Bags of rubbish have gone

Hiya again

Last Tuesday evening, Kay and John and Graham shifted some builders bags full of rubbish that we lifted from the grounds some time ago. Now all that remains is for the council to come and lift the bags, which are waiting on the other side of that wall on the right of the photo. Should be easily accessible from there.The garden looks tidier and tidier. The potatoes, beans, sweet peas and some flowers are doing very well, despite some serious weed infestations.

Fruitful Scotland, Scottish Orchards, SEER Rockdust from Scotland

Hiya
Here are some excerpts from three sources of information that inspire the Lynnside Community Garden committee:
• Fruitful Scotland – Celebrating Scotland's Fruit Trees
Edited by John Hancox, this is a new publication by Scottish Orchards that celebrates "the resurgence of fruit growing and the interest in Scottish varieties old and new". Its slogan is FRUIT FOR ALL FOR EVER!
This may be a steep claim but we like to aim high.
To subscribe or advertise, call John Hancox on 0778 606 3918

Pear Blossoms in Deane Gallery Garden, Edinburgh, April 2004

• Scottish Orchards
John Hancox and his committee have been rolling out this initiative across Scotland to encourage communities and children to plant for a fruitful future.
Its aims tick lots of the boxes that the Lynnside Community Garden project has been pursuing, i.e.
- To promote planting and maintaining new and established orchards in Scotland
- To maintain and develop knowledge and skills and provide learning opportunities
- To help preserve the heritage of Scotland's orchards by establishing a national mapping database of orchards and fruit varieties.
- To encourage sustainability and biodiversity and improve the local environment
- To create markets for locally grown fruit
- To promote healthy eating and access to local fruit at affordable prices
- To promote planting of fruit trees into design of rural and urban environments
The patron is John Butterworth. Membership is free; donations are welcome.
In this context, the Lynnside Community Garden project has already received the donation of a cherry tree – thank you, Sarah! While we clear the garden grounds and decide exactly what goes where, the sapling has gone into a big pot and will be planted in a suitable spot later on.

We will be happy to receive donations of fruit trees – apple, pear, plum varieties that do well in this area. Please contact Graham or Margaret by leaving a comment on this blog.

Pear Blossoms in Deane Gallery Garden, Edinburgh, April 2004

• SEER® Rockdust®
According to their leaflet, Camera and Moira Thomson, founders of the SEER Centre, have "pioneered the use of SEER Rockdust to remineralise the Earth's soils and provide healthy, chemical free solutions" to soil and water pollution. Organic soil fertility is boosted by natural volcanic minerals and trace elements from 420-million-year-old, freshly ground, untreated volcanic rock blended from various Scottish quarries.
The product has been trialled at the SEER Centre in Highland Perthshire. The use of Rockdust has produced delicious, nutritious, healthy fruit, vegetables and flowers in difficult growing conditions.
Graham has been using the product to see if these results can be reproduced in our Lynnside Community Garden.
If you want to try for yourself, why don't you get your bag of Rockdust from Cakebread's Garden Centre off the Soroba Road in Oban.

The first strawberries harvested today from plants growing right next to the Lynnside Community Garden.

The "flying" shed

Hello again
Denise, one of the Lynnside Garden neighbours, has donated her old garden shed. Brilliant! Now we have somewhere to safely store tools and materials.
Neighbours Vivienne, "Cuishen", Donald and Graham performed a magical feat shifting the shed over the wire-mesh fence and into its new place down by the gate to the garden.
Well done, boys and girl!Looks good, don't you think?

Green and greener, watch it grow

Hello again

The rate of growth of plants in our garden is simply breathtaking. You can almost watch things grow these days.

It's quite hard work to keep the weeds in check. The butterbur is particularly tenacious...... it even grows right through the top-end of the tar path.In some parts, Graham has been using the strimmer. In other areas, manual eradication is more
appropriate to protect desirable plants and to try and keep the weeds out for good.

A clump of some kind of calla has been "liberated". It is already in flower.

But a few wild rose shrubs still need a helping hand to get rid of "sticky willy" and bindweed.
M

May impression

Hiya
Things have been growing.

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.