Open Day – Saturday May 26th 2012

The Organic Growers of Bothwell are proud to announce that our Open Day will take place on SATURDAY MAY 26th 2012 from 11am to 4pm. The garden will be open to members of the public to come along and enjoy our wonderful green space in Blantyre Road, Bothwell (next to Bothwell Primary School).

In addition to stalls offering plants (annuals, perennials, vegetables and our stunning hanging baskets designed and created by our volunteers), organic pest control and soil conditioners, refreshments, home baking and preserves, books and crafts; visitors can also find out more about living a greener, more healthy lifestyle. We are delighted to welcome Moffat Can and The Glasgow and District Beekeepers’ Association who will be at the garden to give demonstrations and offer advice.

Face-painting will be available for a younger visitors, and there will, of course, be the ever popular tombola with some fantastic prizes to be won.

We regret that we cannot accept dogs in the garden, with the exception of assistance dogs.

For further information please contact us at bothwellcommgarden@yahoo.com or visit our blog at http://bothwellcommunitygarden.wordpress.com

Members who would like to donate chutneys, jams or other non-perishable preserves, books and/or prizes for the tombola are invited to bring them to the garden and leave them safely in the tool-shed, or come along on Wednesday afternoon between 2 and 3pm or on Friday evening when the office will be open.

Those of you kind enough to donate your wonderful home baking are invited to bring your delights to the garden on the Saturday morning so the goods are as fresh as possible.

The weather forecast promises a beautiful day, so do come along and enjoy the sunshine in our wonderful garden.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Potato Day – Saturday 21st April (11am-2pm)

Come along to the garden from 11am on Saturday for our second annual Potato Day. Last year’s was phenomenally successful, we hope this year’s will be even better!

We have a choice of four varieties of seed potatoes for you to try this year, already chitted and ready to plant. Seeds potatoes are just 10p each, saving you a fortune in comparison to what you’d spend in a garden centre or seed catalogue.

SWIFT – The Earliest Early!

Very early to mature with good yields of attractive medium sized tubers. The foliage remains short in height, making it ideal for raised beds.

Good for: Boiling, baking, roasting, chipping, salads.

Time from planting to harvesting – 10 weeks.

ORLA – The Grower Friendly spud!

Excellent tasting, grower-friendly potato with high yields. The foliage grows to a medium height.

Good for: Boiling, roasting, salads.

Time from planting to harvesting: As Orla can be grown as a first early, a second early or an early maincrop; you can choose to harvest from 11 weeks for a first early, 14 weeks for a second early or 20 weeks for an early maincrop.

CHARLOTTE – the ubiquitous salad potato!

Beautiful waxy potatoes with medium, high quality yields making it perfect for smaller areas of your raised bed. Foliage grows to a medium height.

Good for: Salads – Charlottes are delicious hot or cold in salads.

Time from planting to harvesting: Charlottes are Second Earlies, so will be ready to harvest in 14 weeks.

RED DUKE OF YORK – the super-spud!

Red Duke of York is extremely resistant to most of the common problems associated with potatoes such as blight, potato leafroll virus and the virus Yo. It is a vigorous grower, though its foliage remains short in height.

Good for: Everything, and they make exceptional roasties.

Time from planting to harvesting – 11 weeks

We will also have other plants for sale for your raised beds – the polytunnel team have been working their fingers to the bone to bring you a fabulous choice of your favourite vegetables and herbs ready to plant in your beds. Rock dust and Fish, Blood and Bone organic fertiliser are also available at just £1.00 per bag. We also have a selection of gorgeous perennial flowers for your gardens; all – as you’d expect – at incredibly low prices.

Just as last year, we shall also be offering teas and coffees; and wonderful potato and leek soup and potato curry, so come along and enjoy lunch at the community garden and chat with your fellow gardeners as well as buying your plants and potatoes.

Would you like to volunteer?

If you would like to volunteer to help out at this event, please do not hesitate to email bothwellcommgarden@yahoo.com or email our secretary Anne Ballantyne – thank you!

We look forward to seeing you on Saturday!

Brighter Bothwell Spring Clean

Just a reminder that Brighter Bothwell’s annual Spring Clean event takes place this Saturday, March 24th.

Don your scruffy clothes and sturdy footwear, and do please join us at 9am at Bothwell Parish Church Hall. Full equipment and tabards will be provided.

The clean-up usually takes around two hours. The focus this year will be on Ferry Road, The Glebe, the Nature Trail and the woodlands down at the Clyde.

It would be fantastic to see plenty of children and young people coming along to this – as well as getting exercise in the fresh air, it is also a very useful educational exercise. Please note the child volunteers will need to be supervised by an adult.

Treats for the children (and the adults!) will be provided after the clean-up, back at the Church Hall.

Do please come along and help out with this worthwhile community venture – it’s a lovely opportunity to meet new friends and get some exercise whilst helping our village.

Look forward to seeing you there!

 

A handy guide to ‘Companion Planting’

Did you have resounding success in the past with certain crops without doing anything ‘special’? Did others fail, but you didn’t know why?

Companion planting could be the answer. Plants have always lived side by side; and sometimes they have benefited from this partnership. Sometimes it hasn’t worked out quite so well.
Companion planting involves growing a combination of plants that are of mutual benefit. Some have obvious benefits – growing carrots next to members of the allium family (onions, leeks, garlic etc) confuses and deters both the onion and the carrot root fly because the plants are so strongly scented. Herbs also have their uses – tarragon repels pests and is said to improve the flavour of most vegetables.

