Big Dig 2017
We had a lovely day at ⌗bigdig2017. It was a beautiful sunny day and loads of gardening was achieved by our volunteers: planting potatoes, clearing and weeding areas for the seeding of meadow flowers, tidying and digging of the raised beds, weaving and securing our willow arch and igloo and watering of the orchard and throughout the garden. Thank you so much for the two food stalls supplying us with delicious food delights and thank you to all of you who came along to help us keep our garden tip top.
Big Dig 23rd of April
We are taking part in the'”Big Dig London” this coming Sunday the 23rd April between 1pm- 4pm. [Please note that most of the other London events are on Saturday (see http://www.bigdig.org.uk/london/ for more information).
We’ll be planting potatoes, creating a wildflower area, maintaining the forest garden and weaving in new growth on the willow dome. We’ll be selling some plants: strawberries, currants, gooseberries and African Kale.
Look forward to seeing you there.
Please Give To Our Crowdfund Ending 6th July
http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/gardening-hours-for-robin-hood-community-garden
Table Seating and Cover
On Sunday the 4th October we had a get-together to celebrate our newly constructed covered seating area created by Justin Stanley of e-Construction. As you can see it is very handsome and we all enjoyed our new asset to the garden; where we could eat, chat and drink on a lovely autumnal, sunny afternoon. We also tried out our new cooking and wood staking area next to the cob oven which proved extremely handy and big thanks to Daphne, Lara and Tom for making pizzas for us all for the whole afternoon! Also, thank you to Brian for his photos.
Memorials for our dear friends Anne and Candy
A sunny afternoon gathering in memory of Anne. She feels very much still in the garden to all of us. Her bench will be in the orchard for a chance to sit and remember. Anne was a wise beautiful friend, artist, writer and inspiration to all who knew her.
Keyo Yendii I absolutely adored this woman. Her spirit, her heart and soul, her manner, her humour, our connection. I will always miss her, and both of my daughters met her only a few times, but always liked her.
Smiles… oxo
Candy and her dog Poupe always enter the garden in a swathe of glamour, bringing gifts and warm hugs. She engulfs us with love and praise and she takes such beautiful photos.
Candy
Your dimple of mischief, your effortless grace
Ever a kiss, a carousel of scent
That it might not last, we knew
Yet a beautiful raincoat, a bright scarf still whips by the ink-deep rust rushes in the valley
You gathered up many worlds around you
Yours a bright rage of love, of friendship, adventure
Your warmth inspired us to be better, kinder
We all had a bit of crush Candy
nx
Flea Market 21st June !
Watch this space for more pictures from Ludo who arranged a great first Robin Hood Flea market !
It was a great success and brought newcomers and passers by in to the garden .
The kids cashed in with origami, books and riddles and M filmed a short doc for Blue Peter!
Herbal Medicine Week
HERBAL MEDICINE WEEK
20 – 28 June 2014
FREE
HERB WALK
Sunday 21st June 2014.
Robin Hood Community Garden
Spring Lane, at the bottom of Big Hill E5 / Springfield Park,
next to the river.
3pm
Discover the wealth of medicinal plants growing in a local Community Garden. Find out more about the healing properties of common weeds and garden plants and how you can use them to regain and/or maintain your optimum health.
The walk is led by local Medical Herbalist Elsa Hamaz.
For any further information, please contact Elsa on 07939 610 283.
The Bumblebee Conservation Trust Report
The Bumblebee Conservation Trust are regularly surveying the Robin Hood Garden and here’s what they found last month:
Hi Katherine,
Thanks for your patience, here’s what I found…
1 BUFF-TAILED QUEEN,
23 BUFF/WHITE-TAILED WORKERS (the workers of these 2 types are very difficult to tell apart so we put them together for ease of counting)
1 EARLY WORKER
3 EARLY MALES
3 TREE WORKERS
2 COMMON CARDER WORKERS
26 HONEY BEES
http://bumblebeeconservation.org/about-bees/identification/
:see this link to find out what they look like so you can see which ones they are!
They were really loving the Comfrey and I recall from my previous walk that the blossoming trees you have were very popular. Your garden is great habitat for them as there is not only a good source of food, but also great nesting and hibernating spaces for them too. Compost heaps (if undisturbed) are great for both purposes, as are the ‘untidy-left alone’ edges of your garden. These habitats are regularly lost to ‘tidy’ gardening or larger scale farming and so are very valuable to our Bumblebees. If you are ever lucky enough to find a nest don’t worry! They are averagely small (50-200 bumblebees) and really won’t pose a threat. They can be moved if needs be(we can do it)-I do understand yours is a community garden involving lots of interaction with children. However, the nest will die out after the summer and can be disposed of if necessary…
To encourage more bumblebees I’d recommend a few things:
-Plant Sunflowers and Cornflowers ( I think there’s still time?!?), not only are these a good source of food for bumblebees in the later summer months, but they then double up as great food for birds, as they love the seeds they produce.
-If you plant Rocket, or Brassicas of any type, try to let a few (all!) go to flower- the bees love them.
-Varieties of Lamium- these flowering Nettles are particularly popular with Common Carder Bumblebees
-Mint, lemon mint, Basil, Marjoram, Thyme and Rosemary in flower are marvellous for the bumblebees. Rosemary in particular is perfect for food at the early part of the year-needed for Queens emerging from hibernation.
-If you can make a special wild flower area, please include your Cornflowers…also Poppies,Foxgloves,Clovers,Birds foot trefoil,Cosmos etc.
More advice on what to plant can be found on the Trusts website
http://bumblebeeconservation.org/
I hope that’s of some interest, please feel free to put any of it on your blog and re-word as you see fit. If you do, I really appreciate a link to it!
I’ll be continuing my monthly survey until October, I usually do it towards the end of the month. Hopefully I’ll bump into you again.
Kind regards,
Jinny Seals
Robinhoodgarden Blog 