South Circular Road Garden

Janurary in the Community Garden

2012-01-24T17:24:00.003Z

Hi all,
A very welcome back to our blog at the start of 2012.The new public transport bus numbers which take you near or pass by the community garden on the South Circular road are as follows:27,56,77A,121,122,150,151,155.
As we start to get back into the new year gardening I enclose some information for you to read and get motivated in the comminng months.

Ten Tools Every Community Gardener & Garden Needs

Gardeners may not agree on the best mulch or the perfect fertilizer, but there's one thing that every gardener agrees on: when it comes time to purchase tools, buy the best. Quality garden tools are an investment that yields dividends over time. Here are the top 10 gardening tools every community garden should own.

1. Trowel A well-made trowel is your most important tool. From container gardening to large beds, a trowel will help you get your plants into the soil. Essential for everyone.

2. Hand Fork or Claw or Cultivator A hand fork helps cultivate soil, chop up clumps, and work amendments into the soil. A hand fork is necessary for cultivating in closely planted beds.

3. Hoe A long- handled hoe is a gardener's best friend. Keeping weeds at bay is the purpose of this useful tool. Hoe heads come in all different shapes and sizes and every gardener swears by a different one.

4. Secateurs (aka Hand pruners) invest in a pair of quality pruners, such as Felco, which is clearly a cut above. There are different types and sizes depending upon the type and size of the job. Secateurs are for cutting small diameters, up to the thickness of your little finger ;-). Anything larger and you need loppers.

5. Watering can A watering can creates a fine even stream of water that delivers with a gentleness that won't wash seedlings or sprouting seeds out of their soil.

6. Fork You can't dig and divide perennials without a heavy-duty fork (and some dividing methods even suggest you own two!).

7. Shovels & Spades

There are several different types and shapes of shovels and spades, each with their own purpose. There are

also different types of hand holds for either—a “D” shape, a “T” shape, or none at all. They are a requisite

tool for planting large perennials, shrubs, and trees, breaking ground, moving soil, leaves, just about

anything. The sharper the blade, the better.

8. Wheelbarrow Wheelbarrows come in all different sizes (and prices). They are indispensable for hauling soil, compost, plants, mulch, hoses, tools...everything you’ll need to garden.

9. Gloves unless you want to wear your favourite hobby under your nails, use gloves. Leather gloves hold up best. If you have roses, get a pair that resist thorn pricks..

10. Hose. This is the fastest way to transport lots of water. Consider using drip irrigation hoses or tape.

Mulches: weed prevention and control

Why use mulches?

Mulching is an excellent way of controlling weeds and clearing ground. It works because mulches stop light from reaching the weeds. Without light they cannot grow, because they can’t photosynthesise (the process by which plants make food).

Mulches are coverings placed on the surface of the soil. They can be made from a number of materials, from light-excluding membranes (covers) to loose shredded prunings. To make sure the mulch works, it is important to choose the right one.

How do you use mulches?

In planted areas

Dig garden compost or organic fertilisers into the soil before putting the mulch on the soil.Put the mulch on to a moist, warm, weed free soil. Membranes look more attractive and last longer if they are covered in a 5cm layer of loose mulch such as ornamental bark.When using a loose mulch and no membrane,a top up is needed to keep a 10cm thick layer (every year or two).

When clearing ground

Cut down long grass and weeds with a strimmer.Lay the membrane over the area to be cleared, and hold

down with pegs or stones. If weeds break through the membrane, patch it as necessary.It can be held down with planks, bricks or straw.

Pros: Free. It is useful for clearing ground and can be replaced when the weeds start to grow through. Vigorous growing vegetables can be planted through it. Biodegradable (rots down).

Cons: Degrades quickly.

Newspaper Newspapers are excellent as a short term mulch. They will last one growing season.Use a whole, opened out newspaper at least eight pages thick. Hold down with a degradable mulch such as grass mowings, hay or straw.

Pros: Free. A thick layer will keep down perennial (grow back every year) weeds.Use round the base of fruit bushes and raspberries (remember to remove in autumn and replace in spring). They also makes good tree mats and can be used as a mulch in the vegetable garden. Biodegradable.

