Garden Update Jan 2015 - about time we had some kind of garden update

What is going on what gives and what takes - some answers from the previous update :

Tires - it seems that there are plenty of folk out there who don’t like our tires however Glasgow Scientific Services did not feel it was worth their time to come along and check to see if they were poisoning the ground, so... what exactly does this mean ? Who knows

Survivor potatoes and no dig gardening – well we had so many potatoes last year but they did not taste very good. Also while most were edible and there were hundreds everywhere, you could hardly put your fork into the bed without finding a pocket of potatoes, many were spoiled either because they were green or because they were riddled with millipedes.

We tried to get wood chip last year without success and went for almost 2 months without rain using the pond water to water new plants and plants with shallow bases – we planted lots of plants in June just before it stopped raining!! We put roof gardens on top of containers to absorb the rain waters and also provide more pleasing picture from the neighbouring windows and then it stopped raining, so the gardens took a while to take and will need more work this year

Folk did not come into the garden much this summer despite the expense of locks and keys and more locks and more keys. And of course these were paid for mostly by MB, because we still do not have a bank account and therefore do not have any funding. We mostly rely on our own funds and gifts - and we received a few of these this year including some beautiful pots and work tools

Because folk did not come into the garden the strawberries were disappointing, but we got them going again and they lasted until the winter

Not much problem with slugs this year, even though we did not have a lot of wood chip

Chucked the ones we found over the wall into the park and front garden. We had some nice cabbage and finally brussel sprouts which have not grown before, and this winter loads of turnip and potatoes. Beetroot and cauliflower were good and of course loads of marrow, cucumber, courgette and squash. Beans and peas were rubbish which has not happened before, and as usual the phacaelia went wild

The fruit bushes were quite good, the gooseberries were delicious and finally we got a couple of apples from Ding in the orchard. Very nice. I really don’t know why the older kids need to pick them off while green and chuck them around the garden – such a shame. Found our only melon kicked to death last year too but not too much damage. A fire in the orchard has brought about decision to put hugel beds on the boundary in which we hope to grow fruit and flowers including climbing roses from out own cuttings

The summer was very dry, but we finally managed to bring water in around the end of July

Total Ground Care as usual did their bit bringing in compost and clippings for beds. They gave some members work experience and training and allow trained members to use their equipment as well as mow our grass and trim our hedges

We have now found a tree surgeon to bring in wood chip and we also get the odd bits of wood which we can use for edging beds – we have been making new beds under the firs and along the borders and finally have decided to put beds and bug cover in and around what was the old kitchen area – why not? We are hoping to create some bedding outside the boundary around the old cherry, but apparently it also needs to be pruned to stop fruit drop. It is such an old tree not sure how to begin to go about this but hoping to get advice from professionals when tree is in blossom (apparently this is the right time to prune) Also hoping to get professionals to cut down the goat bush outside the orchard fencing to bush level to a/ hide the fence b/ allow light in to grow the home grown rose cutting.

We continue to need workers. There was some great artwork on the walls and banners and we hope folk will return to give promised workshops. Promise of engineering alternative works too - fingers crossed :)

Garden Update 3 June 2014 Working hard and having fun all in order to provide food for community and the bees

A surprisingly long argument about the safety of food grown in & around tires. Some believe that tires are more dangerous when new and that incineration is more dangerous than recycling them. Others are annoyed to see tires for which payment has been made to incinerate in gardens (apparently one pays for this service when you buy new tires) As a result, hopefully less because of money & business, and more because of interest to community & environment, a huge argument has arisen : recyclers vs eliminators - who is the biggest polluter? We grow food in a number of spaces with tires in borders, and in tire towers – some plants seem to like them. However we contacted Glasgow Scientific Services to come and test our soil in order to find out if food grown near or in tires presents a risk to our community”. If so then we will have to remove as many as we can turning the rest of possibly polluted spaces over to the bees, and we have spaces with no tires at all. A report made by members of the Earth Ship community claimed that a lengthy study proved that tires do not leech contaminants into the soil but actually absorbs toxins. Hopefully we shall soon see

So what veg we are growing this year? Survivor potatoes are taking over everywhere, some are already in flower. We have also sown our own potatoes seed ie seed from the green potatoe apple of which we had many last year

