West Bridgford Summer Gathering 14th May 2011

The Great Green Garden at the Summer Gathering


Volunteers of The Great Green Garden and Transition West Bridgford were in attendance at the 5th annual Summer Gathering on the 14th May 2011.

There were many local businesses, community projects and green initiatives like ours. We signed up over 30 interested people to our mailing list and spoke to many local people who were interested in the project and in local food!





Other members of the project and local communities visited our stall and we were given lots of really useful tips and advice - some people had equipment we could borrow, others had fruit in their back gardens we could harvest!

The Summer Gathering is a great community event run by volunteers.
Please see the blog for more information - http://wbsummergathering.blogspot.com/

Saving you money every week!!

An interesting article in the Daily Telegraph was given to me by a member of the GGG yesterday and I felt it important to let you know some statistics.

As a grower of my own food, I feel the amount I save in the summer is far more than specified in the piece below because I have so little need to go to the supermarkets - once in there it is difficult to stay to a budget - with all those offers and shiny packaging!

See the The Daily Mail article below:

Grow your own and save £26 a week By A Daily Telegraph Reporter

ALLOTMENT holders save almost £1,400 a year by growing their own fruit and vegetables, research claims.

Amateur gardeners grow 1,642lb of produce a year, which could be sold for £1,564.

On average they spend £202 renting their plot and sowing crops, giving a profit or saving of £1,362. This equates to a saving of about £26 from an average family's weekly supermarket shopping bill.

The study was carried out by the National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners. The prices of the home-grown fruit and vegetables were compared with the cheapest supermarket produce so the true saving could be much more.

The survey was based on a 300 sq yd plot. The £202 annual running cost included renting the land and buying seeds, tools and fertilisers but did not take into account the amount of labour.

The study showed that the average allotment owner spends 203 hours a year on their plot although that includes relaxation and chatting with neighbours as well as hard graft. There are approximately 330,000 allotments in Britain with 100,000 people on waiting lists.

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It's a pity so few people can take advantage of the benefits of allotments now with urban areas around Rushcliffe borough ranging from no waiting time (Keyworth) to up to 7 years (Ruddington and Radcliffe on Trent) and two years for West Bridgford.

A taster of what's to come!

On Saturday 20th November 2010, some of the GGG team descended on Home Farm (where the plot is based) to have our photo taken by the local media, namely The Nottingham Evening Post. Caroline Lowbridge reported our first media interview, hopefully the first of many, that will chart our progress in the coming months.

Please see the article below which you can click on to enlarge

Donation Drive - for the GGG!

We have decided it would be a great idea to have a Tool and Seed Donation Drive so we can collect gardening tools and seeds for our project.

We are a community-led not-for-profit organisation so we thought it would be helpful to ask local people to donate a spare spade, digging fork, hoe or any sort of hand tool lying around in the shed collecting dust.

We also need packets of seeds to get us growing in 2011

Your donation would be most appreciated and the recycling of unused tools and seeds is always a good thing!

Items you can Donate

Spades

Digging Forks

Hand forks

Hand trowels

Hoes

Rakes

Pruners

Secateurs

Hose pipes

Kneeler Cushions

Wheel Barrows

Plastic Plant Pots

Seedling Trays

Tubs (for weeding)

Any kind of vegetable seed packets (in date for 2011 please)

We would appreciate it if people could donate items that are in reasonable condition.

Where do I drop them off?

You can donate your tools or seeds at the Stamford Rd Allotments in West Bridgford

(bottom of Stamford Rd, past the Willow Tree Pub and on the left)

on Sundays between 10am-12noon as the gates will be open and somebody will be in attendance.

Drop off point information for Radcliffe on Trent will soon be available.

Please contact Kate Troy (079394 699 51) if you need any more information, all your donations will be greatly received.

Transition In Derby - A Rob Hopkins Talk

Members of The Great Green Garden were lucky enough to attend a talk by Rob Hopkins, founder of the Transition Movement, in Derby on the 13th September 2010.

Below is a movie and slideshow of the presentation, which is very inspring and eye opening.

Rob explains about Peak Oil, Climate Change and why the Transition Movement exists.

Rob Hopkins in Derby

You can find out more about the Transition Movement by visiting their web site http://transitionculture.org/

Get Growing for Yourself - Garlic

Garlic planting time is in October

If you have a spare area in your garden somewhere, how about planting garlic?

Fresh garlic is wonderful and it is so easy to grow.

You can use any type of garlic from your local grocers or buy in bulk from a wholesaler and share it with friends.

Just break the bulb into individual cloves and push in to broken up soil so the top of the garlic, the pointy bit, is just above the surface of the soil.

Space them out to about 4-6 inches depending on how much soil you have and how much garlic you like!

It will be ready around June next year, when the leaves of the plant start to die back.

Store it in a cool dark place and eat copiously!

Hanging Garlic