Cons: Degrades quickly. Can make soil more acidic.

Loose mulch

Woodchips

Woodchips come in many different varieties of wood. They are cheaper but less attractive than ornamental bark.

Pros: Excellent for informal paths.

Biodegradable. Good use of waste material.

Cons: Although it will stop some weeds growing the soil must be clear of all weeds before the woodchips are put down.

Clearing weeds using this method can take between six months to two or three years. However,the area doesn’t have to be bare. You can grow some vigorous plants through the mulch.

Mulch membranes

Geotextiles

Geotextiles are man-made membranes that are permeable (water and air can get through).They will last about 15 years, when covered with a loose mulch such as wood chips. Fasten the edges with wire pegs.

Pros: Excellent long-term weed control. You can plant through geotextile membranes.

Cons: Expensive. You can’t feed plants through it; worms can’t work in organic matter covering the membrane. A non-renewable resource (can’t be used again).

Black plastic film (400-600 gauge – thickness)

Black plastic will last for one to three years. To hold it down, bury the edges along all sides of the beds.

Pros: Useful for clearing weedy ground before planting. It can be covered with loose mulch.Vigorous vegetables, such as potatoes and courgettes, can be planted through the membrane.Warms up the soil.

Cons: As it is not air or water permeable it is not recommended for long term use. Will degrade (rot) quickly if exposed to the sun. A non-renewable resource.

Cardboard

Flattened cardboard makes an excellent mulch which will last for one growing season.

Ornamental bark

Ornamental bark is composted conifer bark. It is more expensive than woodchips but more attractive.

Pros: Excellent for decorative beds.It conditions the soil. Biodegradable. Good way of recycling waste material.

Cons: Although it will stop some perennial weeds growing soil must be clear of all weeds before it is put down.

Shredded prunings

Woody prunings and other woody material produced in the school grounds can be chipped or shredded to use as a mulch.

Heap them in a pile to compost for a few months before using on planted areas. Composting will darken the colour of the mulch,giving it a more natural appearance. Add nitrogen—in the form of grass mowings, nettle liquid or nitrogen-rich manures to speed up composting.

Pros: Can be used fresh for paths.

Biodegradable. Good use of waste materials.

Cons: Home made mulches, may degrade more quickly.

Straw/hay

Straw and hay will make a good mulch for one season. For the most effective weed control put straw over a membrane such as newspaper. It is better to use semi-rotted straw/hay.

Pros: Hay contains potash and nitrogen.Straw also supplies some potash. This mulch is good for fruit bushes. Biodegradable. Good use of waste material.

Cons: Hay can contain some weed seeds.

Sawdust

Best used as a mulch in ‘wild’ areas or to cover tree mats. Do not use sawdust from treated wood.

Pros: Biodegradable. Good use of waste material.

Cons: Sawdust takes nitrogen from the soil

and so should not be dug in.

Tree mats

It is important to keep 1m² area at the base of a tree free of other plants and weeds for three to five years after planting. If the area isn’t clear,the tree has competition for water and nutrients.Tree mats are made of wool, geotextile or black plastic. It is also possible to make your own using newspaper (see newspaper section).Fasten the mats down by burying the edges or pegging down.

Pros: Wool mats and geotextiles are air and water permeable. Tree mats can also be used around large shrubs.

Cons: Wool mats can be destroyed by birds using them for nesting material. Black plastic is not air and water permeable. Synthetic (man made) membranes are a non-renewable resource.

Ten Tips on Gardening with Kids

1. Kid gardens must be kid-based. This means that kids help generate the ideas for what will be there, help with construction and planting, and are responsible for maintenance. Grown-up’s need to facilitate and show how, but not do everything. Focus on the process of involving them, and they will then take ownership.

2. Develop the garden to be appropriate for the site and regional conditions. Involve the kids in the site analysis process so they understand how important the light, soil, drainage and other environmental factors are to having a garden. Develop the garden so the features and plant choices are adapted to local conditions, so you are not “working against nature.”

