We had a book and bric-a-brac stall at today’s festival, to raise funds and awareness for the Garden.
It rained in the morning, but the lunchtime sun brought more people out
Stall at Petersfield Christmas Festival, 7 December
Garden planning
On 16 November we had a edible garden afternoon, sharing food with ingredients from the garden, and hearing about Emily and Camilla’s long term suggestions for the overall plan of the garden.
The outline plan is on the ‘Design’page: the idea is that different people take the lead for coordinating the activities in the different zones. Read more about it here.
October and November in the garden
While our second growing season has come to a close, we have been harvesting, clearing, and preparing for next year.
October stall
On Sunday 5th, we had a stall at the October Lavant St market, with books and garden produce, raising over fifty pounds and talking to lots of people about the garden.
Community Garden Open Day 20 September
On 2oth September, we had an open day as part of the ‘Big Dig’ edible gardens open day, with food and activities to show what we were doing at the garden.
Forty five people came to look round and see what we were up to.
What’s been growing in September
Growing squashes on the remains of our manure heap not only gave us pumpkins, but suppressed nettles and other weeds that would otherwise have grown there.
Dug a spade-depth down to incorporate plenty of compost
Greenhouse opening ceremony
On 28th August our greenhouse was formally opened by Mark Rose, the Grants Coordinator of the South Downs National Park Authority, who gave the grant that enabled us to buy it
We’re very grateful to the National Park Authority for their assistance with this and in other ways
Greenhouse Drainage
On the 16th and 17th of August I bit the bullet and decided to put in the greenhouse drainage. Many of you will recall that with the rain over the winter we ended up with about an inch of standing water in the Greenhouse and it turned into a mud bath! In an attempt to prevent this happening again Vincent suggested having a ‘French Drain’. This is simply a drainage channel in the floor taking the water outside.
Firstly the paving slabs had to be lifted and stacked and the trench dug to about 8 inches depth.
There has quite a bit of turf and soil to remove!
Next a plastic drainage pipe was layed in the trench, on top of an inch of sand. I had pre-drilled about 60 holes in the pipe so that water will percolate out. I used a mixture of Travis Perkins sand left over from the shed base and some of the ‘free’ sand which was dumped on Waterworks Lane. The end of the pipe has a small ‘Soak away’ made using stones, which gives a big surface area for the water to slowly drain into the soil. The pipe is surrounded by sand so that water will drain out of the pipe and hopefully into the surrounding soil.
Inside the shed I dug out the floor to accommodate the end of the pipe. The end of the pipe has a plant pot over the it to stop stones going down the pipe.
The pipe is covered with sand ready for the turf to go on top and new sand was used for relaying the paving slabs.
Finally the paving slabs were relayed about an inch higher than before so that they are flush with the lip of the door to stop people tripping over. There is still some work to do finishing the drainage inside the greenhouse and eventually I plan to pave the floor to make it flat.
Opening event for the Greenhouse
Please save the date – it will be on Thursday 28th August at 5;45 pm. We have invited the South Downs grant coordinator and all those who helped will be invited to share a glass of wine and see the greenhouse full of flourishing plants!
Summer produce
Our first flush of lettuces have finished, but the courgettes are starting: if you’re at the garden do check and harvest any that are large enough, as the more we pick the more they’ll produce.
Meanwhile the redcurrant and gooseberry bushes fruit are ripening, and should be ready to pick in a couple of weeks
We have basil, peppers and tomatoes in the greenhouse, and runner beans, garlic and globe artichokes growing away.
We also have rabbits – the tops of leeks poking through wire mesh protection have been nibbled off, as have the bottom leaves of runner beans (we’ve put tree protectors round them!) A check of the perimeter revealed a weak point by our ‘back gate’ through the fence, which we’ve now blocked. This may have trapped rabbits in the garden, so we may have to catch and remove them
Petersfield Community Garden 