The thyme rosemary and chives are as usual wonderful, the rhubarb is huge and there is hope for cherries this year if the tree manages to hold onto the moisture which is hopeful because of the wood core beds at the foot. The young uns have sown lettuce, beetroot, coriander, rocket, carrots & other seed which honestly I cannot remember since the markers seem to have been pinched

Now that June is here and the weather warmer, we plan to sow beans, peas, more leeks and try cauliflower again perhaps in the cooler orchard beds

A number of fruit bushes have given fruit, the older ones were more plentiful We have loads of cuttings growing. The apple blossom was pretty good – last year we had 52 fruits on on Ding but only got two apples. We have started tomatoes, courgettes cucumber and winter squash, and are hoping that there will be melons again this year. We have been drinking nettle tea and eating lemon balm, herb robert chives mint parsley kale bistort fennel and chard and they is all delicious.

Loads of bee flower seedlings are showing including more of the fireking wallflowers which have been so spectacular already this year, sweet william and stock The stock plants from last year growing in the park garden boundary are smelling wonderful and give nice colour. The huge Russian marigold (calendula) are wonderful and the leeks have suddenly begun to produce flowers so will be wonderful for the bees who seem to love those nectar rich balls so much we found them curled up asleep in the balls last year. We are covering the containers with a living roof in order to draw attention to that spot and we hope this will highlight any attempt to cross over into the garden – it seems that folk are more likely to gaze out on something that looks nice than something that looks like everything else. The nasturtiums are beginning to come through again. They grow so fast. We hope the roof garden will be ready to take them soon so that we can leave them to grow crazy. The structure is good and strong with plenty of polycarbonate sheeting and metal for support topped off with pallets. After the nasturtiums have had their glory days, we will be trying more aubretia, thyme and alyssum which are scented and nectar rich there, hoping for a blast of colour next spring Hoping to put some thyme into the spaces in the chamomile lawn as well. The phacelia is beginning to flower now and should last right through til the second or third frost. The bees seem happy and are beginning to buzz around. We hope the primroses donated by LES will have brought more pollinators into the orchard. They began flowering in March and some are still flowering. We had our first lady bugs a few weeks ago, our first butterflies too and first bees earlier still. We even had a few bats early April, and it was nice to see a couple of swallows flitting through the trees in Elder park last week

I hope we can keep a freshwater source for all the wildlife – including Ferdi the Fox, but have had our stand pipe stolen so will have to rely on the rain water source which, like the water in the boating pond, sadly is a little suspect. Probably it is ok for plants, but for living beings, like fracked waters probably not the best

Quite busy since last update in October. Needs must pay attention to DWP rulings which state that the unemployed claiming benefit should not work more than 16 hours per week on voluntary projects, which makes things a little hard and especially one is trying to forget one is unemployed and trying to keep the mind positively occupied

Having spend some time looking up information on permaculture and watching video offerings on the net – containers holding logs did seem to support the notion that wood core beds would be an effective method to feed and keep plants watered during the heat spells – yes you know we have them – 22 days last year without rain. One big tire filled with manure compost leaves and a large amount of log wood held a zuccini which continued to produce huge marrows and courgettes way past the first frost, so am happy to produce more of these tires. What will be interesting is not touching the original except of course for adding organic materials mulches over winter and the rest of the year

Other tire towers are being refreshed now – although the original intention was just to add organic mulch – however am delighted the decision was taken to add wood core because it seems that far too many have been sitting directly on a hard surface which does not allow worms to come and go freely. Bricks or stones were added to lift the tire, and to provide a chill out parlour for the worms - they do seem to enjoy various environments other than perpetually swimming through the soil :).

Manure (horse and cow gratis Pollock Park), autumn leaves salvaged from the garden, roads and parks (thanks to GHA and LES) wood and logs (thanks to Galgael, the Payback Team, George from Gumtree, and Anastasia and Richard who went out to George's place to pick up the sycamore logs three times bless them :) ) and garden soil layers to cover the wood and start the microbe break down.

