A picture of summer

Hasn't it come up lovely? 

Look back to June 7th and you'll see how it started.  According to 'The Garden' we're supposed to mow in August and leave the hay to reseed for next year - I think they're talking to southerners, it seems a bit soon for killing the flowers! 

Talking of southerners reminds me of a conversation where apparently gardens in the south are barren desert wastes by August. 

That conversation makes me think of the Old Lane tubs.  A million brownie points for any explanation as to why one half barrel has thistles and more thistles.

Blooming books

We've started a library!  One book so far on grasses, which is developing into a bit of a theme.  Here's hoping it's neither too tender nor too rampant to take.  But have you seen the roundabout when you come off the M1 or M162 from the north? It is magnificent and nearly all grasses.

Anyhow, soap box away.  Scampston advert: http://www.scampston.co.uk/  The walled garden was lovely:

Why this is the only photo I took, I'm not sure, but I was kept busy putting red circles round the plant list for what was liked.  A gardener told us that all their planting is sustainable without watering so that boded well for the choices.

The lunch was lovely too.  And the shop!  I was told how to grow on, prune and propogate the plants I got - imagine that at the checkout at B&Q.

And then to Breezy knees: http://www.breezyknees.co.uk/ . You have to go to the nursery first for the tickets which is very clever - once again, advice on propogation, this time two pots of irises for £1 each.  Their gardens were magnificent too.  This is a flower we fancied:

Inside the polytunnel

An update on Cockburn.  When the judges went round on the last day of term, they got to see the inside of the polytunnel. Here it is and isn't it impressive!

And for those who prefer veg grown in the open air - Clarks Field Allotments: 

Bankers in Bloom

Once again, Leeds Ahead provided us with volunteers and the opportunity to tackle a big job. 
This time it was the Holy Spirit garden on Tempest Road.  We were greeted by Bob asking us if we could climb ladders.
After a chorus of "NO!", we decided to tackle the ivy - which is trying to get in the windows - by cutting it off from the roots.  No photos cos it is a bit anti-gardening to destroy that beautiful shiny green and Linda, who was wielding the camera, likes ivy.
I don't and so picked up the loppers with glee.  Loppers, not secuters, to give me a bit of distance from the spiders that lived in there.

Here are some of the volunteers and the grey stone band at the bottom of the wall is where the ivy was -and is no more.

Now the ground needs some plants to deter the weeds, and the ivy which will probably take to moving horizontally as well as vertically - what is the point of it?

The Summer Judging

I don't know whose the house is but it was a lovely intro to the park:

The pictorial (wildflower) garden is starting to show its true colours:

The millennium garden was looking lovely:

Inside, we had planned it just right, there was room for everyone:

Brian and Brian were there from St David's and St Mary's:

Edna contemplating the success of the allotments:

Angela (Councillor Gabriel) entertaining the judges:

Vivienne with a pair of prize winners:

Betty sets the world to rights with Adam (Councillor Ogilvie)

They seemed to like the scones:

All done and dusted:

Beeston Fair

Here's our stall for Beeston Fair:

Were you there?

The Millenium Garden has the full beauty treatment.

Thank you, Leeds Ahead, for bringing us the volunteers from 'Homes and Communities Agency'! 
It rained all day, from drizzle to downpour, but we were not dejected.  We dug, pruned, pulled up, pulled down, planted and uprooted.  Altogether we put in over 100 hours into the Millennium Garden, the Watsonion windowbib and the pictorial border.  Unfortunately we're still waiting on the photos but they will be edited in when we get them!

Catch up

I'm playing catch-up again!

The daffs in the Dewsbury Road planters did well - keep an eye out for the geraniums that were put in this weekend.

Did you see this in the guardian? "The weedkiller saboteur in Cayton caused £20,000 worth of damage."

We got silver in the Yorkshire in Bloom spring judging - I don't know if we're pleased or disappointed!  The millennium garden were awarded gold, as did the Church gardens that Brian and Brian and Joy do, by Leeds in Bloom.

This is the pictorial garden being planted with a range of wild flowers.  The pictures are a couple of weeks old so maybe when I go to the meeting this evening, there will be something to show for all the hard work being done here:

Cockburn revisited

Here's seedlings in the sink.

