In the deep midwinter!

We had a great day today, planting out three Lincolnshire heritage apple trees at the Charles St community garden. Fine specimens of Barnack Beauty, Allington Pippin and Sleeping Beauty were supplied by Shaun D'Arcy-Burt of Manby and settled into their new home in bright winter sunshine. The trees were funded from the estate of the late David Fleming and are dedicated to his memory. David was a founder member of the Ecology Party, an inspiration to the Transition Town movement and a great friend of Biff & Jean.

 We also prepared and planted out a wildflower patch alongside the fence. A variety of plants were donated by Biff & Jean including, cowslips, willow herb, pink campion, mullein, foxgloves and Alison's contribution Verbascum virgatum, aka twiggy mullein !
All in readiness to impress the 2013 East Midland in Bloom Judges...all the local passers by...and most importantly the BEES!

Look at that lovely Russian Kale!

Hot boxing!

Bit excited because my hot box composter is steaming away!
Thought I'd share this video of the box in action all I've done is make sure there's a reasonable mix of
browns and greens kept the airway clear and the micro beasts are doing the rest!
The makers say you should get mulching compost in 30 days and mature compost within 90 days
I'll have a look in a couple of months and let you know!
You can get more info on them here hot bin composting

And no, I'm not on commission!

Tools Shed donation

I collected a refurbished set of garden tools yesterday from Steve Russell of Morton Hall IRC (immigration removal centre).
The tools are publicly donated and then restored by detainees to be re-distributed to community use.

This was the first handover of tools in Lincolnshire though the same scheme has been running in London for the last 5 years.

This is a clip from the press release

“With more and more schools and community groups ‘growing their own’ there is great demand for garden tools and rarely any budget” says Conservation Foundation Director David Shreeve. “A recycling project that helps to equip the next generation of gardeners, reduces waste and provides practical skills for detainees, seems the ideal solution” 

If you know of a community group or school that would benefit from the scheme then please contact the Conservation Foundation  tools@conservationfoundation.co.uk

Spout yard planter

Thought you'd like to see a photo of the latest addition to Louth's "Footpath of Food".
We've installed a small metre square bed by the riverside in Spout Yard, we've planted strawberries and courgettes to give passers-by a little taster of "growing your own".
The plan is to make another similar bed on the other side of the path in the next few weeks.

Charles St Picnic!

We had a great time yesterday afternoon putting together the first of the raised beds in the Charles St garden.
The sun shone and we had many conversations with passers by interested in the project. Still work to do so if you'd like to get involved with the second stage please get in touch.

We made 4 raised beds and planted sunflower plants (thanks Johnathon!) Leek seedlings (thanks Noel & Janet!) radish and spring onion seeds (thanks Jackie & Jean!).
 If you have some plants/seeds you'd like to add to the plot then please let me know.

 Celebrating the summer solstice in sunny style!

Sowing seeds at KEVI'S

Alexa, Janet, Noel, Ros and I met up with some of the students at the Grammar school yesterday. Janet, Noel & Ros helped Tom and Owen  plant 18 Arran pilot seed potatoes that I had chitted earlier, Charlotte and Sam were happy sowing out the broad beans with Alexa and I helped the two Billy's and Harry to sow coriander seeds and a clump of Jerusalem artichokes in the white sacking beds.
Thanks to both Sarah Pillans and Sue Nelson from Kevi's for bringing the students along we're hoping to
start a regular Thursday lunchtime club, if you'd like to join in then please let me know.

The changing face of Foundation House garden

Not a great photo is it? but it gives you a bit of an idea of how the beds are in the garden right now.
We have removed some of the fencing and bed surrounds to be used on other growing projects around the town. We've also joined two of the beds into one long open area for a crop of potatoes and partially prepared another open bed for broad beans. We've decided to open out the beds so that the school students will be better able to access the crops, the gamble being that the wild life might get there first!
We hope to sow the crops one lunchtime in late March with students of the food technology course. The tutor, Sue Nelson is keen to get them involved with the growing as well as the cooking of vegetables. This is brilliant news and hopefully just the start of greater school involvement in the garden.
If you'd like to come along to help sow the crops and meet the students just let me know and I'll confirm the date and time.

Healthy Cooking Sessions in your Community

10
week programme to include basic cooking skills, cooking on a budget, food
hygiene and a variety of healthy recipes for you to cook.
Sessions
will be up to 2 hours

(no fee
as NHS Funded)

Trinity Centre, Eastfield Road, Louth
Commencing
Thursday 19th January 2012
10am

To
register your interest, please contact the
Food
for Life team on:
01507 601111 or on our mobiles:
Tracey:
07500 020193/Miranda: 07767 664186

Then if you want to grow the food for the cooking contact James, we are hoping to start new gardens so new people to join in are always welcome.

Maggie goes walkabout