We (including Josie, Stewart and David ) have been also busy emptying our some of the black boxes in order to :

• move the greenhouse and boxes around without pallet truck

• repeat the tire refresh wood core brick/stone worm chill out pad happy planting spaces to hopefully provide a site which does not require much watering over the heat phases (apart of course from when seedlings and plants have been moved and the vital connections lost - then of course watering is more often than not vital) while providing lots of nutrients / less disease or pest problems

Last year's bee garden was such a success but lots of crops were swamped by the phacelia - this year's challenge is to work out how to grow both happily together

Bio organics suggest that a healthy garden grows 60% compost material and 40% crop. Early tatties are in, seedlings are on the way and the wall flowers and crocus are blooming – the Canaria is about to start. A patch of leeks is coming along nicely and we are finding plants around the garden

Sadly the tree house was burned down last year - but Galgael are considering whether they might like to build us one - that is if the dad's don’t get together to build on. Galgael built us two Hugel beds – large beds with log core and manure and other organic matter to make raised mound into which we have already planted cuttings from soft fruit. Fruit trees have been surrounded with a mix of wood manure and ...? yes leaves - there has been a great supply of leaves this year and hoping for a great supply of grass clippings later. Trees in the outer garden have also been surround with wood core lasagne mix and have some fruit cuttings so that should be interesting

The Payback team came in for a brilliant week and helped tidy up, clear up, move the primary school tire beds space out from under the tree into what is now the fort. What a dirty task... but it is beginning to look great. Most of the tires have had the refresh treatment and hopefully the garden should be ready for planting up along with other tire projects when Ibrox Primary Eco Group come down to help next week

Ibrox Primary honoured us with their assistance in the Shearer Candle Bee Garden last Wednesday, planting out primroses and sowing phacelia and poppy seed all around . There are two new beds in the bee garden which were built by the Payback Team with wood donated by the Galgael, compost from Scottish Water, and organic & leaf material from Elder Farm :). Franki came in to give a hand in the bee garden and am quite sure that his good permi influence created the swales - yes the bee garden has swales – and they are slowly growing :)

There is a discussion going on about tires at the moment - some say that they are full of heavy metal which is in danger of leeching into the soil, some say that sampling has been taken and shows that tires do not leech into the soil. A few of the tires in the herb yin yang patch at the bottom of the garden has soil which has been there since 2010, which could be tested so that we can finally lay this to rest

Currently no one is dependant on food from garden to fill the pot. Mostly food is given to community dinners. So if consumed not much, however if contaminated we shall have to turn all tires over to growing food for pollinators which will surely be happier solution than sending them off to be burned or chopped up for mulches etc

Some ideas apart from growing flowers and plants are :

• bins - 3 or 4 in a tower lined with a bin liner

• dog poo bin - 3 or 4 combined with manure leaves and worms and a lid hoping the dog walking community will figure it out

• compost bin - plant material breaks down quickly

• cold frame effect - protecting new plants from chill and wind

• seedling protection - a collar over the seedlings may stop those pesky pigeons from feeding on the seedlings

Still no solution for the Community Trust

We sent out over 3000 of the survey and got over 1000 reposes ticking the eco community box

After this we were sent a copy of Lady Elder's original Conditions of Deed of Gift in which she states that the building should be used for toilets, storage and keepers residence so that help clarify the position. Sadly, since this information came out, members of the committee, previously so keen to communicate with the community seem to have dropped out, but these are hard times

Clearly we need to regroup and start raising funds. The car wash idea was a good start, and I am sure we can come up with a load more. There surely is no question of just sitting on our backsides with hands out and expecting the machine to pay. Where is the community pride or fun in that. So currently the plan is getting the garden ready for the event raising. Meanwhile there is concern that City Properties is not arranging for rainwater to be directed to mains instead of West Gable End. I have purchased a month's occupation of a mumble server for Elder Farm to discuss this and other issues. Anyone is welcome to use it to talk to friends and catch up. Mumble settings are Name of Server : Elder Farm, Address elderfarm.mumble.com and port number 9014. Currently only 15 members can use it at any one time although hundreds may register

If it turns out to be a success the site can be updated to allow more members to use it at once but so far we have not had any nibbles when inviting members to come and talk - Not surprising really – out of a global occupy hardly 25 members had time to manage mumble meetings – peoples lives are full especially city folk and families

There is talk of a garden for the Govan Fair up at Water Row

If community groups and members were to be invited to grow /donate plants, and to bring them up to the site by the end of Govan Fair weekend, might result in community actually working together on the design of the garden. Some tweaks can be added to ensure plants do not fail, and then with help from the Payback Team who will hopefully be free after the games, we can add compost from Scottish Water, wood from LES and or Galgael, perhaps a few tires and Govans got another bee garden :)