A rainbow above the garden

Hello all
A rainbow arched over the garden a few days ago. The warm wet spring weather and Graham's hard work have transformed the garden into a lush paradise. The first potato and pea leaves are already showing. Your Blogger was pleased to note that the bottom of the garden did not flood during the very heavy rains last Thursday and Friday. Evidently, clearing the burn of a lot of rubbish has had a beneficial effect.
Our next Garden Committee Meeting will be held on 2nd June. Please contact 07810 714 421 for details.

Subtle changes

Hello all

Some subtle changes have been occurring in our Garden. The aspens are looking tall and handsome, as do the birches.
Graham has been hard at work: he has transplanted an aspen sapling that was too close to the path and, even though it was already in leaf, it is doing well at the top of the garden. He has also been strimming the weeds to keep them in check. And he has planted some potatoes and beans, which will not be for consumption but are intended to extract some of the toxins we suspect to be in the soil.
Kay has brought some seedlings that were donated to us -- it will be fun to see them grow and reveal to us what they are.
A few images to illustrate the bottom end, which is what your blogger can see most easily.
More substantial work has been held up by the VERY slow process of applying for funding and receiving answers.
More soon! Thank you for visiting.

Campbeltown Community Organic Garden - Open Day 19th April 2009

Hello again

You may be interested in the information that

Campbeltown Community Organic Garden is holding an
Open Day
on Sunday, 19th April, 12pm to 4pm

Location: behind Auchinlee Eventide Home, High Askomil Road, Campbeltown, PA28 6EN

Call Loic for more information on 07887 844 153 or e-mail: kintyreproduce[AT]yahoo.co.uk
(to avoid spam, please hand-transfer this e-mail address into your outgoing message, replacing "[AT]" by @)

Spring is almost here!

Welcome back!
Spring is springing. Our Community Garden -- a work in progress -- is currently graced by quite a few clumps of beautiful daffodils and jonquils.
A grandstand view of the garden. In the foreground, black plastic sheeting keeps the weeds from making a comeback.
The long and the short view of a lovely stand of trees. Some of the saplings will have to go, though, as they're rather too close to the path.Youngsters keep tossing things into the burn so lovingly cleared by the Employability Team last November. For a better view, click on the photos.
A neighbouring tree reaches into a cloudless sky across the lane at the bottom end of the garden.
Almost at the top end, two sentinels guard the footpath:The top end still looks a bit bare but that will change once the drainage has been sorted out.
Water is a feature in various ways. The footbridge across the burn and its low-lying culvert that contributes to flooding when the burn is in spate.

Thank you for visiting!

More progress, a sprinkling of snow

Hiya again
More progress has been made, with some deep digging to turn the soil and remove deeper-lying rubbish. The expert gardener (Graham) then put down some plastic sheeting to keep the weeds from growing. The method could be called pesticide-free weed control. Once the sheeting is removed, the soil will be very crumbly, which will make removing roots and rubbish easier.
Oh, and we had a sprinkling of snow, too:Finally, another Litter Pick may soon be required.
Any volunteers are more than welcome. Kindly leave your details in the comments section -- they will not be published but will enable the Garden Group to contact you as and when needed. Many thanks!

Yet another wee flood (no. 5)

Hiya again
Yesterday morning, another wee flood event occurred at the Community Garden. The problem with these floods is that the lovely, fertile topsoil gets washed away and drained out into Oban harbour.
The only ones that looked truly happy about it were this couple of mallards:

Progress: litter pick, materials and rubbish left behind

Hiya again

Progress has been made in our Community Garden:
On Sunday, 1st March, 2009, five of the prospective users of the Community Garden (Kay, John, Sarah, Graham and Your Blogger) went in there to pick the surface litter. This is what some patches looked like before:
... and afterwards:
It's just surface clearing. As soon as you dig a little deeper, there is more rubbish -- for every forkful of earth, there's at least half a forkful of litter. The wilderness, which at one time was a playpark for kiddies, must have been used as a dump for years and years.
Outside, in Dalintart Lane, some temporary fencing had been left behind -- by the Employability Team? by the Council workers? -- after the green wooden fence was finished. Pedestrians took their (mostly youthful) energy to the red-and-white plastic slats, which have ended up destroyed almost completely. Not a good way of looking after material. I hear the Council is in dire financial straits. Well, "every little helps", as the saying goes. However, these temporary fences are well and truly good for the incinerator, where at least a little energy could be gotten out of them, but not much else. What a waste!
PS: They are now on the other side of the wall, where there is less foot traffic and where the council van can get at them easily for removal. Wonder how long it will take for them to be lifted...
Your Blooger wishes to end this post on a positive note: this is about half of the rubbish picked off the surface...... and this is what the litter-picked garden looked like about four hours after work had begun: