TULLIBODY pupils have showcased their impressive gardening skills by growing and harvesting fresh produce at their school.

The youngsters at St Serf's PS have created a lush garden and orchard, which has already delivered its inaugural crop of fruit and vegetables.

However, its success was not without its own share of hardship, with many hands digging in to make lighter work.

In the spring, following a hard winter, the ground was too hard and there were too many weeds for the children to dig.

However, the school approached the council’s Unpaid Work Team to ask if they could help, and a team came out over two evenings and dug and cleared it all.

The children then planted potatoes, broad beans, cabbages, carrots, onions and pumpkins. The school now has a marvellous crop on display, along with lots of apples and plums in their young fruit trees.

At the parental open evening event, some of the pupils sold the produce and made an impressive £40.

The parents were really amazed at the enormous potatoes and beautiful apples they had produced.

The school is very proud of the children's efforts and will use the profits to buy more seeds and plants for next year.

Everyone is now excited and looking forward to harvesting their pumpkins in October – with the garden producing 12 huge ones in time for the Halloween season.

Depute headteacher Mrs Crow thanked the Unpaid Work Team, parents and the janitor Mr Taylor who helped.

She said: "Without their support this would not have been such a success.

"The children are incredibly proud of what they have achieved and have learned so much about how fruit and vegetables grow.