Meanwhile on one of our banking areas......

How to make a hedgehog home from Breathing Places

"It’s really easy to make a house for hedgehogs. Take a sturdy crate and turn it upside down. Cover it with stones, earth and wood, and make sure there’s an entrance. If it’s dry and protected, hedgehogs can use it to stay over winter" -  Source Breathing Places

For more information on how you can help hedgehogs please visit:

Breathing Places: http://www.bbc.co.uk/breathingplaces/hedgehog_home/

RSPB: http://www.rspb.org.uk/advice/gardening/homes_for_mammals/hedgehogs.aspx

Hedgehog Street: http://www.hedgehogstreet.org/pages/hedgehog-homes.html

Maintaining and preparing planters for replanting

Maintaining some of our raised planters, collecting seeds and preparing the soil for replanting.

Job done. Now........what to plant next?

Speckled wood butterfly basking in the sun

Community growers producing good crops

RHS - growing vegetable during winter

Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) advice for growing vegetables in winter.

"Most vegetable gardens can accommodate winter crops. Some vegetables, such as Brussels sprouts, take up a lot of space for a long time but are still well-worth the investment. Choose an open site with free-draining soil, cultivated thoroughly prior to sowing or planting and enriched with organic material. Where ground is in short supply, containers will support a few plants. If a greenhouse or poly tunnel is available, it can be used to over-winter some crops and start others off early.

What to grow for winter:

Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbages, kale, leeks and parsnips are hardy vegetables and will stand through the winter. Leafy crops such as chard, parsley and rocket should also over-winter with a little protection. Other crops such as carrots, onions, turnips and winter squash can also be grown to enjoy in winter if stored correctly"

For more information, please visit their website here.

Top 10 vegetables to grow over winter

Thompson and Morgan have produced information and advice on the top 10 vegetables you can grow over the winter months.

"Don’t let your vegetable plot stand empty and neglected over winter. There are plenty of winter vegetables to grow throughout the coldest months. Winter vegetable growing allows you to extend the season and many vegetables that can be grown in winter will produce earlier crops than spring plantings"

For more information please visit their website here.

Quote for the week.....

“The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of the child into old age, which means never losing your enthusiasm.” - Aldous Huxley

Garden Organic - what to do in the garden now

Garden Organic has recently updated their "what to do now" gardening advice section.

Please visit their website here to find out what you should be doing in your own garden in September.

Growing well together

More than just green open space..........bringing people together

Funding to enable the diverse range of activities has been provided from a grant we were awarded by People’s Health Trust using money raised by Healthable Community Interest Company through The Health Lottery.

A splash of colour on the banking area

Cook and eat session recipes

Recipes provided by trainer Jennifer Lauruol of Carpe Diem Garden Design Lancaster during our recent cook and eat workshop sessions.

FREE training workshops prove to be an interesting and fun experience

We would like to thank all those who took part in the most recent programme of FREE training workshops as facilitated by Jennifer Lauruol of Carpe Diem Garden Design Lancaster. You all helped to make them an enjoyable, interesting and........ fun experience. We will be organising a similar programme of FREE workshops in the near future. Please watch this space.....we will be publishing details as soon as they are confirmed

Funding to enable the training workshops has been provided from a grant we were awarded by People’s Health Trust using money raised by Healthable Community Interest Company through The Health Lottery.

Advice from Vertical Veg - which crops to grow in winter

Winter salads:

The easiest, fastest growing (relatively speaking!) and most productive crops you can grow in winter are salad leaves. There’s a wide choice, including:

Land cress: has a strong, assertive flavour, a little like water cress. Sow by late August / early September for winter leaves – it’s perennial so will produce leaves all year round.

Winter purslane or claytonia: a succulent winter leaf, packed with vitamin C. Attractive round leaves, that also produce pretty and very unusual white flowers in the spring. Sow late August / early September.

Pea and broad bean shoots: one of the fastest growing and easiest crops to grow in winter. Sow up to the  end of October / Early Nov for Dec / Jan harvest.

Lambs lettuce: mild flavoured leaf – a good contrast to some of the stronger ones. Sow late August / early September.

