Muintir na Tire School Garden Competition

  Composting in schools: Any school could, and perhaps should, practise composting on site. There is, among some people, a certain but usually exaggerated fear of problems with rodents. These problems should not arise if the composting system is managed properly. For any school with its own garden, making compost is a great boon in providing high-quality fertiliser and soil improvement from what are otherwise treated as waste materials. The children's and teachers' fruit peels, tea bags, ends of sandwiches etc. can all be converted into a valuable compost. This will also help the school's environmental performance, and can reduce waste costs. A lot of schools use one or more plastic compost bins, which often become clogged up with an excess of soft, wet fruit and other food. These tall, narrow bins are not very suitable for this type of material as it compacts and becomes anaerobic very easily, hindering the composting process. Composting requires a mix of ...

Peppers (Chili And Bell) Why Grow It? Peppers are quite compact plants and so don’t take up a huge amount of space in your greenhouse or polytunnel.  They produce a fine crop and can be grown well in containers and pots.  Both chilli and bell peppers are part of the capsicum family.  Chillipeppers are small and have a hot flavour while bell peppers are larger and milder in flavour.  Sowing Peppers need a long growing season so the earlier you get started the better your chance of producing good, ripe fruit.  Get the seeds sown in February on a heating mat if you can.  They can take up to 2 weeks to germinate.  Sow seeds at 20 degrees celsius in pots of compost or module trays.  Transfer in to 9cm pots when the seedlings are large enough to handle.  Pot up again to a 30cm pot when the plants look like they’ve outgrown the previous pot.  Growing Harden off carefully before planting out in the greenhouse or polytunnel...

Primary schools are to make Cork Bee Pretty! Cork City Council is delighted to launch the BEE PRETTY CORK CITY Pollinator themed Primary Schools Art Competition The BEE PRETTY CORK CITY schools project is part of Cork City Council’s commitment to protecting and supporting pollinators in Cork city. This project is funded by the Dept of Heritage, Culture and the Gaeltacht through the National Biodiversity Action Plan and Cork City Council and is an action of the Cork City Heritage Plan There are two categories for this art competition: Junior Cycle (Junior Infants to 1st Class) - Colour in the attached ‘Bee pretty Cork City’ colouring template.  Senior Cycle (2nd Class to 6th Class) - create your own art work based on the theme    'BEE PRETTY CORK CITY' The winners in each category of the Pollinator Primary School Arts competition will receive: A family ticket to The Everyman Pantomime “Jack and the Beanstalk” on January 2 2020 A training session w...

Interested in a Career in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths)? Stem South West 2019 Industry led Career Showcase held in partnership with Cork County Council is a great opportunity to see STEM products and systems in action, gain an understanding of STEM careers, and meet with the people who work in STEM on a daily basis. This event is free and we would love to see students, teachers & parents join us at the Rochestown Park Hotel, Wednesday November 13th from 4 to 9pm. For more information, check out  https://www.stemsouthwest.ie/

Cork County Council is pleased to announce the launch of the 2019 Community Environment Action Fund, previously known as the Local Agenda 21 scheme . This fund is designed to help increase local levels of environmental awareness and to help local communities become more sustainable. If you are aware of any local community group, school or residents association interested in submitting a project for funding please make them aware of this scheme and of the online application form at  www.yourcouncil.ie . The scheme is open to applications from all individuals and groups who have appropriate projects in mind. However, funding is limited and Cork County Council will award funding to projects that best meet our qualifying criteria.  Please note that the Minister has asked that priority be given to Climate and Biodiversity projects in the 2019 scheme.  Projects focusing on biodiversity should take account of the National Biodiversity Action Plan and/or the All Ire...