3. Focus on functional garden design, not how it will look. Start the design process by determining what the children want to be doing and learning in the garden. Base the features on the practical functions they will serve, and don’t worry too much about aesthetics. Gardens that serve as hands-on learning laboratories for kids will be beautiful because they are well-used and well-loved spaces. Also remember that the children’s sense of what is pretty may not be yours; that’s ok because the garden is their space.

4. Be comfortable with dirt. All kids are washable, so as long as parents have been notified about the gardening activity in advance and haven’t sent them in fancy clothing, let them get dirty. If mud is a concern once the kids are going back inside the building, try plastic grocery sacks over their shoes, or set up and hand-washing and shoe-scraping station before they go back inside.

5. Bugs and crawly things are cool. Children aren’t inherently afraid of things that crawl and creep. They learn that these things are bad or scary or icky from adults. When you pass on an aversion to something because of how it looks, that’s called “Prejudice.” Worms, caterpillars, grubs, insects, spiders and all sorts of wondrous creatures are out in your garden as part of the ecosystem. Please see them as integral parts of the system, and the kids will be amazed and curious, not afraid. Check out Worms Eat My Garbage and other great teaching resources on garden bugs.

6. No chemicals. Given that you are gardening with children, this really should not need any explanation. Also in urban areas, it is advisable to have a basic soil assessment for lead and other urban contaminants to make sure your site is safe for children before the garden is developed.

7. Grow some things to eat. Children are much more willing to try and consume fresh fruits and vegetables that they have grown. In fact, they likely will try things they never have eaten before because they have tended the plants through harvest. Since 60% of kids today don’t eat enough fruits and veggies. Have a harvest celebration and encourage the kids to share their bounty with others, whether informally or through other community gardens.

8. Reinforce the lessons from the garden while indoors. Prepare the kids for their gardening experience by asking questions like, “What will we see today?” or “How much do you think things have grown since last week?” Engage kids in keeping journals and/or scrapbooks of their garden to monitor its progress through the season and over the years. If working with a school garden, integrate the garden across disciplines beyond science.

9. Keep it fun. Have enough equipment, whether trowels or watering cans, to allow small teams of 4-8 kids to work together on a task. Many children do better in small group situations, and it’s also easier to guide the kids when each team has a specific assignment. Try partnering older grades and younger children to provide younger kids with a helper, and help older children to be more responsible. Have a plan for how the kids’ time in the garden will be organized so they aren’t left idle for long, but also be open to the “teachable moments” that come along.

10. Gardening is powerful experiences for children.Children have fewer and fewer chances to interact with the natural world, and the connection to nature is important for their development. Children who develop regard and concern for the natural world come to be good stewards of the land and its resources. Being responsible for tending a garden also fosters their sense of “nurturing” and helps them learn to care for other living things. Kids don’t often hear much positive feedback from adults, and creating and tending a garden also empowers kids because they hear that they have “done a good job” from other adults.

Enjoy
Willie

Planets like Earth are very rare,let`s not blow it.

September in the Community Garden

2011-09-12T19:36:00.002+01:00

Hi all,
Please see some photo`s from the community garden taken this month of September 2011.

Some wild flowers enjoying the sunny day in the garden.

This is the way good compost should look,when fully decomposed

This is the way green waste it starts out,and ends up as above.

One of our Crab apple trees,showing very good crop of small but excellent fruit.

We have started to plant our Spring bulbs for next years flowering.

September is the end of summer although we're often lucky to have a bit more summer and sunshine, nothing is certain with the weather. The bulk of the harvest comes home now and as crops come out the plot begins to empty

Harvest

The main crop potatoes should be ready now. To repeat August's advice regarding harvesting potatoes:

When you harvest your potatoes take care to remove all the tubers. Any left will not only sprout next year and becomes a weed but will also be a reservoir for disease and potato blight spores. It's often worth forking over a few days after harvesting potatoes because more seem to miraculously appear.

If blight has struck your potatoes the best method to preserve the crop is to remove the haulm and dispose of it then leave the potatoes in the ground for a fortnight or longer to stop the spores getting onto the tubers.

