FREE family fun day. Sunday 5th August, 12.15pm - 3.00pm at Greengate Junior school

National Trust - Great summer events at Sandscale Haws

If you would like any additional information please contact the Rangers on: 01229 462855

Growing Well - Horticulture courses

Helping to make a difference

March 2012.

July 2012.

Bumblebees need our help

Bumblebees like those pictured below at Green Heart Den are in decline and need our help.

According to the Bumblebee Conservation Trust "Bumblebees are mainly under threat because of changes to the countryside in the UK. Changes in agricultural techniques have meant that there are far fewer wild flowers in the landscape than there used to be, meaning that many of our bumblebee species are struggling to survive"

If you would like more information and details of how you can help, please visit the Bumblebee Conservation Trust website here

Vertical veg - How to make a wormery

Courtesy of Vertical Veg -  how to make a wormery. "A wormery will recycle your waste food to make a superb fertiliser for your crops and a living soil in your containers. Wormeries are perfect for small spaces: they’re small, don’t smell and make compost faster than conventional composters. You can either buy one or it can be fun and rewarding to make your own"

To make a simple box wormery you’ll need a shady space (under a bench or table is fine) for it to live and:

1. A large plastic box with a lid 
2. A drill
3. 2 bricks or pieces of wood to stand it on.
4. Some newspaper or cardboard.
5. Worms and worm bedding

Please visit the Vertical Veg website for more detailed information.

A little garden maintenance in the sun

Valued volunteers David and Alex mowing the Green Heart Den lawn.

.......and talking a well earned break after their hard work.

Timber building progress

Suppliers Ultimate Logcabins, recently confirmed our new timber building is in production and all being well, should be delivered and installed on our newly developed community grow your own scheme within the next 3 weeks. The timber building will be used as our on site office and for activities such as; potential training opportunities, health and well - being sessions, open days and events.

Community grow your own scheme before and after

Just some of the various plants in our wildlife area

Baby animal handling workshop - Dock Museum

CADAS Health and well-being workshops 2012

Would you like to help us and sponsor a planter?

Quote for the week........

“Kind hearts are the gardens, kind thoughts are the roots, kind words are the flowers, kind deeds are the fruits, take care of your garden and keep out the weeds, fill it with sunshine, kind words, and kind deeds.” - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Pruning the brambles

Valued volunteers David and Alex pruning back the brambles and blackberries.

Barrows Wildlife Bonanza. A most enjoyable event

Our table in the marquee we shared with The Owl Trust.

Millie from the Owl Trust with Sparky, a 10 year old barn owl.

Cumbria Wildlife Trust setting up their display area.

Quote for the week.....

"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around" - Leo Buscaglia

How to make a vertical herb garden

A vertical herb garden made from a shoe organiser.

Turn a pallet into a mini vertical garden

Courtesy of Life on the Balcony

Cherry tree begins to bear fruit

One of the recently planted cherry trees on our new community grow your own scheme is beginning to bear fruit :)

Rockery stone donation

Taking delivery of rockery stones very generously donated by a local resident.

Preparing for Barrows Wildlife Bonanza

That's the home-made hedgehog box and bat box finished and ready for our table at Barrows Wildlife Bonanza which takes place at Barrow Park, Saturday 21st July 2012.

Barrows Wildlife Bonanza - Barrow Park, Noon - 4 pm Saturday 21st July 2012

Installation of the poly tunnel and potting benches

With the exception of a little tidy up Continental Landscapes have now completed installation of the new poly tunnel and potting benches. Funding to enable the purchase of the poly tunnel was provided by Cumbria Community Foundation.

Harvesting seeds

Collecting seed - heads from some of our ox eye daisies in the wildlife banking area. More will be collected when the seed-heads on the stems have dried out naturally, begun to open and drop their seeds.

FREE Summer activities at North Walney nature reserve

Information courtesy of our friends at Central and Hindpool Neighbourhood Management

Quotes for the week......

