Developed and managed by Marsh Street Arches and Garden Community Interest Company.
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Tuesday, 21 January 2014
Sunday, 19 January 2014
Potato selector guide from Thompson and Morgan
"If you're not sure what type of potato you want to grow, or you're not really sure what the difference between a 'first early' and a 'maincrop' is then use our easy-to-use potato selector guide to help you find your perfect potato!"
You can find more detailed information at: Thompson and Morgan
Thursday, 16 January 2014
A very generous donation from St Georges Primary School
Huge thank you to St Georges Primary School for their very generous donation of unused (new) lockers.
Wednesday, 15 January 2014
Quote for the week......
“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people
will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
- Maya Angelou
Tuesday, 14 January 2014
Helping wildlife to help us.
From building hedgehog homes and creating wildlife ponds to planting wildlife meadows and helping to protect our bumblebees. If you are interesting in wildlife and would like to learn how you can help them to help us, there is a wealth of free information and advice at your fingertips.
Natural England: http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/advice/wildlifegardening/
Natural England: http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/advice/wildlifegardening/
"Everyone can be a wildlife gardener. Whether you are an
expert gardener or simply enjoy growing plants on a patio, in a few tubs or on
an allotment, there is lots you can do to encourage wildlife to visit. The UK's
15 million gardens already provide important homes for wildlife, but we can do
so much more. Many creatures that are declining in the countryside, such as the
common frog, song thrush and hedgehog, can thrive in domestic gardens and other
areas if we provide the right conditions for them"
Bumblebee
Conservation: http://bumblebeeconservation.org/get-involved/gardening-for-bees
How to create gardens which can provide bee-friendly flowers
that are rich in pollen and nectar.
"In the last 80 years our bumblebee populations have crashed.
Two species have become nationally extinct and several others have declined dramatically.Bumblebees
are familiar and much-loved insects that pollinate our crops and wildflowers,
so people are rightly worried. We have a vision for a different future in which
our communities and countryside are rich in bumblebees and colourful flowers,
supporting a diversity of wildlife and habitats for everyone to enjoy"
"Planning and creating a wildlife-friendly garden. A good wildlife garden is more than just a corner of a
garden left to go wild. Whether you want to create a new garden, or have an
existing one, patio or balcony, try to imagine your garden is a nature reserve
and you are the warden"
Butterfly
Conservation: http://butterfly-conservation.org/292/gardening.html
"Gardens can act as important stepping stones between nature
reserves and other natural habitat by offering abundant supplies of nectar.
Butterflies will visit any garden, however small, if they can feed from suitable
nectar plants and a well thought out garden can attract up to 18 species of
butterfly. If you manage your patch to create breeding habitat you may see even
more"
The Wildlife Trusts: http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/how-you-can-help/wildlife-gardening
"Making space for nature in your garden. Go wild in your
garden! Large or small, ledge or yard, your garden can be a mosaic in a wider
network of natural havens linking urban green spaces with nature reserves and
the countryside"
"Wildflower meadows have become increasingly rare in our
countryside, with 97% of them lost since the 1940s. So its perhaps no surprise
that gardeners enjoy recreating these beautiful habitats. Encouraging a slice
of the wild in your garden can be a satisfying way of attracting a wide
diversity of birds, bees, butterflies and other wildlife, and whilst it is no
substitute for taking better care of these habitats in the wild, it helps to
remind us how important it is to take care of what is left"
Gardening with Children
Gardening with Children aims to encourage children to take
up gardening and especially learn how to grow their own food.
The site is
packed with information, growing advice, quizzes etc and can be used by both families and
schools. It is run by the The Recycle Works as part of their ‘Love Your
environment Campaign.
If you would like more information please visit their website here
Allotment gardening advice and recipes
Wondering just what to grow or what to do with the crops you have harvested?
Perhaps the Allotment Gardening website may be able to help. They have a variety of interesting and useful articles and advice on their webpage. This includes; growing advice, hints and tips for storing and harvesting food crops and recipes and cooking advice.
Perhaps the Allotment Gardening website may be able to help. They have a variety of interesting and useful articles and advice on their webpage. This includes; growing advice, hints and tips for storing and harvesting food crops and recipes and cooking advice.
If you would like more information please visit the Allotment Garden website here.
Monday, 13 January 2014
Wild about gardens - how to attract wildlife
The RHS and The Wildlife Trusts have jointly produced information
and advice on how you can encourage wildlife into your garden on their Wild About
Gardens website. Sections include:
- Things to do (many practical ways to enhance your garden for wildlife, from feeding birds to building ponds)
- Wildlife (find out more about the creatures regularly found in our gardens, and discover what they do there)
- Plants (a variety of plant shapes and sizes is ideal for wildlife)
- Habitats (creating different homes for wildlife)
What to do in in the garden in January - advice from Vertical Veg
Gardening in January - Vertical Veg have produced some excellent
tips and advice on their website. Advice includes:
- Start preparing for the new season.
- Getting your seeds
- Planting apples, pears, plums, blackcurrants
- Harvesting winter crops sparingly
Friday, 10 January 2014
Why green is good for you.........
A new study illustrates how “Green space in towns and cities could lead to significant
and sustained improvements in mental health, finds a new study published in the
journal of Environmental Science & Technology. Analysing data that followed people over a five year period,
the research has found that moving to a greener area not only improves people’s
mental health, but that the effect continues long after they have moved. The findings add to evidence that suggests increasing green
spaces in cities - such as parks and gardens - could deliver substantial
benefits to public health”
For more information about the study can be found here
The benefits of Ecotherapy
"Ecotherapy is an intervention that improves mental and
physical well-being by supporting people to be active outdoors doing gardening,
farming, food growing, exercise, art and craft, or environmental conservation
work"
For more information about Ecotherapy please visit the Mind website here.
Tuesday, 7 January 2014
A very generous donation
We would like to thank Debbie Robley for the very generous
donation of terracotta plant pots. It is very much appreciated.