It's best to harvest potatoes fairly early in the day, rinse them off as they come from the ground and then leave in the sunlight for a day to thoroughly dry off and harden the skins before storing.

Sort carefully and place perfect specimens into hessian or paper sacks in a cool dark but frost free place. Damaged tubers should be used first before they have a chance to rot and spread their rot to the rest of the sack.

It's worthwhile to empty the sacks after a few weeks or a month and check that there are no potatoes going off. Discard these before they rot the sack. You might like to pop a few slug pellets into the sacks as well. It's amazing how the slugs can appear no matter how careful you are. If you are concerned about slug pellets, remember these are in store and present no risk to wildlife.

You may well have reasonably sized parsnips now but they will stay perfectly happy in the ground and do taste better after they have had a frost on them.

The runner beans and French beans will be continuing to produce and the last of the peas should be coming in. Compost the foliage of the peas but leave the roots in the ground as the nodules on them contain nitrogen.

The harvest will be in full swing and in addition to the above you should have:

Beetroot
Cabbage
Carrots
Cauliflowers
Courgettes
Cucumbers
Globe Artichokes
Kale
Kohlrabi
Lettuce

Leeks
Marrows
Onions
Pumpkins
Radishes
Spring Onions
Spinach
Sweetcorn
Tomatoes
Turnips

From the greenhouse you should be picking aubergines, chilli and sweet peppers as well as cucumbers and tomatoes.If you grow fruit then the picking should be in full swing there as well:

Apples, pears, plums, peaches from the trees, blackberries and raspberries from the canes and strawberries from the bed.

Sowing, Planting and Cultivating

Sowing

There's not a great deal to sow now but surprisingly it's the right time to sow winter lettuces such as Arctic King for spring harvests.

The other salad crop is the winter hardy spring onion. I'd suggest White Lisbon but ensure it is the winter hardy version.

Green Manure

Early September is the time to sow green manures. If you do not need to dig over your plot as you do with heavy soils or intend to spread manure on a patch then following on the last of a crop with a green manure is a great idea.

The first benefit is that the green manure will hold onto soil fertility that would otherwise be washed out by the winter rains. In fact, sowing a legume such as Winter Tares will fix nitrogen from the air.

Secondly, they will prevent weed growth so you will have less work to do.

Finally they help improve the soil structure. In the spring you just need to dig over and allow them to rot down for a few weeks.

One of the best green manures for winter growth is Hungarian grazing rye. It continues to grow, albeit slowly, in cold weather and should be around 15" tall come the spring from an early September sowing. Not only will you have a lush mass of foliage but it also produces a mass of roots that will provide humus for bacterial breakdown.

Planting Out

Your spring cabbage plants can be planted out now and over wintering (Japanese) onion sets can go in for an early onion harvest.

You can plant out garlic as well although I prefer to plant it out later in the year.

Cultivating

Keep feeding your tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. It's not really worthwhile feeding other plants at this time of year as they are nearly finished and the nutrients are best saved for the spring. Keep the side shoots in check on the tomatoes.

Fruit

Tidy up the summer fruiting raspberries, cutting off the canes that have fruited and tying in the new shoots that will bear next year.

The summer fruiting strawberries can be attended to now as well. Cut off the foliage about 1" from the ground, clearing and weeding as you go. Any runners can be planted up to replace 3 year old plants that are best replaced now.

General Tasks

Keep an eye on your brassicas for butterfly eggs and caterpillars, these will most probably be under the leaves. The greenhouse pests should be declining but keep an eye out if the weather is good.

Making Compost

If you've not already done so, empty your compost bins. The compost that is ready can be spread on the ground and the compost only partially rotted returned to the bin to finish off.

You will probably have quite a bit of foliage ready to compost and building a heap properly will help the transformation from green waste to valuable compost. At the base of the heap place woody material, sweetcorn stalks etc to allow some airflow up into the heap. Next place a six inch layer of green material and add some sulphate of ammonia or dried blood to add nitrogen. Just a small sprinkling is sufficient, about 50g per square metre (2oz per square yard) is about right.

