Community Spirit in the Community Garden

Saturday saw a gathering of the gardeners to help mulch and weed in the Orchard. The mulch was put around all the trees to help keep the weeds down and the moisture in. It was originally planned for last weekend but it rained, a much needed dousing was very welcome.

The weather was glorious and the sun shone on all the gardening endeavours both orchard and garden.

Seeds were planted for salad crops as well as leeks and chard in some of the raised beds and a further bed was prepared for planting carrots.

Team Bean has a selection of pea and bean plants ready to transplant out next week, Graham will need a hand so if you fancy being in the bean team, even for a few hours Graham will be grateful for the assistance.

All the seeds planted in the polytunnel continue to thrive and now need vigilance to make sure their needs are met. Are they warm enough will they catch a chill, dehydrate? It’s like nurturing babies.

Owen and Aiden were very helpful mowing the grass which is also shooting up now the weather has warmed up.

S.

(more!) Jobs for this weekend 4th/5th Feb

Building:

• getting the cover onto Polytunnel Minor if the polythene has arrive
• starting to clear the ground and make the raised bed on the north side of Polytunnel Major. Wood is all ordered and should be delivered on Friday at the latest

Barrowing:

•  Compost and topsoil into the Polytunnel to finish the south raised bed, and to start filling the north bed if it is ready. 2 shovels of compost to one of topsoil

Weeding

• tiny new weeds are easier to remove from the open beds than
• big chunky established weeds – dig ‘em out now!

Clearing:

•  the grass from around bushes where the bulbs are coming through

Mulching:

• topping up the pepper mulch on the side beds where it is being flattened.  It needs to be 15cm/6” deep to be effective

Pruning:

•  Bring sharp seccateurs to help Angie, Cpt Fruit with the fruit trees. Swot up  on the internet as to what needs to be done in Year 2. Spring pruning is for shape

Discussing:

• The idea of rolling beds 6 to 9 into one and how that would work.
• Site visit:  no hard hats or special clothing required!

Digging:

• the old chicken area ready for potatoes…weather permitting.

Sign up to Groups:

• Check the website. When do you need to start sowing/planting/ordering? Have you got all the equipment you require?

Cake/Milk:

•  volunteer here!

If you’re really keen you can read what there is to do in this allotment blog:

‘The next batch of vegetable seed to sow would be summer cabbage, oriental greens, spinach, broad beans, radish, spring onions, baby beetroot, salad onions, kohlrabi, cabbage, turnips, cauliflower, carrots and peas. Look out for the hardiest varieties, recommended for early sowing.’

Growing Groups – growing friends and growing in confidence

At a planning meeting in January we decided that small groups to take responsibility for the  sowing/planting and research into growing of various groups of plants would spread the load and responsibility of getting our crops planted. It was also thought that people would feel more involved and part of everything in this way. It will spread the load on watering etc. We may swap around at some stage if you wish. You can be in more than one group. Please volunteer to be a Captain if you wish, or let Sonia know which group/groups you’d like to join. Your Captain will then get in touch and your planning will start. We have some seeds already and others can be bought once you know what you want.

Team Salad & Herbs Captain Lois

Leaves

Lettuces

Salad onions

Beetroots

Radishes

Landcress?

Herb bed

Team Popeye Captain Sonia

Pak choy

Chard

Spinach

Florence Fennel

Potatoes

Onions

Shallots

Leeks

Garlic

Chives

Team Windy Captain Kate

Sprouts

Broccolis

Cabbages

Artichiokes, J and Globe

Any other brassicas

Team Bean Captain Graham

Sugar snaps

Mangetouts

French beans (climbers)

Runner beans

Broad beans

Team Tunnel Captain Rosemary

Tomatoes

Peppers

Chillies

Physallis

Cues – long

Melons

Butternuts (indoor)

Bush French beans

Early courgettes

Peashoots?

Team Pumpkins & Roots Marion?

Pumpkins

Squash

Ridge cucumbers

Courgettes

Sweetcorn

Carrots

Parsnips

Celeriac

Swedes

Turnips

Khol Rhabi

Team Fruity Captain Angie

Fruit trees and bushes

Edible hedgerow

Raspberries

Strawberries (incl tunnel?)

Blackcurrants

Gooseberries

Love & Peace Team – Flower Power Captain Barbara

Keep bulbs fed and maintained around fruit bushes

Dhalias

Nasturtiums

Sunflowers

Chrysanthemums

Cosmos – chocolate and colourful

Cornflowers

Tagetes

Etc

Planning meeting

We had a great planning meeting at Rosemary’s on Friday evening.  We talked about the things we wanted to grow over the coming year and can up with the idea of having  small teams to take responsibility for various groups of produce, each lead by a Captain.  More on this later from Rosemary.  I can’t decide if I want to be on Team Bean or Team Windy…

(Lois)