Its Spring so start digging and sowing and planting.

Equipment

Our parish won the Calor Garden Scheme Award for 2008 and with the money they have purchased a Rotavator and Shredder.

These are available to members of the Longney and Epney parish for use in their garden free

The CALOR VILLAGE FUND Award has enabled Longney and Epney Village Parish to buy a rotavator and shredder for the use of residents.

This is the first step in our Village Garden Scheme to encourage the production of vegetables and fruit within the parish.

Now you can:

  • eat your own fresh produce,
  • save fuel,
  • save food miles,
  • save money,
  • clear unused areas,
  • recycle waste,
  • get healthy exercise,
  • benefit from community owned equipment
  • and get help if you need it*.

 

This is another result from our Parish Plan initiative to which most of our residents contributed with their views.

 

* Help is at hand if you feel the equipment is beyond your ability. This is run by volunteers so advanced booking is vital. Keep these phone numbers handy and book early for the spring.

We expect the equipment to be returned with a full tank of petrol and cleaned, and ask for a volunter donation to its upkeep of £5 per hire/day per tool.

 

Phone ahead to ensure you have it for the weekend 01452720618

 

Useful links:

Henry Doubleday

http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/index.php

 

BBC Gardeners world

http://www.bbc.co.uk/

Nip your emissions in the bud

Pruning one’s patch is the quintessential British pastime. But could we be pruning our emissions while we’re at it?

Those blessed with green fingers may live in fear of the phrase ‘hosepipe ban’ but, in terms of climate change, dousing our daffs is the least of the problems our gardens cause. Watering plants accounts for 6% of our domestic water use, and a day’s water use emits just 24g of CO2 - less than the weight of a small packet of crisps.

The real climate culprits? Our mushrooming purchases of garden gear. Think petrol mowers, paving, tropical garden furniture and peaty composts. A single patio heater emits more CO2 in a year than the average Afghani.

What to do in May

Vegetables - Grow Your Own

  • Begin to plant out some of the more tender crops
  • Make a runner bean wigwam
  • Hoe regularly to keep down weeds
  • Top Tips on conserving water in the veg garden

Fruit Garden

  • Mulch around strawberries
  • Clear weeds around fruit trees & bushes
  • Prune new plum trees

 

Fruit garden jobs..

  • Plant out hardy herbs
  • Sow seed outside and under glass
  • Take softwood cuttings

 

Herb garden jobs..

  • Sweet pea flower
  • Mulch around sweet peas
  • Protect against slugs

 

Plant ornamental grasses & bamboos

 

Ornamental garden jobs..

In general

Attract beneficial creatures to your garden and allotment.

One way of doing this is to grow flowers to provide pollen and nectar for insects such as hoverflies and lacewings. Below is a list of easy-to-grow annuals which both you, and the beneficial insects, can enjoy. Grow them all over the garden or allotment - to help keep flowers, fruit and vegetables pest-free.

  • Buckwheat Fagopyron esculentum
  • Californian poppy Eschscholtzia californica
  • Candytuft Iberis amara
  • Convolvulus, annual Convolvulus tricolor
  • Corn chamomile Anthemis arvensis
  • Corn marigold Chrysanthemum segetum
  • Poached Egg Plant
  • Poached Egg Plant
  • Sunflower
  • Cornflower Centaurea cyanus
  • Dill Anethum graveolens
  • French marigold Tagetes patula; Tagetes signata
  • Golden marguerite Anthemis tinctoria
  • Nemophila Nemophila spp
  • Phacelia Phacelia tanacetifolia
  • Poached egg plant Limnanthes douglasii
  • Pot marigold Calendula officinalis
  • Sunflower Helianthus annuus
  • Sweet alyssum Lobularia maritima

 

You can find seed of most of these flowers in a Organic Gardening Catalogue

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