The fire of Spring, interwoven with dew and light...These glistening willow buds were just one of the signs of Spring that greeted us down at the library community garden today, the hellebore patch is a mass of pink and green and we have tiny pockets of narcissus and muscari dotted around. We have beautiful fresh growth on the lemon balm and fat juicy buds on the apple and pears - not bad at all considering recent conditions. I think the rain and warmer conditions have helped bring everything on.
We did a bit of clearing and maintenance today as well as sowing some seed, we put in some swiss chard, calendula and salad burnet. We have a mixture of various seed in our seedbank if you would like some for free please pop along to one of our workdays - details below.
Are you a local gardener or allotment holder?
Would you like to sell your surplus produce?
We have plans to hold a monthly food market to provide the community with healthy, affordable local produce thereby also supporting local people by developing a local economy. This is a market that will be predominantly fruit, vegetables, herbs and plants. We are hooking up with the www.bigbarn.co.uk/crop-for-the-shop/ initiative and would like to sign up individuals and groups
to sell their produce. We are planning the first market for sometime in May (date tbc)
If you are interested please contact us to chat terms and conditions and get signed up.
We are looking for volunteers to help maintain and develop the gardens. We welcome all members of the community to come along on our workdays whatever your ability or gardening experience, we are keen to get together a group to look after and enjoy this space, we are also open to ideas on how the space can be used.
We have the medicine wheel bed we are developing on site along with the fruit area, we have the wildlife area and also have a number of waist height raised beds that need adopting. They are perfect if you are new to gardening or if you would just like a small manageable space to grow in.
if you would like to adopt one we can offer you seeds from our seed bank and advice on growing.
You can see more information of the space and a detailed plan of the development ideas on our projects page.
If you would like to join us on one of our workdays you can check for dates on our news and events page or contact us.
The gardens are a beautiful mix of cultivated and wild plants. We currently have an abundance of Garlic mustard aka Jack in the hedge in the gardens so if you are a keen forager please pop down a pick a bunch. They can be eaten like braised green, raw in salads and it also makes a beautiful pesto. You could also add other Spring greens, recipe below:
Two big handfuls of a wild garlic, Garlic Mustard
- A big handful of nettle leaves
- Olive oil - 50-100ml (depending on how oily you like your pesto)
- Nuts approx. 100g - a mixture of cashews and pine nuts are a good mix
- Grated hard cheese -Parmesan or a hard goats cheese. This pesto can also be made vegan buy omitting the cheese and adding a pinch more salt along with some brewers yeast or vegan cheese.
- Salt and pepper.
Toast the nuts in a dry frying pan or oven for 5 minutes, being careful not to burn. Remove from heat and allow to cool a little.
Crush the nettles up well in a pestle and mortar or blender- this will eliminate the stings. Chop the rest of the herbs roughly and throw them in the blender along with the cheese, salt and pepper and half the nuts. Add about half of the oil and pulse until roughly blended.
Add the remaining nuts but only pulse a few more times to leave the pesto with some crunch. If the pesto looks dry, add more oil. Spoon into sterilised glass jars and cover with a layer of oil. Every time you use some of the pesto cover with another layer of oil to keep the air out. Store in the fridge and it should last a couple of weeks.
NEXT WORKDAY
SATURDAY 28TH APRIL
11am till 1pm
Refreshments provided
The community garden is open during library opening hours for anyone to enjoy - it may be possible for us to meet you there at other times please contact us and we will organise this if possible.
"When the April wind wakes the call for the soil, I hold the plough as my only hold upon the earth, and, as I follow through the fresh and fragrant furrow, I am planted with every foot-step, growing, budding, blooming into a spirit of spring."
- Dallas Lore Sharp