The end of the summer term was hectic. All hands were put to weeding and putting on a good display for the ‘Anglia In
Bloom’ judges. 

They arrived on the last day of term and were impressed with our members’ knowledge and enthusiasm. The
polytunnel was filled with geraniums and tomato plants, while our allotment showed a variety of produce. I am delighted to
say that ‘Halstead In Bloom’ have once again secured a Gold award and been named ‘Best Town in East Anglia’.

The crops in the polytunnel happily survived the summer holiday with a minimum of intervention. Our computerised irrigation
system worked excellently, creating an indoor monsoon twice a day.

This term started off with the sorting and washing of seed trays and pots. We will soon begin processing the geraniums for
over-wintering and aim to sell off some of them next year.

We are continuing with our annual Halloween fundraising tradition. This year we are manufacturing bats on shields made from
scrap wood. The greenhouse has consequently been filled with the sound of banging nails, singing and spilt paint!

Followers of the Gardening Club will recall the RHS Rocket Experiment we took part in earlier in the year. We sent in a photo
of our members, dressed up in white lab coats, during the experiment. The Head of RHS School Gardening has requested
that, out of all the hundreds of photos sent in, ours is to be used for the front cover of their report. This will be sent out to all
schools in the country and will be available online.

The rest of term and beginning of next year will be focussed on achieving the final RHS Five Star Award. Once we have this
the school will be able to display the RHS logo on the school stationery. - Mr S Pittuck