Another layer of green material but this time lightly sprinkle with lime to keep the pH up. Repeat the process and top off with a piece of old carpet or some plastic sheeting to stop it getting too wet in the rain and to keep the heat in.

The heap should heat up after a few days and be ready to turn in four or six weeks. The smaller the particles the more surface area they have relative to weight and the faster they will decompose. If you have a shredder, this will be ideal but otherwise cut things up with shears, crush things like brassica stems and they will go down much faster.

If you don't have a shredder but do have a hover mower you can lay foliage on the lawn and run over it with the mower to shred it.

Regards and Happy Gardening where ever you may be.

Willie

A film on our community garden

2011-03-14T13:48:00.002Z

Short Irish Documentary to Premiere at Mecal Pro in Barcelona this April 2011

Film Title: Car Park Cultivation
Tagline: Turning tarmac into dinner!

About the film:
The plot on the busy South Circular Road in Dublin city was an abandoned car parking lot. It was covered in old, scrubby tarmac and, like countless other sites in Ireland in 2007, it was in the queue for planning permission to develop it into a 3-story apartment block. Then the
landowner gave permission for a group of residents to use the site as a temporary community garden...
This short, site-specific documentary is a film about the people who have transformed this abandoned car park in the city into a thriving oasis of biodiversity. They acknowledge some of the challenges that come from working communally, and they gently disclose some of the quiet joys they reap from getting their hands dirty each week with other folk from their neighbourhood.

Directed, Filmed and Edited by:
Nigel Heather & Aoibheann O'Sullivan (Tuned In, 8 Things to Remember, Forty Foot)

* Date of screening: Sunday the 17th April at 16h00.

* Venue: CINES MALDÀ, C/ Pi (Ciutat Vella) 5, 08002 Barcelona

Longer Analysis:
The charming simplicity of this community garden belies deeper, less obvious, socio-political complexities. In growing their own food these neighbours casually turn their back on the global food market with it’s escalating prices and carbon emissions; by growing organic food and seed saving they resist the genetic ownership and the copyrighting of nature; and by growing food communally in a voluntary, not-for-profit way in a small plot in Dublin earmarked for development since 2007 one could nearly believe that the corpse of the property-focused Celtic tiger just might make excellent compost. This is more than vegetables, it is spores of resistance, germinating action and blossoming community.

Due to Ireland’s economic downturn it is unlikely the apartment development on this piece of land will go ahead any time in the near future, and this garden is now part of a budding network of community gardens that are flourishing in disused plots and abandoned sites around the country.

Spring 2011

2011-02-01T19:21:00.004Z

Hi all fellow community gardens,
We have been doing some tidying up now that the new year is here in the community garden.I took some photo`s of some of the plots been readied for the year ahead.Applied our own compost from our compost bins onto two of the vegetable sections only at this time,we will be
getting the other two section as soon as we can weather permitting, lightly dug in and covered with straw to stop soil from drying out and keep weed seeds taken a hold and having to weed again in some areas.Please see photo`s enclosed.

Regards
Willie B.

Some section were covered with old carpet over the winter,will cover completely with straw,and will plant through the straw.

The joy of Spring.
Local wild bird "Robin"keeping an eye on proceedings. The Rhubarb showing the first leaf on the year,one hardy plant.

Snow Scene

2010-12-15T19:31:00.003Z

View from the wooden tool shed

Water that was dripping down from roof and was frozen in this scene

View looking at the common area in the garden.

We had some very heavy snow and cold weather here lately,and we are not finished with it yet??I have been in the community garden putting out wild bird seeds and fat balls to help our local wild birds over the snowy period in the garden.I took some photo`s of the garden in its white covering.

Regards
Willie B.

Open House Event/ Open Spaces

2010-10-28T10:22:00.011+01:00

We had a lovely day on the 8th of October hosting the OPEN SPACE EVENT organised by the Irish Architecture Foundation. There was a lovely turn out of new visitors to the garden. We made a large pot of soup from some of the garden vegetables for lunch.

