Swindon Saplings win 2nd Prize with Mr McGregor's Garden Gate!

Swindon Saplings Home Ed Group were invited to enter a local competition, which involved designing and constructing a "Garden Pallet", inspired by a piece of artwork and with nature and sustainability at the heart of it. The children designed their garden pallet based on the artwork by Beatrix Potter and created a completely edible garden, with a variety of fruit, vegetables and edible flowers. The paint used was eco-friendly and there was no plastic used in the construction of this planter. Moving forward, we are going to keep half of the pallet for flowers, but also integrate a bug hotel into the design too, which will stay on our community plot for everyone to enjoy.Step 1: The project started off by using a discarded pallet as our base. The pallet was then popped onto its side and the top was cut into the shape of the gate.Step 2: The children then got involved on the tools, turning the back of the pallet into a planting tray.Step 3: The paint was applied to make the finished piece 'pop'Step 4: Signs were made to go on the gateStep 5: Re-purposed hinges and a gate latch were attached We now have a garden gate, ready to plant!!The pallet was then planted up with a variety of fruit, vegetables and edible flowers, with a little stone Peter Rabbit popping out from under the gate, Peter's jacket as a scare-crow, Mr McGregor's watering can - planted with french beans, and a little Robin perched on the top.The children presented their design wonderfully to the judge and were awarded with 2nd prize (and free pizza!)!!Thank you to the Tadpole Garden Village In Bloom for this wonderful competition! We look forward to getting involved again next year.