Silver Gilt

Hurray, all the hard work paid off. At yesterdays Yorkshire in Bloom Awards Ceremony we were awarded Silver-Gilt in the urban category.

Sorry Susan, I know we were 'going for gold' but it's close :)

Sara

Judging day

As always time sped up and everything was fraught right up to the last minute - not helped by the hot weather that frazzled tempers.

We had done as much as was humanly possible and had to hope it was enough. The judges were very friendly and we had lunch at the Watsonian before they set off round our route [they had judged Holbeck in the morning].

It was so hot in the afternoon the judges seemed to be speed judging. Susan and I had gone out to try and do last minute litter picking ahead of the judges mini-bus and it kept overtaking us. The first time we managed to hide in a hedge but the second time we have nowhere to go and they spotted us - oops.

We won't know for a while what the results are but as we were the last group to be judged hopefully it won't be too long.

And Vivienne found a way to keep a little cooler while we were waiting to serve afternoon tea.

Sara

What a Week

In the run up to judging we have faced and mostly overcome many challenges.

The Cardinal Triangle Bed nearly vanished under the long grass and then, when it was finally cut we had to rake all the cuttings up so they didn't kill what little was left. I think the grass cutting machines were set at grade 1.

Frederick made a sizeable haystack with the first clippings.

And this is the state of the uncovered grass - not pretty.

Because of the hot dry weather we struggled to keep plants healthy [although it didn't seem to affect the weeds anywhere near as much] and we have ferried gallons of water to those project that had no ready water supply [most of them as it turned out]. We pay the council to water the hanging baskets and barrier troughs at Tommy Wass, but when we were dead heading them we discovered they were dry as a bone so ended up having to water them too, and the Millenium Garden is close enough to the yard that we can use a hose pipe.

It was too hot to water straight after work so we were out every night at 7pm filling and transporting 2 cars worth of containers, sometimes re-filling and returning, and doing some weeding and litter picking as we went. I'm not sure what Vivienne's car looks like inside but mine looks like it's been parked in a hayfield with the windows down.

Because it was so warm and we were so busy I don't seem to have taken many pictures - this is Judith trying to keep cool under a big hat and looking like she escaped from the pages of an Edwardian Lady.

And this is a garden we discovered on one of our re-filling trips which brightened our day.

Sara

01/06/13 - Working party

Well June came in flaming after all - I hope it continues for Beeston Festival next Saturday.

We had a working party at the Millennium garden to try and get the weeds under control. I think I must have pulled up enough sycamore seedlings to establish a whole forest - every time we go there's another plantation sprung up.



Linda and Susan are discussing how to fill in a few bare patches - I think we're going to need some more ferns and foxgloves - having cleared as much of the paving and daffodils as they could.



Frederick [and David who had left by the time I remembered to take any photos] did a sterling job of getting the weeds out of the bare patches so we could see how much space we had to fill.



And Pauline [and I] cleared weeds from the long borders and raised beds.

We have another working party on Sunday [9am 02/06/13] to clear the planters on Beeston Road.

There is a meeting on Monday night at the Watsonian [5pm 03/06/13].

Then it is Beeston Festival, where we have a stall selling plants, planters and crafts.

And after that we are in full swing trying to get ready for Summer Judging on Friday 19/07/13 with the following working parties already organised - however no doubt more will be added at Mondays meeting:

Monday 10 June - planting RHS veg etc on Beeston Rd - Angela and Adam to be our guest celebrities to witness the event!!

Wednesday 12 June - continue clearing Beeston Rd planters

Saturday 15 June - working party Cardinal Triangle - 10.00am

Sunday 16 June - working party filling Dewsbury Rd planters - 8.30 Tommy Wass

Aren't we going to be busy little bees. I must dash now - I have some cards to make.

Sara

A bit of a wash out

Happens to the best of us. 

Too few at the Monday get together to do anything useful and then Saturday (the rematch) was rained off, so this week it's Beeston in Bloom 0 : Weeds 2.

Linda and Vivienne caught a break in the cloud and tidied the vet's trough on Dewsbury Road and planted strawberries and chives.

Bit of bad news on the Leeds in Bloom front - they didn't cancel the Spring Judging - we didn't prepare -oops!

The sale outside the co-op was a reasonable success.

You'll notice that we were selling before we had time to put the sign up!

Lots of people are away this week so the meeting on Monday might be a bit sparse.
Have you noticed a clematis on the yard fence?  Have I been hacking at it thinking it was mile-a-minute?  Here it is in flower - not on the millennium garden side, but on the side facing the park - isn't it pretty?

Leaving it to the sun

It's been a quiet week but the sunshine has been busy. 

This is the blue bed in the millenium garden with the red behind.

 

And this is the red - I think the blossom is japanese quince - so there could be fruit for jam, come the autumn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This one is a work in progress - dill from my seeds for the veg initiative in the front and behind are the cosmos for the Cardinal triangle. And you can just see some of the pepper and tomato for the plant sale on Saturday - outiside the co-op - see you there!

Barmy in Bloom

What do you call people who stand out in the rain for two hours selling plants?
Beeston in Bloom

As you can see, we did get a steady trickle of customers.  Luckily we were clearing up when the hail and freezing rain was turned on and so the plants we did not sell will be OK for the Co-op in a couple of weeks.
My seeds for the veg initiative are through, still not big enough to make a photo though.  I hope everyone elses are growing strong.

