An exceptionally warm Autumn welcome to new and continuing plot holders and Garden members!
Yes! Summer is dragging out and the grasshoppers with it so that planting autumn and winter crops seems best left for a couple more weeks. But there's every reason to get our plots and the Garden generally tidied up and the soil prepared to kick along the plants once they do go in. As you have noted, I hope, there is abundant manure to be had. When you can get to it, it would be good to add at least a few barrow load of chopped up manure to plots, then to dig it in and give the whole bed a good soaking prior to planting. I'm sowing seeds in pots and potting on seedlings from punnets to bigger pots in readiness for the break in the weather, please, please!
We're going to hold another working bee this Sunday at 8am . Last Sunday 8 people came along and we teamed up to build a hot new compost heap. There's nearly enough materials to build another one this Sunday. If you can clean up your plot some time this week and transport all your organic material to the compost bin on the right we'll be right to build another heap for sure. If you can get along on a Sunday morning for a couple of hours whether to work on and around your plot or a community plot or to help someone else out that would be great. The Committee has agreed to keep an ongoing log of working bee participants to encourage more contributors and to acknowledge our regular champions. There are always things to do and other people to work with. Just ask or check on the notice board. Start getting your name in the "Working bee participants" book which we'll keep in the shed.
Kay Smith leads silent meditation by the Bodhi tree from around 7am to 7.45am on Sunday. It's beautifully still and nature talks as we quietly listen. Well worth the early start.
Supervisor Ben Wall and his Work for the Dole team are doing a sterling job getting more structures into the Garden. They have two more weeks, finishing on Wednesday 29th when members of the Committee will put on a pizza oven lunch for them and their families from around 12 noon to 1.30. Helpers welcomed! Ben hopes that ALEC will be successful in getting another 6 month program funded to commence in early June. There are still quite a few exciting projects for them to get stuck into.
ALEC has been working on a new Garden website for us and it should be up and running in a couple of weeks. The Garden Committee hopes that the new site will encourage and enable more people to stay in closer touch with Garden events and progress. We'll keep you posted!
I hope you are noticing myriad things happening in the Garden that are sparking your curiosity. If there's anything that you'd like to better understand, any concerns you have or ideas to pass on then please feel free to contact me at [email protected] or on 045 145 7335 or catch up with a Committee member.
Hope to see a good turn out on Sunday. Gardening together is happy gardening. Guaranteed it will do you, the Garden and our community spirit a power of good!
Community Garden Friday Night Social 31.3.17
Joins us for the last Friday of the month social get together at the Garden from 5.30 to 7pm. We have a small team of regulars but as with the working bees we'd love many more people to join us.
Now that the weather is cooling down, come and spend an evening in the community gardens - check out the new additions the Ben and co have built around the garden (including some amazing tile work!), check out the fully functional solar pergola and marvel at the amount of greenery that has managed to survive the grasshoppers! There'll be wise gardeners there to share some stories and get you in the mood for preparing for autumn planting!
Bring along something to share and some good conversation...Next Community Garden Working Bee 8am 3.4.17
