they are great in school garden as they will not need much watering during the school holiday. Did you know  The word 'daisy' comes from the Old English dæges-eage, meaning 'day's eye. It is easy to see why. Many open up their petals in the s

Closing Date for submission of PowerPoint presentation is 5pm Friday May 24th Please note PowerPoints must be limited to TEN slides and should include lots of photographs. Please do not include animations or music.

Lets Protect our Pollinators: Here are a few slides that you may inspire you to adapt parts of your School to "Protected for wildlife Areas"  

Working with  Cork County Council  and  Creative Ireland  towards achieving one of Creative Ireland’s key goals to ’ enable the creative potential of every child and young person’,  the  Heritage in Schools Scheme  and Cork County Council invites applications from primary schools in county Cork for an opportunity to explore their local heritage with Heritage in Schools Specialist Áine Brosnan and modern-day bard John Spillane. Shortlisted schools will visit a local ancient site with Áine to learn about the people who lived, worked and played there. With the help of Áine the children will compose and record an ‘ode’ to a great hero of old. The recordings will be sent to John Spillane to judge and the winning school will receive a workshop with John to develop and perform their song.   To enter simply:  Email a short paragraph and tell us what local heritage site you would like to visit and include your school name, roll number, contact details as well as classe(s) and numbers. Email 

Florence Fennel Why Grow It? Worth growing for its pretty foliage alone, florence fennel also offers the bonus of its delicious, white, aniseed-flavoured bulb.  It’s a little tricky to grow, but definitely worth a try.  Has a relatively short growing season – will be ready to eat in 4 months. Sowing It's a Mediterranean crop that will get confused and bolt if exposed to fluctuating or low temperatures.  Sow in late May and again in late June (as insurance against bolting and poor germination).  Fennel seedlings are very sensitive to root disturbance – sow a couple of seeds in each module of a seed module tray about 1cm deep.  If more than one germinates in each module, remove the weaker one. Growing About a month after sowing (when the seedlings are hardy), it’s time to plant them out.  If the temperatures are still low outside, you can delay planting by a few weeks by potting them on in to individual pots.  Harden off the seedlings well before planting out.  G

Creative Hanging  Baskets  for your School or Home The Favourite part of my day is without  question it is planting up and creating hanging  baskets  and containers for our customers. The fragrance and Colour in the garden centre on the sunny days this week brings joy to all our staff and customer.  Here are a few top tips to creating and maintaining your summer  baskets , window boxes  and pots. Create a container/  basket  to suit your colours, style and environment.  Mediterranean Basket / Pot : I f you want to be transported to the Amalfi coast,  Grow a lemon tree or olive tree in a pot, Surround your self with Trailing  Geraniums and vibrant coloured pots and containers. If your  baskets  are located in a Sunny windy position or maybe difficult to water,  then Ivy   geraniums  will thrive the best for you.  Geraniums  give a magical blast of colour and dont require as much watering as other summer plants. Ivy  Geraniums   require so little maintenance. Don't f