Here is a brief guide to companion planting – wherever possible, ‘bad matches’ should be planted as far away from each other as is feasible within your raised bed.

Beans
Love: Squash, sweetcorn, cucumbers, potatoes (dwarf beans only), celery, rosemary, sage, tarragon
Hate: Onions, leeks, garlic, chives

Broccoli / Calabrese
Love: Chamomile, peppermint*, dill, sage, rosemary, chives, tarragon
Hate: Strawberries, tomatoes, climbing beans

Cabbages / Kale
Love: Celery, onions, mint*, nasturtiums, dill, rosemary, oregano, chives, chamomile, sage, thyme
Hate: Strawberries, tomatoes, climbing beans

Carrots
Love: Lettuces, radishes, onions, tomatoes, garlic, leeks, chives, sage, tarragon
Hate: Dill

Cucumbers
Love: Sweetcorn, beans, garlic, nasturtiums, oregano, chamomile, tarragon
Hate: Sage

Fennel
Love: Tarragon
Hate: Coriander

Garlic
Love: Carrots, onions, tomatoes, tarragon
Hate: Beans

Onions, Leeks, Spring Onions
Love: Tomatoes, carrots, chamomile, tarragon
Hate: Beans

Peas
Love: Beans, carrots, celery, chicory, sweetcorn, cucumbers, peppers, potatoes, radishes, spinach, turnips, parsley, rosemary, tarragon
Hate: Onions, chives, garlic, leeks

Peppers
Love: Basil, oregano, tarragon, peas

Potatoes
Love: Dwarf beans, brassicas, coriander, oregano
Hate: Rosemary, tomatoes

Pumpkins and Squash
Love: Sweetcorn, beans, cucumbers, oregano, tarragon
Hate: Sage

Radishes
Love: Peas, cucumbers, tarragon

Tomatoes
Love: Onions, basil, mint, parsley, petunias, French marigolds, chives, oregano
Hate: Potatoes, sweetcorn, kohlrabi, dill

*If you are growing mint, please grow it in a submerged pot in your bed, unless you fancy a raised bed full of rampant mint!

Sources:
Alys Fowler, The Edible Garden (BBC Books)
Dave and Andy Hamilton, The Self Sufficient-ish Bible (Hodder and Stoughton)
Brenda Little, Companion Planting (New Holland)

This article has been copied over from the old blog by request of a garden member. Is there anything you’d particularly like to see here? Do please let us know. Please email bothwellcommgarden@yahoo.com for the attention of  Jac  or add a comment to any of the posts on this site and I’ll be happy to help!

RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch – January 28th and 29th 2012

Yes, it is that time of year again when our friends at the RSPB ask us to spend an hour watching the birds in our gardens for the RSPB Great Garden Birdwatch.

This year’s event is set to take place on Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th January 2012. Last year, thousands of people of all ages took part to help build a definitive picture of bird life in the UK. This year it is hoped that even more people take part.

Taking part in this important survey is really very easy to do – it takes just one hour of your time; and is perfect for all ages and levels of experience. It is also a fantastic introduction to the fascinating world of birds for children.

You can register for a spotter’s pack from the RSPB’s website

http://www.rspb.org.uk

Further information on how to prepare your garden for a multitude of feathered friends in time for the Big Garden Birdwatch is available from the RSPB website.

Species you are likely to see in this area include: tits (great tits, blue tits, coal tits, long-tailed tits); finches (goldfinches, greenfinches, siskins, chaffinches and maybe even a shy bullfinch); sparrows; dunnocks; robins; blackbirds; wrens and starlings. Watching them congregate around feeders and seeing their ‘pecking order’ and how they interact is fascinating!

We would absolutely love to hear your results – what birds did you see? Did your garden attract any more unusual visitors such as redwings, woodpeckers or fieldfares? Let us know by emailing us, tweeting @BothwellCommGar or via our Facebook page!

Fee Payment Day

Come along for pancakes!

The garden will be open on Saturday, 4 Feb 10am – 2pm to enable you to pay your annual fee for your raised bed.

The fees are the same as last year – £52 for a full bed (£50 if over 60 yrs old) and £26 for a share of a bed (£25 if over 60 yrs old). Fees are also due for the beds in polytunnel 2; which are £25 for a half-bed.

If paying by cheque, please make cheques payable to The Organic Growers of Bothwell.

We will also have tea/coffee and homemade pancakes with various fillings available for a small fee – yum!, so come along, pay your fees and have a chin wag about all the things we are going to grow this season!

Sorry, but have to mention - if you are unable to come along on this date it will be your responsibility to make alternative arrangements to pay your fee, some of the committee members will be around on Sunday, 5 Feb 2pm – 3pm, but there will be no pancakes!  Also as agreed at the AGM in November any fees not paid by 1 March will result in the automatic re-allocation of your bed.  If you do wish to give up your bed please let Anne Ballantyne know as soon as possible.

Welcome To Our New Home!

Welcome to our brand new Bothwell Community Garden blog. Please ‘favourite’ this page on your computer so you can find us easily; and be sure to check it regularly for updates, news and information on the garden, volunteering opportunities, plants available and social events that are being planned.

We are also on Facebook (Just search for Bothwell Community Garden) and now on Twitter – Bothwell Comm Garden (@BothwellCommGar)

If you would like to contact us by email, our email address is:

bothwellcommgarden@yahoo.com

Please feel free to send us feedback on what you think of the blog and twitter-feed as well as any news, articles and information you would like added to the blog.