Vivienne and Linda have been busy

They tidied up the Lodge Lane Planter ready for Saturday's plant sale:











 

 and had a really good go at the Kwikfit triangle - named a bit like the Cardinal triangle.





Have you seen the Tommy Wass barrier troughs?  If not -here's a selection of views:

I think that the pinky flower is one of the ornamental cabages but I'm not sure.

I think that this last one would make a nice change of heading for the webpage - what does anybody else think:

Quick update

Judith has already blogged about the last two working parties - however I've just downloaded my photos, so I thought I'd belatedly share a couple more with you.

We had a working party at the Cardinal Triangle on 6th April and gave the grasses a good hair cut - we even divided some [well Frederick did], which we would not have been able to do if judging was still going ahead but by the time summer judging gets here [19th July] they will have recovered.



Then the following Saturday, 13th April, we had another working party to replant the divided grasses in the bowling green border. All the small grasses we planted last year were stolen so we are hoping that these larger grasses might be less desirable. They covered about the middle third of the long bed so the nice people in the parks department are going to turf the ends for us. If the plants remain undisturbed then we will extend our planting next year.



Whilst some of us were doing that there were further groups planting primulas in the planters on Beeston Road, taking out a pyracantha from the planter at the side of the park and also finishing off the Millenium Garden weeding. The latter was the group I was in so that is where my photo is from.



Christine and David are busy here planting some more of our recycled plants in the back border.

I noticed that the telecommunication boxes on Beeston Road have been decorated.



Don't they look pretty with foxgloves on them.



I especially like the one with the fairy.



Anyway that's me caught up I think. We have a plant sale at Lodge Lane on 27th April. The plant sale at the Co-op has been postponed from the 4th May due to absenteeism and I think it has been re-arranged for the 11th May however I will still be AWOL.

Our next meeting should have been 13th May [as the 6th is a bank holiday] however we will be having a working party in the Millenium Garden instead.

Sara

Not doing it for the judges

Monday's meeting was at the Barkly Road planter to spread some compost before the parks department came and put the chippings down to put the weeds off growing and because this is meant mostly as a shrubbery.  I can't say that I'll miss the weekly bag of chickweed the bed has been producing!

I took this just as I was leaving, everyone else is very industrious still.

Had you noticed that the baskets are out on the lamposts.  I hadn't, as Angela says, I should spend less time watching my feet and more with my eyes on the world.  They are not quite up to photographing yet.

The tubs outside St Anthony's were up and ready and this bed was mulched or chipped or whatever by Thursday - I did notice that - head up, Judith.

Then on Saturday a couple of us went over to fill the St Anthony's tubs.  This is where they are,

and here's a close up, to brighten your day.

 

The rest of us stayed and worked in the Park, on the Bowling Green Border:

 Stage 1 consultation:

 Stage 2 implementation

Stage 3 Admiration

 

The long borders in The Millenium Garden are really looking good for the attention and if you spot David twice, you're right, he put in a heck of a lot of work.



And then in the afternoon, it rained, which is just how it should be!


Today, if the weather had been organised by Yorkshire in Bloom, we would have been panicking about being ready for tomorrow and the judging.  We were saying that we could have been as ready as we ever were.  Judge for yourself!

St Mary's Joy and the Brians have their garden well in hand

a close up of a trough by the church

This cross of daffs is not very flowery, though still well marked out.  It was my first vol with Beeston in Bloom.

 This tub ...

 and this one are both outside hairdressers on Town Street.  Do you think it a coincidence that they are so lovely?

And this is part of the herbs and dragnflies garden - I think it was named for the group that donated it, rather than the contents - at the top of the park.

Linda gave out the veg seeds for the RHS initiative on Saturday so we'll tell you how that goes. And the next big thing is the plant sales - my toms are coming on a treat.

Gardening in the sun

It was lovely to garden in the sunshine on Saturday.  It is ages since I've done anything at the Cardinal Triangle and I was happily surprised at how well the paths were lasting.  I forgot my camera, which is why I'm late posting, but Linda had hers with us, so thank you for this shot where you can see that Frederic is splitting and moving the grasses, Sara, David and I are weeding and Angel is enjoying a well earned rest in the sunshine:

 

 

Where David is, the gravel bed allows for this, and aren't they lovely!

I can't decide if it's good news

The Spring Yorkshire in Bloom judging has been cancelled 'due to adverse weather conditions'.

Gardener's Delight

Not a weekend for gardening - the planned go at the Millennium Garden was snowed off.
This is what the Barkly Road planter looked like:

You can see that the daffs are trying to bloom. 

 

Indoors my seeds for the spring plants sale are through. These are Gardener's Delight tomatoes.  If you look close, you can see that the real leaves are coming through.

I did walk over to litter pick with 'Love Beeston Clean Beeston' on Thursday but it wasn't on. There is one next week.



A bit of bright in the grey





The nearest Dewsbury Road trough to me is turning into a host of golden daffodils.
This is a planting idea from the same issue of the 'Garden' that offered the free vegetable seeds.

They did an article on nigellas.  This one is Nigella damascena planted with Eschhscolzia californica.  Sarah Raven, who wrote the article, says they grow best direct sown in March or April and thinned to 30cm apart.  I'm wondering where we can try it!