The Open Space event has been introduced to the OPEN HOUSE event to highlight and make known topical issues around our built environment. Our community garden was chosen and selected alongside the Sitric Road Community Garden to highlight the value spaces like this give to our city. Hopefully future planners and architects of our cities will take note!!

There was an exhibition and event that ran alongside this event on the 7 of October at the Exchange Gallery. Aoibheann and Nidge showed there films on the garden and Kevin read his poems inspired by gardening and rebellious vegetables. Seoidín worked with 5 artists on this event more can be read here: COLLECTIVE DREAMING.

Japanese Peace Boat visits the garden

2010-06-29T17:02:00.009+01:00

On 14th June we hosted a visit from the Japanese-based Peace Boat, including atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This trip was organised by ECO-UNESCO. The visitors had a tour of the garden and helped out with some weeding and planting.

Food Cycle

2010-05-22T09:28:00.002+01:00

There will be a food cycle today. Everyone is welcome see link here. http://www.dublincycling.com/foodcycle

Green Community`s

2010-05-17T20:45:00.005+01:00

Hi all,
I went over to Wales on the week-end 7 May/9May 10 to do a work shop on Biodiversity in the Botanic Gardens.It was a great way to meet all other people interested in biodiversity and it will help us back home in our own community garden.
I enclose some photo`s from the week-end I hope you enjoy them,I also left some information in our wooden shed from the visit to our Welsh Green community neighbours .

Regards
Willie B.

Small garden in front of hotel.

Green house made out of plastic bottles.

Front entrance to greenhouse.

Inside of greenhouse.

Hedgehog hibernation box.

Busy making bird boxes.

As you can see very intense interest.

Willow fencing.

Entrance to the Glass house.

The interior of the largest spans glasshouse in Wales.

New Design's for the garden

2010-03-16T17:43:00.006Z

Two DIT Design Students were in the garden today, they are participating in a eco-design elective.
Michael built a mobile incubator for crops and Siobhan built a sculpture that can be used to support sweet peas, beans or sunflowers. Together they also built a bench. All creations were made from salvaged materials in the garden and some wood was collected from the salvage yard next door.

Kale for the Soup Kitchen

2010-03-16T17:38:00.004Z

Tess was in the garden today picking Kale for the missionary sisters of charity's Soup kitchen.

Second shed

2010-03-02T20:12:00.002Z

We were kindly given a donation of a used wooden shed to the community garden,as we are never shy to take and use an opportunity to further the benefit of the garden.The volunteers set about getting the shed assembled.First we had to move the smaller shed as we need more room to located the new shed and also no to block the light for the greenhouse which is still been put together.A VERY BIG THANK YOU TO ALL WHO HELPED ON THE DAY .So lets have a meeting in our bigger shed.

Regards
Willie B. ;>)

Moving the smaller shed many hands make light work.

A little more to the left.
This piece goes here

Can`t find the key to get in??

Final site of shed.

Greenhouse 2010

2010-02-25T21:03:00.002Z

Hi all,
Just a update on how the Greenhouse is getting on ,as you can see from the photo`s we are getting there slowly but surely and hope to use all, if not mostly all material from recycled material we have got from different sources.

Regards
Willie B.

The greenhouse frame starting to take shape, all wood used so far is scrap wood.

Greenhouse is in a South facing aspect so full Sun for most of the day.

"Freddy the Frog " takes a break from the new pond,has a rest in the grass beside pond.

New Pond

2010-02-15T17:55:00.003Z

Pond has a few more adjustment before it is set in place.

Yellod bricks we salvage from the near by skip.

Final touches to the pond.

"Freddy" our garden frog.

Busy at work, never to let a change of some bricks go by .Remember the 3 R`s Reduce,Reuse,Recycle.

Hi all,

Just got delivery of our new pond on Saturday 13th.Feb 2010.We all got stuck in and have it in place and water filled with the rain water from the water butts from around the garden.We have our own frog "Freddy" the frog,and the weater plants are placed around the pond both inside aswell as out.

Regards

Willie B.

New Year start in Community Garden 2010

2010-01-24T17:40:00.003Z

Warming big and small hands by the fire.

