The Real Wild Space

The Real Wild Space - https://www.avivacommunityfund.co.uk/p/therealwildspace

Dear all,

I hope you are well.

I wanted to let you know we have started a crowdfunding Project for which we are aiming to raise £6,000. We would love it if you could donate using the link below to access our Project page. Donate what you can, any contribution large or small will be hugely appreciated. Thank you.

The Real Wild Space:

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/therealwildspace

Windmill Community Gardens

The Real Wild Space

Another lovely volunteering day

visit our Facebook for more details

Another lovely volunteering day at Windmill Community Gardens we are open to all for volunteers to come and enjoy the great outdoors & help nurture the garden & make good use of its harvest.

Mondays 10-1 or Thursdays 10-4

Hope to see you soon 😊

Pumpkin Day 🎃

Date for your diaries ... Our Pumpkin Day 🎃 is back!!! Saturday 29th October.

Harvest Festival 2023

What a lovely day at the Harvest Festival on Saturday at the Forest. Some people had come down especially, others just were curious what was happening as they were enjoying a walk, played sport, had family fun on the playgrounds.

Windmill Community Gardens stall we connected with some great people. Shared some apple or pumpkin pancakes, had fun with our magic apple peeler/corer/slicer ... apple bobbing & "did we beat the squirrels?" cobnut challenge

 

BLAZING JUNE

Everything is having a go at blooming now, even the potatoes.  Please do come and visit if you get the chance.  Most of the sessions are spent watering at the moment and there is talk of maybe we are going to get another summer like last year.  Well there's not much we can do now except mulch and water and have a few cool rests on the veranda.  

If you are free on Thursday lunchtimes, we are having a Lithe lunch every other week, So June 22nd, July 6th etc.  Lisa gives us a very gentle armchair yoga session in the shade, then we eat a light lunch prepared by the lovely Riza. You can help with the cooking or do a little gardening while you wait.

Rosie Jarrett 12.6.2023

It's Spring 

Or it's supposed to be according to the calendar.  Our beds are all prepared for planting and the polytunnel is bulging with plants ready to plant out.  However we are doing this really slowly with the help of horticultural fleece, as there is still the possibility of frost.  We are lucky this year, in that we have three more beds in our newly acquired Bog Garden.  This will give us room for more variety of plants.  The long dry summer last year saw some of the beds in the photo above, becoming in need of constant watering, which was a problem with a hose pipe ban.  So far we have planted Beetroot, Garlic, Onions, Lettuce, Carrots, Broad Beans, Peas and Potatoes.  We have some plants to spare if you want to get in touch.  Mainly Lettuce, Beetroot and Peas. 

Carley cutting her farewell cake.

  Carley who ran the Thursday afternoon sessions and is part of Growing Forward, has finally had her leg operation and is no-longer able to run the Thursday afternoon  sessions.  She has been replaced by Tara, an experienced community gardener.  There is plenty of space for new volunteers on both Monday and Thursday, so please drop in, or get in touch if you want to help.  It's a really peaceful space to be for a few hours and the rewards come in the summer when there is fresh produce for us all.

The Boots Team taking a break

  We owe a huge thanks to  the team of workers from Boots who have just done a blitz on our newly acquired Wild Garden, which was full of rubbish, ground coverings and excess brambles until yesterday.  We are hoping to use this for children's Forest School activities, as well as for the fruit from the trees and wild plants for eating and herbal remedies.  Lucy, the Nottingham Forager is going to use the space as a base too, which will mean that it will be kept as natural as possible.

Future Activities:

Monday 8th of May.  .SSBC session for under 4s in the morning.

Eat and Exercise sessions will be starting soon, thanks to funding from City Homes and Castle Cavendish and will run through the summer on Thursdays.  There will be a cooked meal using our produce and an exercise session such as arm chair yoga or dance.

Saturday 22nd July - Art in the Garden.  If you are an artist or crafts person and would like to exhibit, or run a creative session, please get in touch.

Rosie Jarrett.  20.04.2023

  

February 2023

FEBRUARY 2023

             We are busy preparing for the growing season at Windmill Gardens.  Over the winter, James and his volunteers have been repairing the raised beds and we have started creating more lower beds in the middle allotment.  Unfortunately, James has had to leave us for other work, but Anna, Connor and Bryn are carrying on with the repairs under Tracey’s watchful eye.

 

  The wildlife pond has filled with water and is looking good, but still needs more planting, which we will do as soon as the ice melts and plants are available.  Unusually for this time of year, the water table is low, so we can carry on making a willow fence and other obstacles to prevent children falling in.  There is also a small bog garden next to the pond, below some large willows, with more wetland plants. This area is now connected to the original allotments with a bridge style ramp to allow wheelchair access.

Wildlife Pond

Wheelchair Ramp

  Growing Forward have added a small polytunnel in the area to the left of this photo and are planning new activities for the coming year.  Vic has left for a new job and has been replaced by Rachel, an experienced community gardener.  Some of their ex clients have become involved with the main gardens and one of them – Becky, is helping to organise another art event in July.  Assia too has been really involved, particularly helping James with woodwork and volunteering at events.

  We had a major loss in a storm last autumn.  A freak gust of wind blew through the allotments, knocking down a wall and our mighty Eucalyptus tree. It also damaged a Contorted Willow nearby and part of our fence.  Fortunately the allotment committee were on the job straight away and cleared most of the timber, leaving us with this stump and a large log to make into a bench.  To be honest. it was a blessing in disguise as the tree was blocking light from the south.

Eucalyptus stump

  One big change at Windmill is that we can now be warm in winter, thanks to our super shed and this great woodburning stove:

It is super-efficient and doesn’t waste any heat, so has made break times and indoor jobs like sorting our seed collection, much more enjoyable.  We also have a dry, rodent-proof, space for storage.  Thanks Tim!

  Our fruit trees and bushes have been receiving some attention, having been tickled and sung to during the Wassailing event, and are now being pruned.  The joint Wassailing and Lohri event was well attended and enjoyable, apart from an un forecasted rain storm in the middle.  Many marshmallows were toasted and bikes serviced.  We also had an informative talk from Her Lohri, explaining how they help girl orphans in India. 

Wassailing the apple tree

Sustrans and Dr. Bike 

 

Volunteers from Her Lohri providing food.

  We will be holding two more events this spring – A celebration of all things Japanese, instigated by one of our volunteers, John, on March 4^th.   Also a Nowruz celebration around March 21^st, the Spring Equinox, date to be confirmed.  This is a Persian and Kurdish New Year celebration.  Of course you are always welcome at our regular sessions on Mondays 10 to 12pm and Thursdays 10 to 4pm.  You can just pop in for a warm up and look around if you don’t want to garden.

Rosie Jarrett 8.2.2023