Allotments -Updates and developments

March

16/3/2010
Family groups attended a training event at St Georges Community Hub. Whist there we learnt how to CHIT potatoes. We learnt about crop rotations – Root vegetables, brassicas and others. The families planted onions, transplanted Geraniums into bigger pots and planted marigold seeds into large trays.

22/3/2010

Gardening club cancelled today as it was raining.
Geraniums and marigold are coming along nicely.

26/3/2010

Went to B & Q today to purchase items for the allotments we bought –
Carrot seeds ,Spinach ,Onions sets, Garlic, radish seeds , parsnip seeds, Leek seeds , Courgette seeds , Runner beans , tomato seeds , lettuce seeds, Sprouts seeds and many more things . We also bought trays and compost for our runner beans.

Top soil delivered today.

29/3/2010

Gardening group cancelled today due to bad weather. Some families have been given daffodil bulbs, pots and peat to plant at home. Everyone disappointed that the group will not be taking place today! We may just have to get on with it regardless of the weather.

1/4/2010

Top soil put on the beds. Dave Mills- N/nood manager kindly arranged this to be done.

12/4/2010

Planting begins …. Today we planted all our onion sets, garlic, carrots, beetroot and four varieties of potatoes. Everyone worked very hard and the young people enjoyed digging the trenches for the potatoes. Thankfully some of the parents involved in the project have a good knowledge of gardening so this came in very handy. All raised beds have now been planted.

13/4/2010

Bad News! We are not able to use the allotments anymore due to building work beginning at the POD, it’s due to health and safety concerns – Everyone really disappointed. The vegetables that have already been planted will be ok but staff and parents will not be able to enter the area. The builders will water the plants!

14/4/2010

Good news! Noran Flynn (EAZ Director) has said that we can have new plots at the front of the POD. She will ask the builders to dig them out at the weekend. Can’t wait to tell the families the great news.

15/4/2010

The new plots marked out. We now have a new member to the garden club, she has experience of growing fruit bushes and tomatoes. The more people with “green fingers” the better.
Geraniums and marigolds have grown about 2 inches.
Planted a few more carrots today in the raised beds also planted some perpetual Spinach.

16/4/2010
Purchased 6 grow bags for tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers.

22/4/2010

Dave Mills (N/Hood Manager) has come to the rescue again and provided a group of apprentices to dig over the new allotment site. We are all ready to now … Yippeeee . They look great so a big thanks to everyine that helped  . The soil quality is much better !

23/4/2010- Watered the raised  beds as they were very dry as the weather has been hot . We have some new shoots on the onions but still no sign of the potatoes.

26th April

Lots done today .. We planted leeks, parsnip and cauliflower seeds into our new beds.
We also planted tomato seeds, pepper (capsicum), sprout and cucumber seeds into trays. We made makeshift mini green houses, using plastic bags for the trays. These will be taken in doors and placed in a nice warm place.

The rain we are having is great for the garden and the onions have coming on a treat, they have grown about an inch.

The new member of the group took some runner bean seeds home with her and is going to plant them, placing them in her airing cupboard …. Apparently this is an ideal growing environment.

Every one worked really hard today … thank you guys

3rd May
No gardening group today as it is bank holiday. I’ve had a peek at the tomato, pepper , sprout and cucumber seed trays .. We have a few little shoots, to be honest I thought they would be bigger! . The onions are really growing now.

5th May

Had a visit today from the lady that took the runner bean seeds home with her … wow they grown at least 5 inches … it is amazing! She has also donated some mini sweet corn plants. Thank you so much. This will be our next job next time we all get together.

The marigold plants need to put into the ground now however as we are not growing flowers we will need to find a new home for them. I think I might ask the group if they mind if we donate them to the local children’s centre.

10th May 2010

Thank you for turning up today, we had a full house plus 3 new members. Today we have planted the baby sweet corn in the beds and planted some of the runner beans. We had trouble putting up the bamboo cains to support the beans, as a wigwam structure did not seam sturdy enough after a discussion we decided that a lattice structure would be better…. It worked! We ran out of cains so I will need to get some more .. That will be another job for next week.

Some of the children weeded and tidied up the beds while the others planted and watered.

The Geraniums and marigolds have now got new homes; some of the families decided to take them home and plant them in there own gardens.

One the parents told me that her son earned some pocket money when he helped her in the family garden. He was spotted by the next door neighbour and earned some more pocket money by weeding her garden …. Don’t forget to save some!

14th May 2010

Went out into the building area to check on the raised beds this morning ……… WOW we have potato plants! The onions are doing great also … no sign of the leeks or spinach. A big thank you to Lee the builder for watering the raised beds .

The seed trays are not showing any sign of life ….. Where are the shoots ??????

17/5/2010

Another great turn out .. thank you .

Today we planted more runner beans we weren’t able to finish this last week due to fact that we ran out of bamboo cains .

The children enjoyed watering the beds today; taking it in turns to fill the watering can. The children were very responsible, showed good listening skills and followed instructions easily.

Two of the children wanted to plant sweet corn. I didn’t have the time to explain to them what to do, as I was busy planting lettuce. I suggested they take the gardening book and have a look at what to do .. What a great job they did! They worked really nicely together.

All our veg is coming along nicely and the seed trays are showing signs of life.

24/5/2010

I was late today sorry guys! Thank you to Bernie for taking the lead in my absence and also thank you to Noran Flynn for making sure everyone had all they needed.
By the time I got there more cains had been put in place and more beans were being planted. We have some lettuce shoots but no sign of the sweet corn. The potatoes and onions are looking really healthy. Thank goodness it’s been raining just what our plants needed! No gardening club next week as it’s the school holiday .. see you all on the 7th June

21/6/2010

Very productive day today! . Pepper plants and tomato plants are planted and thriving in a nice sunny spot. We need to do lots of weeding today so that our plants have enough space to grow. All the vegetables are doing great, especially the potatoes at this rate we will have enough to feed the whole of Nechells.

Everyone was very eager to do the watering, so we had a lot of fun watering the plants and each other.

September

27/9/2010

During the summer holidyas we have dug up all of our root vegetables. We have managed to grow a healthy crop of potatoes, sweeds, beetroot and carrots. All the familes that have been invloved in the project took the fresh produce home with them and commented that the vegetables were very tasty.

The tomato plants are still producing lots of fruit. The courgettes are almost ready and the green beans have finally started to grow. We have managed to produce one cauliflower and loads of tiny parnsips, all in all a great crop given our inexperience. If we can do it so can any one!!!

All our raised beds are now prepared for the next growing season. The gardening club will officially start up again on Monday 18th October 2010 @ 4:30pm. Please come along and join us everyone is welcome. 

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