Monthly Archives: June 2014

The Bristol Bike Project Garden

The Bristol Bike Project is based, for those of you who don’t know, in the back of Hamilton House and is accessed from City Road just after the turn off from Stokes Croft. It’s an exciting and vibrant part of  Bristol but it’s really lacking in any green space. There are no front gardens in the area and although some residents make a real effort with containers, any help the area can get in terms of greening is like a breath of fresh air.

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So when Maddy Lawrence who co-ordinates the Bristol Chelsea Fringe told me about this garden being started I went along and had a look. It isn’t a food garden so you might wonder why it’s being mentioned here, but what it is makes it vital to the success of all edible projects in Bristol as it’s a garden for pollinators!

On the morning I went along the space was full of excited volunteers and lots of beautiful, native plants, many of which we see so few of in the city, and throughout the day the space was turned into a garden. Eventually there will be bird boxes and insect hotels and the space that was once unloved and grey is now a small oasis of green.

But there is a lesson here for us all. Flowers are vital for our insects and pollinators so include them in your edible projects, taking great care to ensure that they are flowers that are accessible to the insects and moths and butterflies that need that nectar, and that we need to pollinate our food. There will be more photos as the garden matures.

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No Comments Community Gardens, General News, Inspiring Action

Spacehive Success!!

For the last 2 months we have been crowdfunding through Spacehive for funds to carry out more amazing projects  with communities in our amazing city of Bristol. We needed just over £4,000, for signage for gardens we have already worked on, to put towards three new projects that we can start planning now, and for some marketing and media materials.

We were incredibly fortunate that Experian saw our project and decided to add £2,250 to the pot, which had us all jumping up and down with joy, but with a little over a week to go we still needed over £1,000 to get us to our target. At this point we should say a massive hooray to the power of social media. We tweeted like crazy, used Facebook  and emailed everyone and anyone and finally, with 24 hours to go, an anonymous donor added the final £130 to the pot. Whoever that person was, I salute you and thank you enormously as I woke on Thursday morning expecting to spend most of the day drumming up support through Twitter, emails and Facebook, and to find that target had been reached was astonishing and there may have been tears of relief.

However, we need to say thank you to everyone, everywhere, up and down the country, who have supported us, either by giving themselves, or by constantly retweeting or sharing Facebook posts. It is truly humbling to know that people see our project as one that is worthy of their support, and each and we look forward to sharing this amazing journey with each and every one of them.

Also we must give a thank you to Spacehive, who regularly supported us and generally believed in us. Without doubt we will crowdfund with Spacehive again!!

And now we must continue in our mission to turn Bristol into the UK’s first edible city, with food available on streets, in parks, on roundabouts and on unused pieces of land, in doctor’s surgeries, hospitals and schools, and anywhere and everywhere for everyone. Thank you to everyone for the unending support-it means the world.

The Veg Bed in Castle Park being grazed!!

The Veg Bed in Castle Park being grazed!!

No Comments Community Gardens, Fundraisers & Funding, General News

Let’s Grow Community Garden at Springfield Allotments in Knowle West

Entering the site

Entering the site this is the first thing you see

 

Firstly it needs to be said that it takes a lot to knock my horticultural socks off! However, this space really did, and will continue to do so I expect.

I visited on the Saturday of the Get Growing Trail, in beautiful sunshine, having already visited 5 other projects, all of which were amazing. I think the reason this space was so inspiring was that not only were the beds perfect, the plants amazingly healthy and the polytunnels obviously productive, but everyone was incredibly welcoming, there were families using it as a space to be together outside in, and it was being used as a proper community space. There were tea and cakes available as well as a great selection of plants, a couple of which came home with me, and chickens and ducklings for sale which sadly I didn’t buy. Steve the gardener was also on hand to talk about the project and his pride and passion for the place was amazing-he’s a true plantsman, as well as other members of the team who work there, all of whom seemed so enthusiastic and genuinely happy to see people enjoying what they have created-a beautiful space.