Winter lettuces – some varieties are hardy enough to survive winter – arrowhead lettuce is one good variety to try. Sow in August or early September.

Rocket – good winter crop – and less prone to bolting than in the summer. Sow in  late August or September.

Asian leaves including: mustard red giant, green in the snow, and mizuna. Sow in late August or early September).

Sorrel: strong, lemony leaf, lovely in salads in small quantities. Sow in August for winter leaves. This is another perennial that will produce leaves year round once established).

Other winter leaves:

Cavelo nero – tall and stately, this can look great in containers, and the leaves are actually more tender and tasty after a frost. The big leaves are  best cooked, but smaller leaves can also be used in salads.

Kale – home grown kale can be tender and tasty, well worth experimenting with – I’m currently trying a heritage variety called asparagus kale.

Bright lights chard – a bright and cheerful winter crop – and one that often recovers to grow very well in the early spring.

Spinach – is less prone to bolting if grown at this time of year. Sow in August.

Coriander – coriander does surprisingly well in cold weather, I’ve had my best crops from early September sowings. It doesn’t bolt at this time of year – and although it goes nearly dormant in the coldest months,it usually comes back strong in the early spring.

Source: Vertical Veg at: http://www.verticalveg.org.uk/winter-growing-its-time-to-plan-and-sow/

FREE cook and eat workshop sessions

Our FREE "cook and eat" workshop sessions as facilitated by Jennifer Lauruol of Carpe Diem Garden Design Lancaster.

Funding to enable the training workshops has been provided from a grant we were awarded by People’s Health Trust using money raised by Healthable Community Interest Company through The Health Lottery.

Additional pictures from this most enjoyable workshop can be viewed on our Flickr photo gallery here.

Hoverflies enjoying our potentilla

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

Signal Films digital photography workshop session at Green Heart Den

Collecting nasturtium seeds

Todays FREE "Art in the Garden" workshop sessions

22.08.2013 - FREE "art in the garden" workshop at Green Heart Den as facilitated by Jennifer Lauruol of Carpe Diem Garden Design Lancaster.

Funding to enable the training workshops has been provided from a grant we were awarded by People’s Health Trust using money raised by Healthable Community Interest Company through The Health Lottery.

For more pictures, please visit our Flickr photo gallery here

Guides to edible flowers, wild foods and recipes

Garden Organic -  cultivating edible flowers: http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/factsheets/gg45.php

RHS - guide to edible flowers: http://www.wildfoodandrecipes.co.uk/2010/06/ultimate-guide-to-edible-wild-and.html

Wild food and recipes UK: http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/factsheets/gg45.php

Thompson and Morgan - edible flower guide: http://www.thompson-morgan.com/edible-flowers

Preparing and sowing winter greens

Now is the ideal time to start preparing for and sowing  winter greens. There are a large variety of plants to choose from such as; Chinese cabbage, leaf mustards, pak choi, corn salad, land cress, winter purslane, salad rocket, chervil, parsley, watercress, kale, Swiss chard, winter lettuce, Japanese onions, spring onions, and oriental radishes and winter spinach.

Many of these are fast to germinate so you can begin to sow them direct is in the ground now, while the soil is still warm. Because of the warm soil germination and initial growth can be quick, slowing down as autumn approaches. Therefore it will be beneficial to begin sowing your winter greens over the next four weeks.

Thin out young seedlings as soon as you can as surviving the winter months successfully is very much about plants having a dense root system.

Islands of Barrow launch party - 6 pm Wednesday 4th September

Art Gene have organised a FREE party to celebrate the publication of the Islands of Barrow map and to hear well-known author Bryn Trescatheric give a talk about Walney. All are welcome.

Today on the wild flower banking area

Barrows Wildside Project filming at Green Heart Den

Simon taking, with the help of Cumbria Wildlife Trust officer Sue Thurley, taking video of butterflies at Green Heart Den. This forms part of his work on an interactive website being developed by Cumbria Wildlife Trust/Barrows Wildside project. The finished website is to detail the large variety of wildlife in the Furness area and will also highlight points of interest.

Working hard on Furness Parents and Carers Disabilty Froums planters