"Just when the caterpillar thought its life was over".....it became a butterfly - Proverb

Wildlife area flourishing in the sun

Updated maintenance schedule

We have produced a list of garden maintenance tasks as a guide to assist individuals, volunteers and organisations involved in managing and maintaining the Green Heart Den community garden and community grow your own scheme.

Community grow your own scheme progress update

We would like to apologies for a series of unexpected issues which have resulted in delays to the final completion date for our new community grow your own scheme.
At the same time we hope you will recognise that there has been a significant difference to the site and that we are very close to the scheme being completed and ready for use. 

Works progressed and completed so far include:

Completed the mixed border planting scheme

Laid turf in the orchard area

Planted our new fruit trees (2 apple, 2 pear and 2 cherry trees)

Completed installation of all 28 raised planters

Completed installation of the metal benches

Installed our litter bin

Provided an additional wildlife banking

Installed new post and wire fencing

Completed the new tarmac parking area

Installed new block paving

Laid the final slate dust top surface

Contractors have also begun installing our new poly tunnel which includes a central paved area and potting benches.

Today we received confirmation from contractors, Continental Landscapes that any outstanding works, including the poly tunnel and potting benches will be completed by the end of next week (Friday 20th July 2012). Suppliers of the timber building have also confirmed that the building is in production and they are aiming towards delivering the building to the site in approximately 4 weeks time. 

Open Space Award results

Earlier this week The Our Green Space project was confirmed as runner up in the Open Spaces Society - Open Space Award.  The Our Green Space Project was a Cumbria wide project, managed in partnership with Friends of The Lake District and Action with Communities in Cumbria and funded by Heritage Lotterys "Your Heritage" grant scheme.  We were one of five Cumbrian projects included in, and befitting from the scheme which aimed  to celebrate and enhance the heritage, cultural, environmental and community value of open green spaces in Cumbria for all to enjoy.

Jan Darrall from Friends of the Lake District commented "The Our Green Space project has been announced as runner up in the national Open Space Awards and we are really delighted. It is a real testament to all the hard work and commitment you all put in so we hope you are very proud too. The winner was a meadow in Surrey. The judges paid tribute to the commitment, energy and outputs of you all, so really well done and thanks for working with us"

Congratulations and well done to all involved

Quote for the week........

"If you don't believe that the world has a heart, then you won't hear it beating, you won't think it's alive and you won't consider what you're doing to it." -  Charles de Lint.

Not long now........

Options for a composting toilet

Visiting Rachel at the BTCV nursery in Kendal to seek about the potential installation of a composting toilet. 

What is a composting -  A compost toilet is a dry or waterless toilet, i.e. one that doesn’t use water to take the waste somewhere else; it also allows natural processes to produce useful compost, after a resting period depending on the type of toilet. There are usually two chambers – one in use and one resting. A typical toilet would use one chamber for a year, then change to the second chamber and allow the first to decompose for a year before emptying.
They don’t smell, as long as there is a vent pipe, and a drain to take away excess liquid. A handful of a soak (straw or sawdust etc.) is dropped into the toilet after each use. This is because bacteria like to eat a balanced diet of carbon and nitrogen, and as human waste contains a lot of nitrogen, if they don’t get enough carboniferous material (like sawdust, straw, hay, shredded paper) they will give off excess nitrogen in the form of ammonia, which makes the loo smelly. Also, the soak allows oxygen into the pile, and absorbs liquid. This allows the pile to decompose aerobically to produce nitrates, phosphates and sulphates. Without a soak, the pile will decompose anaerobically and produce methane, ammonia and hydrogen sulphide – all smelly and not very useful.

Open Spaces Society - Open Space Awards

We would like to wish Our Green Space Project the very best of luck in the Open Spaces Society - Open Space Award.  The Our Green Space Project was a Cumbria wide project, managed in partnership with Friends of The Lake District and Action with Communities in Cumbria and funded by Heritage Lotterys "Your Heritage" grant scheme.

We were one of five Cumbrian projects included in, and befitting from the scheme which aimed  to celebrate and enhance the heritage, cultural, environmental and community value of open green spaces in Cumbria for all to enjoy.


...............Good luck all.

A different view......