Come and join us for our first

VALENTINE BALL

With Cornwall’s very own jump/jive band

COMPANY B

Plus DJ

Friday 15th February 2013

Starts 7.15 for dinner at 7.45

At Hotel Bristol, Newquay

Tickets £30 includes 3 course meal, live band and disco

For tickets or more information contact Jackie on 01637 860734

or email [email protected]

Dress code: jackets, ties and party frocks.

This is a fundraising event in aid of People and Gardens Community Interest Company.

Supporting adults with physical and mental health issues.

www.peopleandgardens.co.uk

We have been very busy growing and harvesting our veg and salads for our customers and veg bags. We have still had time amongst our busy schedule to train for our fundraising cricket match against an Eden Project XI, held on Sunday 5th September. As you can see that date has now passed, so here is the match report and result.

The teams arrived an hour before the start, and quickly took to the nets at St Austell cricket club to warm up. People and Gardens in one net lane, and The Eden Project team in the other. Neither team mixed, except for Timmy who managed to infiltrate and get some valuable information!

Though the weather conditions were damp, both teams showed great dedication and took to the field on time. The toss, administered by the umpires Roger Wossley and Ken Radford, was won by People and Gardens captain (Bill Simpson). Bill elected to bat first, so Ben Foster and the Eden Team took to the field. Steady batting, where all the People and Gardens team took part resulted in a challenging total of 108 after 20 overs. This left The Eden project a target of 109 to win in their 20 overs. Some great bowling and brave fielding by P&G resulted in the final over being bowled, where The Eden Team needed 9 more runs to win. Thankfully they only managed 5 of them, so The P&G team won by 4 runs!

A great day was had by all, and everyone agreed to do it again next year. St Austell cricket club, as ever, were great hosts and supporters of the event. Other than the cricket match we had a tombola, treasure hunt, guess the number of sweets game, cake stall, plant stall, new P&G veg bag sales, dried flowers for sale, facepainting, and a bar/BBQ! So there was lots to do as well as watch the cricket. We managed to raise £490 on the day for the P&G project, and thank everyone who came and helped for their efforts.

The next planned event is our Hoedown Showdown: http://www.edenproject.com/visit-us/whats-on/music-and-art/hoedown-showdown-live-music

We have also recently taken delivery of our new Veg bags, to make those lovely veggies and salads look even more yummy! Some of these will be for sale also, await further details.

Finally we have also received some much needed stacking shelves to go in our cold store.

Our annual cricket match will be taking place on 2nd September at St Austell Cricket Ground.

Please come along to support us!

As like most projects we are forever looking forward for ways to raise funds, this years fund raising events are the Cricket Match against the Eden Team at St Austell Cricket Ground on 2nd September and our foot stomping, hell raising Hoe Down Show Down at the Eden Projects Core Building on the 5th October.  We are all so excited as we have managed to get the wonderful top band from Bristol, The Destroyers  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qn_4EwMjhx0&feature=fvwrel .  Please make a date in your diary’s for these two very fun and amazing days when you will be able to see People and Gardens at it’s very, very best.

Meanwhile, back at base camp, this is our very busy time of the year, everything is growing at such an amazing pace, the weeds especially, that at times it is quite difficult to keep up with them.  The weather has managed to give us at least two dry days this week, which enabled us to crack on with the planting of pumpkins and squashes for the displays at Eden and to also try to clear some of the pathways, between the rows of plants, of weeds. 

Emma’s tip for this week is: So far the weather in June has been atrocious and maybe your crops aren’t as advanced as you would have liked.  But you can continue to sow many crops this month especially salads, beetroot and carrots.  Keep everything well watered, yes even with all this rain.  Our mantra at the nursery is Hoe, Hoe Hoe! when fine weather allows.

Sorry for the delay in posting this blog but yet again we have had problems with the connection at the Nursery…. we found a cable that had been nibbled…. mmmmm we are now looking for a rabbit who’s fur is standing on end.

The rabbits at the nursery seem to have had paratrooper training as they have managed to get into our rabbit proof field and clear all this years crop of swede. We have had a field clearing session to make sure they have all been cleared, but who knows they are very clever.

Since our last blog things are shooting up very quickly, the pumpkins and squashes are now ready to be planted out in the field alongside the cabbages, spring onions, beetroot, parsley and parsnips. Trying to keep the weeds down in a full time job especially with the mixture of weather. Our rhubarb has been featured twice in the veg bags and when made into a pie or crumble is yummy with some clotted cream.

Ken was nominated and became runner up in the National Trust’s Octavia Hill Awards Growing Hero category. This award recongises someone who’s set up a community-growing scheme and who has made a difference to the community they live in. We went to St Martin in the Field Church in London and had a lovely day. Ken managed to meet the Director-General of the National Trust Dame Fiona Reynolds DBE at the lunch.