If you want to get involved with this project or want to know more about community projects going on in Knowle West, contact them at allotment.kwha@gmail.com  or pop along to their open morning on Wednesdays and get involved

Incredibly productive polytunnel at Let's Grow in Knowle West

Incredibly productive polytunnel at Let’s Grow in Knowle West

Beautiful salads on an ouside bed.

Beautiful salads on a polytunnel bed

Beautiful views across the Northern Slopes

Beautiful views across the Northern Slopes

 

 

 

No Comments Inspiring Action, Recruitment & Volunteering

The Get Growing Trail

 

 

The Get Growing Trail is run by the Bristol Food Network each year and is a celebration of many of the food growing and garden projects in the city of Bristol. This year 33 gardens opened their doors all across the city. This year the trail ran in conjunction with the Bristol Chelsea Fringe.

There will be individual posts about some of the gardens we visited but here are a few pictures to keep you all going! The sun shone, there was tea and cake a plenty and an amazingly positive vibe across all the open spaces. Here’s to an even bigger trail next year for Green Capital.

A new garden begins at J3

A new garden begins at J3

Incredibly productive polytunnel at Let's Grow in Knowle West

Incredibly productive polytunnel at Let’s Grow in Knowle West

 

Amazing raised beds at Let's Grow in Knowle West

Amazing raised beds at Let’s Grow in Knowle West

 

Peas at Golden Hill Community AllotmentPeas at Golden Hill Community Allotment

The promise of a bountiful harvest at Horfield Organic Community Orchard

The promise of a bountiful harvest at Horfield Organic Community Orchard

Strawberries in Westbury on Trym

Strawberries in Westbury on Trym

No Comments Events, Inspiring Action, Recruitment & Volunteering

Edible Millennium Square Begins

Any age group can get involved!!

Any age group can get involved!!

 

This project is a really exciting collaboration with @Bristol and Almondsbury Garden Centre and has happened as @Bristol will be opening a new exhibition based around Food on 26th July, and it is hoped that these large planters in Millennium Square will inspire people to start to grow their own.

The planters are large-at least 2×3 metres-and previously wer full of very poorly Lonicera nitida and some Hawthorns which were really struggling. The work began by these plants being removed using diggers and we then got into the planter and began digging and adding organic matter to imrove the soil, as it has been suggested no extra matter had been added since the beds were installed. We ended up adding 2 tonnes of organic matter to this one bed!!

Then we began to plant. We had great volunteer help on the day which made the planting go really quickly and below are a few photos from the day. We planted apple trees, peas and mange tout, turnips, shallots, sprouts, pumpkins and squash, 5 varieties of salads, and 3 varieties of cabbage. Once the salads are finished we will put overwintering crops such as more brassicas and potatoes for Christmas into the bed.

The next bed will be planted up around the opening date of the Food exhibition and we will keep you up to date as we will need volubteers again

After!!

After!!

Before

Before

No Comments Community Gardens, Events, Fundraisers & Funding, General News, Partnerships and Collaborations

Urban Food Growing in Central Bristol

Here is a short write up by Bristol Culture, of our on-going project in Millenium Square. There will be more about this on a subsequent post.

Millennium Square allotments Bristol 1

The first vegetables have been planted in Millennium Square’s new urban allotments.

The project from At-Bristol in collaboration with Almondsbury Garden Centre and Incredible Edible Bristol will eventually see all five raised beds in the square transformed into new community gardens.

Millennium Square Bristol raised beds

Once the turnips, parsnips, peas and other veg are ready, people living and working in the area can dig them up ready to put on their plates at home or in the office.

The unique scheme is hoping to inspire other people to recreate similar projects within their own communities.

Millennium Square allotment Bristol 2

– See more at: http://www.bristol-culture.com/2014/06/06/urban-allotments-in-millennium-square/#sthash.ksYw5FQm.dpuf

 

No Comments Community Gardens, General News, Media Coverage