You may remember …. Our Disappearing Field
Read on for Our Fall updates
What are those orange fences for? And how long will they be there? The answer lies in the hard-packed soil of Earl Beatty's slowly disappearing playing field. Despite proper installation, the small field at the back of the school couldn't take last winter's lack of snow cover and the frequent pounding of many happy feet.
What to do - and should it be a replacement of the same? The answer is, maybe not. So the test plots were born in the early morning of June 4th, 2010. The plots include different types of grass seed/sod with a protective layer underneath.
The entire field is being watered in the evenings each day. The fence will help the plots get established, and will remain for four months. Then, let the games begin! Let us see which area stands up the best to the heavy use our little field can give.
WE need everyone’s help in recording and observing accurate results – fences need to stay until the end of September…and everyone can assist with observations throughout the Fall and then in the Spring of 2011 until June. Thank you for your participation in this… We all look forward to key results and answers to our disappearing field.
Ms. L. Ordubegian,
Ms. Boudreau,
Ms. Wallace,
Ms. Laporte and Mr. Travers Updates!
On Thursday, June 3, 2010, 20 Rolls of sod were donated and delivered for use in our test plots. Our schoolyard is shared by our school (over 400 kids), a daycare, and our community centre (attached to the school). It's a heavily used area, but loved as the central greenspace for informal play and games.
Attached is a picture of the sod after it was mown, about 1 month later following installation . It looks great, and has established very well. We are keeping this area fenced off until the fall, and when it's certain the grass seeds and sods are ready for foot traffic in order to see/determine which survives best over the next year.
The attached drawing for our Fun Fair - shows the area (the sod is the big pill oblong circular shape between the school building and the staff parking lot). This issue of getting grass to grow in schoolyards and in playgrounds is widespread, and it's a big challenge with so many little feet running around on it all day long. Hopefully by testing various options we can determine what are successful options for future sod installations.
Muching Around
Garden Builder mulch was purchased, which is 1/2 composted yardwaste and 1/2 pine bark fines - recommended highly by Marjorie Harris - Garden Expert. The cost, including $120 .delivery was $420 
What does 10 cubic yards of mulch looks like? Our the delivery guy from Georgetown actually went to Earl Beatty as a student!!!
The new mulch covered the entire front gardens (new ones), to a depth of about 3" min, as well as all the newly planted trees. Take a look!
Thats Fertile not Futile... 
The view from the Grand Path
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