Discussing what to do at the fire.

Saving energy by cycling to the garden.

Doing some work and having a chat in the process.

Making use of the old bricks we removed from the garden to make a small raised bed to plant into,well done Jimmy.

Hi all,

Well a new year has started and time to dust off the festival season.We have only got over the very cold snow and frost period within the last few weeks.We started back in the garden on the 16 Jan. we are doing general tidying up as it is still not time to start planting seeds yet.We have got our seed ordered and some of our own saved from last year plants.

This Sat 23rd.was a cold one in the garden,but Jimmy got the fire going and it was very welcome to be able to warm cold hands and faces.The community members got down to work and did some general maintenance in the garden,I enclose some photo`s, we also had some visitors to the garden as the students are hoping to start up their own small student garden to help in their projects and to grow their own food.We wish them the best of luck and look forward to visiting the garden in the summer months.

Regards

Willie B.

saturday 12 Dec. 2009

2009-12-14T21:35:00.003Z

Clearing of bramble and young tree saplings.

Area cleared of unwanted weeds and mulched to let Daffs have agood start,as they are showing their heads above ground.

Getting down to basic`s in weeding and gerenal maintance in the garden.

Some more of our people helping out.

Young Daff`s showing their heads after weeding.

We had a good turn out of people on the saturday.There we did some general garden tidying up as you can see from the photos I enclose.The area we mulched was to ensure that the spring bulbs ie daffs have a change to get a head before the weeds got a foot hold.

Enjoy your Community Garden,

Willie B. ;>)

Kale in the garden

2009-11-15T18:33:00.003Z

Some of our plants gone to seed

Kale growing with nasturtiums.

More kale growing note;the soil covered after we spread our own compost on it with old carpet to keep weeds from growing.

Not many Cabbages left,also compost spread and soil covered to stop weed growing.

Hi all,

Bill & Dott took these photos of the kale growing in the community garden on sat. 14/11/09.

regards

Willie B.

LASC Conference

2009-10-06T22:11:00.001+01:00

Community Gardens are radical spaces by Seoidín O’Sullivan

During the LASC conference I was re-reminded that community gardens are radical spaces through Alberta Carino Trujillo a Mixtec woman from Oaxaca. I spoke at a workshop about Dublin’s community gardens in which the term 'Food Sovereignty' emerged. ‘The Right to Produce’ explained Alberta ‘ …in South America the term 'Food Security' is associated with Food Aid and GMO crops so is not used by grass root organizations.’ Within community gardens we create and encourage 'Food Sovereignty'. A collective share a piece of land in Dublin’s inner city. We skill share, we grow our own food, we create a positive public space where trust is central. Community gardens provide a way for people to take responsibility for their localities and their means of food production. It gives marginalised and poorer communities access to fresh organic fruit and vegetables and learning on how to grow their own . This leads to empowerment. It provides agency. It’s a space that challenges the status quo and norms often based on fear and only concerned with profit. It’s a place where issues of ‘Food Sovereignty’ in Dublin can be directly addressed. A beautiful anecdote from Alberta during the workshop was that in her culture they do not just think of the next generation but they prepare and think about the next 6 generations of peoples. Now that is sustainability! The learning and solidarity that workshops like the one recently organised by LASC provide are invaluable.

Seed Saving in September

2009-09-14T09:36:00.009+01:00

Roisín and her son at the picnic table (top picture). We discuss plans for a project to build a conservatory and water collection system in the community garden. Today we collected and packaged seeds. It was a beautiful warm sunny day.
Bridgette collects cabbages (bottom picture)to take to the sisters of charity local soup kitchen.

2009-09-09T20:49:00.004+01:00

Enjoying the Bring and Share in the community garden.

Hi all,

On Saturday 5 Sept.09 the South Circular Road held a Harvest day gathering in our community garden.The day was sunny with abit of a breeze,we all brought food to the harvest and what was in season in the garden we brought to the table in a Bring and Share .Plenty of food was had by all,and a Big Thank You for those who brought along cooked food and special prepared mixtures, as it went down very well along with the wine and bubbly.

