Primroses, seedlings and spent hops

Primroses, seedlings and spent hops

Another lovely Friday morning on Feb 15th 2013 in the Chorlton Good Neighbours garden plot.

The seedlings are coming on, the potatoes are chitting and we planted some primroses which give a bit of colour to the garden. The previous day we picked up some spent hops from the Dunham Massey brewery and we have spread them on the rather claggy soil near the raised beds. The 10x8 greenhouse has now been ordered so hopefull that will arrive in the next few weeks

Gardening Club on Ice

At a time when most animals are hibernating and most plants lying dormant we have had an unusually productive time at the Gardening Club.

In our first week back after Christmas we received a large consignment of manure - a very rich if odorous present! This is a good time to feed the soil for the growing season to come and this mix of chicken and horse manure will help do the job. As usual we had to use our combined strength and smarts to get the massive bag of manure through the narrow gate way!

The next week, snow and ice fell on the garden like a white sparkling cloak and outdoor work was put on ice.

However these quiet times are perfect for taking time to reflect and plan so we had a meeting to discuss what we would like to grow on the plot this year and fuelled ourselves with plenty of tea and cake. A fan of colours and visuals I brought a large piece of paper to roughly draw out our plot and write down our ideas, concerns and favoured fruit, flowers and veggies. As ever I was impressed by the wealth of knowledge and the enthusiasm that we have in this group of ours.

The next week the ground was still rock solid and the temperatures bitter cold so we got on with some indoor preparations; chitting potatoes, making plant labels out of old milk cartons and making seed pots from newspaper (see video below for Paul's tutorial). Again we discussed our plans for the garden, especially what type of greenhouse we want to install and where.

Our Gardening Sessions are 10-12.30 every Friday. If you would like to find out more contact us on 0161-881-2925 or come along to one of our sessions at St Ninian's Church, Egerton Road South and have a look for yourself. 

Carolyn O'Hanlon

Older Men Development Worker

2012 Garden Produce for Sale

Even at our first attempt the Chorlton Good Neighbours garden was productive.
Here Carolyn is arranging potatoes and collecting Kale and other goods for sale at one of the Thursday Coffee Mornings.

Gardening Club Christmas update

The Chorlton Good Neighbours garden club was closed for Christmas and New Year but we've had a busy few weeks as you will see.

To begin with things got very physical down at the garden when we decided to tackle the foundations of the old scout hut. There had been all sorts of plans to utilise the existing bricks and mortar for a path or work round it but our new volunteer John had some confidence in this area and he went to get his pick axe so we could just get rid of it! This created a real buzz and everyone worked really hard to get the foundations up in just a couple of hours. Well done everybody!



We also managed to get hold of large chest to lock up our tools on site. This will be of massive benefit because we currently use a church cupboard to store our tools - now we will be more self sufficient. The tool shed was a real bargain as it was bought on gumtree but this meant that it had to be taken down by our head volunteer Bernard from someone's garden and then put back again from memory during our gardening session. This created a few interesting "conversations" and more than a little head scratching as we worked out which bits went where. It was a nice job to do indoors though as we hit our first rained out session of the year. The only problem was once we've created this massive chest was how we were going to get it into the garden. Fortunately creativity and group work won the day and our tool chest is now fully installed

[youtube=http://youtu.be/PETfUMq2wzY].

Christmas and New Year - a time of celebration and new beginnings. In aid of this we had a little social down at the site with jacket potatoes cooked in the fire (not particularly christmassy I know but its a more preferred tradition to brussel sprouts), mulled apple juice and minced pies.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/y3Vf83BOaIc]

With a nod to the new year we planted a few bulbs and some hardy plants. It is a risky business planting this late in the year but if it works out we will have some colour in spring. It also feels like a nice positive thing to do at the end of the year

Our Gardening Sessions are 10-12.30 every Friday (although we are now closed until the new year). If you would like to find out more contact us on 0161-881-2925 or come along to our office at Wilbraham St Ninian's Church, Egerton Road South and have a look for yourself.