Lots of people joined us for the Big Lunch at the nursery on Sunday 2nd June.  We all had lots of fun and games, as you see if you check out our Facebook page… lovely food and drinks and lots of laughter filled the nursery.  Sean who is recovering from a heart attack also came and joined the fun… it was lovely to see him looking so well.

We are holding our Open Days on Tuesday 12th and Wednesday 13th June where people can come and visit us and see how the project works and join us for some tea and doughnuts. We will have some plants for sale and you will have a tour of the nursery, weather permitting, if not its more tea and doughnuts, which sounds pretty good to me.

The greenhouse is ablaze with colour as our growing season really begins to take off.  We could do with lots more sunshine to warm the young plants that are up in the field, but at least we are not having to worry about them not being watered as Mother Nature seems to be doing that very well on her own at the moment.

We have the Eden Projects Plant Sale this Saturday so as well as harvesting for their kitchens three times a week, Emma and Jasmine are busy putting the last minute touches to our young plants that we have been growing for the sale.  Lavender, mint, oregano and basil are some of the plants we will be selling alongside our salad trays filled with lettuces, spring onions and mizuna, We also have some young runner bean plants that were started off in the greenhouse.  We hope that the weather will be kind to us and that we meet up with lots people and raise some more money for the project.

We have been very fortunate to have one of our services users parents make a donation to the project that has enabled us to purchase a weed sprayer for the field.  Those dastardly docks will not stand a chance when faced with Emma and her new machine.

Two new service users have joined our group since our last blog.  Jasmine and Phyllis, both seemed to have settled in really well and are enjoying the work.  What’s very strange is that there seems to be a far stronger smell of men’s aftershave and deodarant in the morning than there was before they started…. Mmmm funny that!!!!

Emma’s tip:  We grow a lot of herbs here at the nursery both for our veg bags each fortnight and to sell to our customers.  They are great crops to grow at home especially basil, coriander and parsley.  Start them off in cell trays and when large enough prick them out into larger trays or pots.  You can sow these in succession, a few at a time every few weeks.  Keep them watered so that they don’t dry out and be patient with parsley as it is slow to germinate.

We would like to congratulate Ken Radford, Manager, for being included in The Independent on Sunday’s Happy List, dated 22/4/12.  This is a list which names 100 outstanding people who they recognise as someone who gives something back to society rather than take and who has made a considerable difference in changing peoples lives for the better.

We have also heard that we have been invited to the National Trust’s Octavia Awards ceremony which is being held at St Martin’s in the Field, London on 23rd May, for which Ken was nominated for by the Eden Project.  So we will have to wait and see if he wins.  A very exciting time for the Project.

We have started to plant the pumpkin seeds for the Eden display team.  These are planted in compost with the tip of the seed just, then covered with gravel and lightly watered and kept in the warm greenhouse until they are ready for planting in the field.

We have also been very busy planting out our red cabbages and filling the polytunnel with our spring onions.  Sean and Matt, who planted the onions, have invented a new aftershave – essence of spring onion….. mmm don’t think there will be many takers for that one!!!

Emma’s tip:  You may have read that carrots can be hard to grow because the soil needs to be just right, sandy and light, no stones and the dreaded carrot fly will finish them off anyway.  Well in theory this is correct but there are ways around these problems. and home grown carrots taste nothing like the supermarket specimens that you can buy.  So the easy way to grow them is in a large pot or container (with drainage holes) that is hig up off the ground to avoid the carrot fly.  Luckily the silly blighters fly close to ground level, so that takes care of them.  Fill the container with stone free light compost and sow your carrots.  Keep them welll watered. Happy carrot munching!

To donate to People and Gardens text SPUD16 £5.00 (or your amount) to 70070

Easter has been and gone and left us with lots of bunnies at the nursery, thank goodness for the bunny proof fence we have around the field, our crops of spring onions, parsley, parsnips and beetroot that have recently been planted would make a very tasty feast.

The greenhouse is awash with colour, the salad leaves and herbs are growing really quickly due to the lovely sunshine we have had lately.  It doesn’t take long for the small seedlings to start busting out of the seed tray. 

We have now started harvesting salad produce for the Eden Project’s kitchens and Cafe three times a week.  This will continue during the summer months. 

We will be taking part in the St Austell flower festival on the 28th April, we will be outside the Eden Cafe in town.   We will also have a stall on the 12th May at the Eden Project’s main site for the Plant Sale and then be there again for the Olympic Torch Day on the 19th May, so please if your around come along and say hello and meet the team.

Emma’s tip for this mammoth seed sowing month!  If it’s possible try and bring indoors some compost at least overnight to warm up for all your seed sowing.  You can also do this with a watering can of water as well so those seeds and seedlings don’t get so much of a shock.  Don’t forget April can still be cold so if you have some young plants already planted our remember to cover them with some horticultural fleece.  Happy gardening…