Lawley Primary School Astro Turf Garden

Last year Lawley Primary School had a couple of extra classes built. Once work was finished they were left with an area outside one of the class rooms that was covered with astro turf. A low brick wall surrounded part of the area and a gate was fitted. The school contacted me and asked for ideas to improve the area and make it usable.

After discussing ideas with the staff on what they would like the space to be, a plan was drawn up and I would construct the garden during the summer holidays.

Like all of my other gardens I wanted to use as much locally sourced materials and plants that I could. The raised planters were made from a Poplar tree that was felled in Telford. It was taken to a local saw mill were they planked it up into the various sizes that I wanted. I decided to use Poplar as it is  plentiful and not really used that much. I planned to line each planter with plastic so I was not worried about the wood.

The seating between the planters was made from Sweet Chestnut, that was once again sourced from a woodland in Telford.

In total four raised planters were installed together with a raised storage tower and two seating areas.

In the middle of the garden I planned to make a table come bench from a couple of Sweet Chestnut planks that were secured together. 

Each of the planters were lined with plastic and a layer of gravel was added, this was topped off with a moisture mat before the soil was added.

Once the planters were filled with soil they were planted up with a mixture of hardy garden plants and a selection of native wildflowers.

The raised storage tower was planted up with sedums.

I chose the plants for not only their visual beauty but also if they attracted insects. As with most schools the plants in the school are mainly hardy shrubs and this garden is one of the few places within the school that contains flowers.

To help give the area a bit of definition I added picket fencing that matched the already existing gate.

After securing the Sweet Chestnut table/bench together I cut around the edge of the planks and I think you will agree I ended up with a lovely natural shaped table/bench.The legs were made from the rest of the Sweet Chestnut tree.

Once the table/bench was completed, I moved it into position in the middle of the garden.

A week before the school was to reopen for the new school year, I finished the garden. It was handed over to the staff and to say they were pleased with it would be an understatement. The astro turf area has now become an outside classroom that uses the astro turf to it's advantage, in that it can be used in all weathers. I recently visited the school to meet the class who are mostly going to use the garden, while there we watered the plants and talked about how to care for the area. It was clear that the children enjoyed having this addition to their classroom and I look forward to visiting them again soon.