Two Alloa schools named winners in pocket garden design competition

Redwell and Park primaries both submitted winning entries in Keep Scotland Beautiful's Pocket Garden Design Competition.

It comes after the charity invited nursery and school pupils, aged three to 18, to design a miniature pocket-sized garden which includes food for people, is good for wildlife and reuses something.

More than 100 entries were submitted, representing the work of whole classes and schools, linked to the theme “nature's engineers”.

WINNERS: The winning entry by Redwell Primary School pupils. (Image: Keep Scotland Beautiful)

Redwell pupils impressed the judges in the N-P4 category with their Bee-ing an Engineer design, reflecting on how both human engineers an bees use teamwork and good communication to solve problems.

In the design, a bee skep is surrounded by a ring of hexagonal containers, each dedicated to an aspect of bees and providing bee-friendly food and shelter.

At Park Primary, pupils entered in the P5-S2 category with their Heritage and Resources design.

WINNERS: The winning entry by Park Primary School pupils. (Image: Keep Scotland Beautiful)

The young people's questions about the surrounding area, inspired by a wellbeing walk, led to a design around Wee County industries and engineering that relied on resources created through natural processes such as the erosion that creates sand.

Waste products from local industry will be used to fertilise their garden.

Barley and tomato crops will grow beside each other as well as marigolds to help deter pests and for a joyful splash of colour.

Eve Keepax, education and learning officer at Keep Scotland Beautiful, said: “Pocket Garden has once again inspired some fantastic learning and ideas.

“Nature’s engineering is the world’s most sustainable technology, from bird nests to beaver dams.

“It provides solutions for the challenges of life in amazing ways.

“The children celebrate nature’s engineers in their designs and will use sustainable ways to grow and create their gardens so that they’re good for wildlife and can also provide a wee snack for visitors.

“Well done to everyone that entered the competition. I'm already looking forward to seeing the transformations from design to real garden.”

From the more than 100 entries in Scotland, 30 designs have been selected as winners from across 19 local authority areas.

Young people have now been invited to build and grow their garden at school before filming or photographing it to be displayed as part of an online interactive showcase garden in June, which the public will be invited to visit to vote for their favourite.