Welcome to ‘The Oasis’!: Part 3

Tree Planting
What a good time this is to share our tree planting progress in creating ‘The Oasis’ as it is ‘Schools Tree Day’ on Friday 28th July! As told in the Term 2 newsletters (links below), after the fibreglass form was filled with water and plants, the students immediately enjoyed the water garden space. They kneeled on the cool earth and scooped handfuls of water or sat on tree stumps (culled by Groundskeeper Lindsay Sherrot) and socialised with classmates.

The students of Classes 3, 4, 5, 6 & 8 were enthusiastic about digging three more holes. As part of a regenerative agriculture plan, our carefully selected trees will bring shaded cooling for the earth, animals and humans. They'll provide beauty, comfort, pollination, food, habitat and soil making matter. We'll also have more Indigenous bush foods in the garden.

Three new trees planted around 'The Oasis':

●     Bangalow Palm: a ‘water diviner’;

●     Native Hibiscus: preserved hibiscus flowers anyone?

●     Japanese Maple: planted northside to give much needed shade in summer and much appreciated colour in autumn.

Native guppies and turtles will be introduced in Term 3, making this place even more special for everyone who visits.

Soil Making, Planning and Planting
To plant these trees, the students measured the diameter of each pot and calculated how wide and deep the holes needed to be. There’s a bit of trial and error too! As well as digging the holes during gardening lessons, they’ve been learning about the soil types these trees need to thrive.

We used leaf litter compost to fertilise. Glenaeon's Maintenance team kindly delivers all the leaves collected from the blowers on campus, and the Garden team with students from all classes collects this litter in a dedicated enclosure that allows air, sun and rain to permeate. Over a couple of years the leaves become rich soil, a moist compost that’s carbon rich and acidic - perfect for our new tree planting.

Once the holes were ready, the students wrote some wishes on papers and placed these in each hole before the trees went in. A happy celebration always follows the planting of a tree, a truly wholesome experience to share! Sunday 30th July is National Tree Planting day: we wish you and your families that joy to partake in.