Carolyn O'Hanlon

Older Men's Development Worker

A very rainy day in the garden...

We've been lucky with the Good Neighbours Gardening group sessions on Friday mornings, but today (14-12-12) it decided to pour down. We had purchased a large, second hand Keter garden storage box earlier in the week so we could keep our tools in it. We did this in the church hall and managed to do it eventually even though we had no plans to go on. [youtube=http://youtu.be/PETfUMq2wzY]

We also had a problem taking the box into the garden as it wouldn't go through the gate. We managed to lift it over the fence and now it is in position and another addition to our small garden/allotment

Autumn Leaves and Archeological Digs

The wind swirled the autumn leaves but once again we dodged Manchester's favourite weather; rain and we were able to have another productive session.

Bernard and Peter finished off the compost bays and started it off with our own homemade woodchip.

Paul did a good deed by clearing away the leaves that have gathered around the church. However we weren't just interested in removing the leaves we were interested in cultivating leaf mould for our plot. Autumn leaves aren't just for kicking you know - they can be a useful free resource for gardeners. Simply collect leaves, water if not damp already, store in bin bags with holes punched in them, a compost bay or a your own homemade cage made with chicken wire and leave for a year or two. Once mould has grown on the leaves you can use it as a mulch or soil improver. Leave it even longer and it breaks down into crumbly material that you can use as a potting compost. One of the tips I got from Debdale Eco Centre in Gorton is that putting a weight on the leaves helps to speed up this process so we will be placing some bricks on top of our bags and tucking them away for a year or two.

Meanwhile, Tony and I planned to dig over a patch of soil next to the patio. However it soon became more like an archeological dig when we uncovered the wall and foundations of an old scout hut long demolished. This gives us an interesting dillemma. Do we try to put our greenhouse over these foundations or do we create a raised bed over them? Whilst trying to uncover the extent of the remains we found such "ancient artifacts" as buttons and milk bottles. I say lets call Time Team and get some geophys surveying going!



Our Gardening Sessions are 10-12.30 every Friday. If you would like to find out more contact us on 0161-881-2925 or come along to our office at St Ninian's Church, Egerton Road South and have a look for yourself. 

Carolyn O'Hanlon
Older Men Development Worker

Compost Bays and History

It was another fine and crisp morning on week 4 of our gardening club and time to start thinking about the structures we wanted on our plot. We marked out space for our prospective greenhouse (good thing too as we realised that we'd been a bit over ambitious and the one we were about to order was just going to be a little bit too big!) and our compost bays (again the space was too small because of a pesky drain cover that we'd unearthed when we first dug over the plot). All this proves that however much you plan and map and discuss in the cosy indoors, eventually you just have to get out on the land and see how things are going to work in reality (preferably before you start ordering things!!). I am sure this is just one of many lessons that we will learn whilst creating our garden. 

Now one of the things that I would like to point out is that we don't just get up to gardening and DIY in our gardening club, oh no.. we are a cultured lot. Last week Tony had noticed a plaque in honour of a war hero in the hall next to our garden and whereas many of us have walked past that plaque many times and not given it a thought, Tony decided to do some research and find out about this man's life. See what he managed to find out in the video below:

With lots of sawing and nailing (rather incompetently in my case), we managed to almost finish creating our compost bay and found the perfect location - a shady space under a tree where we would struggle to grow anything. Once we have the finished the bay and dug it in properly the plan is that users of the kitchen at St Ninian's church will put their food waste in there and we'll be able to create our own compost. Any interested worms please book your viewing now - luxiplex accomodation available!

Our Gardening Sessions are 10-12.30 every Friday. If you would like to find out more contact us on 0161-881-2925 or come along to our office at St Ninian's Church, Egerton Road South and have a look for yourself. 

Carolyn O'Hanlon

Older Men Development Worker