We started in the Art Studio because the access to the chickens is there.

 Here's Peter Nuttal with hen, garden ornaments and stained glass that are part of the enterprise scheme

 and the bees, which were enjoying the sun too:

And then on to the small holding.  This is rhubarb and the view across the playing field to Middleton Wood.

A mixed veg bed, cherry tree and a trio of ex-students that we found in the Art Studio making props for a production of "Alice through the looking glass" and a slice of the poly-tunnel - and a gargoyle and Peter.

The strawberry bed and the full length of the poly-tunnel - isn't it huge!

It was a good visit - we talked again about their producing the Welcome to Beeston sign for the Cardinal Triangle site and their plot on the end of Gypsy Lane.  We agreed they were both projects for next school year, but Kath Clarke says that they will get some designs underway for the sign.

Bits of Beauty

Wandering around enjoying the sun:
Which is your idea of beautiful?

 Or maybe it isn't any of them. 

 What gets me is the variety - and I only photographed the ones I like!

Last week catch up

On Tuesday we were invited to the Civic Hall along with other voluntary groups to a ceremony recognising our achievement.  We had a display and table and a chance to talk to people that I'd never met before.  One thing I found out about was guardianleeds (www.guardian.co.uk) which is where the photo comes from:

We're next to the door!

Here's Linda and Betty collecting the certificate from Angela, who had her councillor hat on:

South Leeds community radio were also there -

Friday was the visit to Greenmount Primary - our first of this round of assemblies.  We had 5 minutes and we'll know how it went when we get the response on the 7th May, because I can't tell.
The children seemed so little after two years absence, but still just as terrifying en masse! Still, without the butterflies there'd be no point.

And of course, Saturday was the Spring plant sale.  The weather was great, the customers were there as soon as we started setting up and we sold steadily for a couple of hours.  As last spring, there weren't enough tomato plants.  I brought half a dozen aubergines home to fatten up for the summer.

What a surprise!

Yesterday, Linda and I went to Cockburn to see Peter Nuttal, who oversees the school's communtity links, and Kath Clarke.  The weather was foul and neither of us had a camera with us so we're going to have to go back and take photos so that we can show you:

• the chickens
• the bees
• the garden ornaments they make
• the mugs they decorate
• the allotment in progress (but it's more of a market garden) with a 64foot poly tunnel green house complete with sprinklers 
• the fruit trees
• the pond with tadpoles
• the raised beds of strawberries and rhubarb

and what would be impossible to capture, the enthusiasm they had for working with us, for us and alongside us!

All over, bar the rest!

Three and a half hours and it's gone - until 14th May when the results are out.  Yorkshire in Bloom is behind us and before is the rest of the year.
Three of us spent an hour or so and got a third of the Cardinal Triangle dug, seeded, raked and watered - no photos of course, cos my camera is not working.  It was a beautiful morning and it seems perverse to wish for rain, but we do.
'The Buzz' - the Beeston in Bloom quarterly newsletter is ready for distribution - if you are on Linda's e-mailing list you will be getting an electronic copy. If you are not, we've distributed paper copies to where we can think of.
'Full many a flower is born to blush unseen' is from Thomas Gray (1716-1761) 'Elegy written in a country church-yard'

Panic NOW!

Today is the day the judges for Yorkshire in Bloom ride round and I daren't leave the laptop incase there are incoming last minute instructions about litter picking. Not true but the fear of letting down the side for one day does seem to have disproportionate weight. 
What is that poem about many a violet left to bloom unseen?

Here's some I found hiding in my greenhouse:

Good luck and fine weather for us all!

Welcome to Beeston in Bloom

This month is a big one for us - not only has spring finally arrived, but we have the Yorkshire in Bloom competition and a plant sale in the next two weeks.  Busy, busy!
Here's a taster of what we've been doing recently:

The Parks Department cleared a patch we call 'the Cardinal Triangle'

We put in phormiums for a permanent planter

Next time you go down the White Rose look left as the road veers right and you'll see the daffs are out.  Next weekend we're planting 'cheap and cheerful' seeds for summer.

It's not all planting - we had three goes at the Russian Vine near the Millennium Garden

No job too small - a planter at the Hamara Centre on Tempest Road