Monday 4 March 2013

RHS "Edible Britain" 2013

Edible Britain

How time flies

Is it really that long since the last post?  Ooops.  Apologies!

News headlines since then...

  • Bury St Edmunds received a GOLD award in the Best Large Town category in the Britain in Bloom competition.
  • Growing Well received a nomination for Best Community Project in the "It's Your Neighbourhood" section.
  • Growing Well also received a Level 4 (out of 5) award in our "It's Your Neighbourhood" assessment.
  • Our new planters have been installed on the "build out" at the bottom of the street and now look colourful, fresh and inviting (in contrast to the builders' vans that otherwise park there).  A very happy bee has already been spotted enjoying nectar from the daffodils.

Potential projects for this season include

  • Helping to tidy up and improve the yard at Old Kingdom Hall on Short Brackland - which is home to the CfBT Education Trust who educate and support children who have fallen out of mainstream education.  Volunteers, pots, compost and plants all needed!
  • "Bug house" building in the Easter holidays for the children
  • Helping once again to prepare Well Street for "Judging Day" when the Anglia in Bloom judges visit town.  There was a great sense of achievement within the group for how much we managed to do to make the street look extra gorgeous on the day.

Sunday 29 April 2012

Sowing the seeds at Nowton Park


A representative from our Growing Well group joined other floral enthusiasts at Nowton Park for the launch of 'Britain in Bloom' this week.

Thousands of wild seeds were sent to groups across the country to plant. The idea is that the seeds will be sown to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

In Bury St Edmunds a mix of corn poppy, corn marigold, corn chamomile, corn cockle and cornflower were sown over a designated area at Nowton Park.

The colourful flowers are hoping to attract plenty of wildlife including bees and butterflies.

Julia Rackowe, the campaign manager for Bury in Bloom said, "What a lovely way for us to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee as well as the exciting 'in bloom' season for Bury."

I am sure I can speak for us all when I say I can't wait to see the outcome. 



Judging day ideas...

The judging date is soon approaching for Bury In Bloom. 


In order to impress the judges here are some thoughts a few of us have been thinking about...

* A plant pot in every garden...

One idea has been to get all of the children in Well Street involved. Along with adult assistance it would be lovely if we could have one very inexpensive plant pot in every garden.

* A growing well flag...

As we have worked so hard to put our group together we could make a small flag to go into each garden pot (above)

* The bridal shop...

This one is a bit of a surprise!

If anyone has any further ideas please post them!

Thursday 12 April 2012

Getting hands on

Reminder - come along to the Old School Hall this weekend (14-15 April) and help to clear weeds, plant up a pot or two and celebrate the start of National Gardening Week.

Please bring tools and gloves if you have them.

If we have time, we might have a go at clearing some rubbish and weeds from around the back of Cornhill Walk too.

Weather's looking good, see you there!

Bury In Bloom launch

Several of the Growing Well team were at the Bury In Bloom launch this evening, at Bury's beautiful Unitarian Meeting House.  Stephanie Eynon from the RHS spoke about their Community Gardening programme which covers the "In Bloom" movement and the "It's Your Neighbourhood" scheme.

There were useful reminders about the core values of IYN - community participation, environmental responsibility and gardening achievement - and about using the RHS website to access all sorts of useful resources such as their plant selector and plants for pollinators.  Of particular interest at the moment is gardening in a drought.

Thank you to Julia Rackowe for the invitations!

Friday 30 March 2012

The younger members of the Growing Well team got busy yesterday cleaning up some troughs that had been donated by a neighbour who no longer needs them.  Getting stuck in with brushes and water they worked hard for a whole five minutes before Mummy had to step in and finish off!  The troughs now look brand new and are destined for the Old School Hall car park at the bottom of the street.  The lovely ladies at the Marie Curie office are going to plant them up with nasturtiums which will creep through the fence and tumble down the wall into Well Street.  They are also taking two large pots which they will fill with strawberries and tomatoes for lunchtimes.

Not wanting to leave out the other charity which resides in Well Street, a generous neighbour has bought a lovely new window box for the Samaritans office at the top end of the street.

In both cases the staff and volunteers at the charity offices will "adopt" the planters, watering and maintaing them, and even providing some of the plants.  So we have been able to involve people who work in Well Street, as well as those of us who live here.