The day finished off with a small talk on seed saving,what to look out for when gathering seeds,and how to pot up strawberry runners into pots as a way to increase your supply of plants for the coming year.

Many of our fellow community interested friends chat and discuss the many different topics regarding community actives.

Thank you all for making it a wonderful day and for the pleasure of your company.

Regards

Willie B.

2009-08-09T19:58:00.002+01:00

Keeping the garden in shape.

Garden shed been repaired by Jimmy.

Old computer been put to good use in the Hub studio car park in Dublin.

Hi,

A few photo`s on how the garden is doing ,most of the veg.is now fully grown and as it ripens the community garden helper`s have a share in the produce.Will soon be looking into what plans for next year.

Regards

Willie B.

sdcc Friarstown Allotments 25 July 09

2009-07-30T17:54:00.003+01:00

Hi all,

I went to the open day in south dublin open day in friarstown allotment,I an enclosing some photo`s of the site.I have put all of the photo`s on a cd which I will bring down on saturday for people to take a look at.I also brought seeds for the community garden for next year,

they are as follows : Peas;Oregon Sugar Pod,Early Onward,Beans; French Bean Dwarf "Tender Green",French Bean Climbing"Blue Lake",Courette Golden Zucchini "Jemmer F1",Carrot; Autumn King,Early Nantes,Cabbage;Greyhound,Red Drumhead,Primo,Lettuce;Lobojoits Cos,Parsley;Extra Triple Curled,Tomato;Ailsa Craig.

Prize giving for best plants,ie Spuds,Cabbages

Good turn out for the allotments.

View of Dublin city from one section of allotments.

Surrounding lands adjoining allotments.

Regards

Willie B.

Video on the garden project

2009-07-27T11:13:00.001+01:00

Car Park Cultivation

Saturday 18/7/09

2009-07-19T14:38:00.007+01:00

Hi all,
Up to date on the growing in the community garden,see enclosed photo`s

Flowers in bloom in one section.

Some of produce of the garden,which is the fruit of labour of the community garden people.

Getting the compost turn so as to keep it active.

New layer of wood mulch layed on top of old carpet to stop to

non-wanted plants growing.

Getting new area ready.

Regards

Willie B. ;>)

Cycle day 13 June 09

2009-06-17T19:08:00.005+01:00

We had a cycle day on Saturday last,it was a glorious day Sun shinning and people in a happy mood .We met at the Garden of Remembrance all 25 or so of us would be cyclist ready to go on this sunny day.The object was to visit some of the community gardens around the city of Dublin.First stop was the Sitric garden on Stric rd. then on to Bridgefoot st.finishing off in South Circular Community garden.Last but not least a picnic in Dartmouth Sq. garden for some chat and some eating of garden products i.e. Scallots,Salads,Herbs.Please see photo`s of the days visits.

Dartmount Sq. Taking in the Sun ray`s and just enjoying ourselves

S.C.R. Community front of garden.

S.C.R. Enjoying the talk and having a look around the garden.

Dartmount Sq. Last port of call.

S.C.R. from a another angle.

Sitric rd. Plant supports.

Sitric rd. Notice board outside garden with local information.

Sitric rd. Using rain water with water plants

Sitric rd.Get`s lots of Sun.

Sitric rd.All eager to see the garden

Bridgefoot St. One of the committee given a talk on the garden.

Waste not want not in Bridgefoot St.

Raised beds ,some of the different plants in growth.Bridgefoot St.

Bridgefoot St. Use of netting to keep of unwelcome guest.

Bridgefoot st. still space left to be used.

Bloom & SCR community garden

2009-06-05T21:11:00.003+01:00

Community garden from Greystones & Kilcool area using their banner to get the public interest at Bloom Garden show 2009.

Fresh batch of woodchips.

Dwarf beans planted among the Onions & Garlic.

Good use of netting to keep pigeon's away from cabbages.

Weather has been very good for the last week,lots of watering to keep plants in good condition during the growing season.Keep up the great work.

Regards

Willie B. ;>)

Art Workshops for children

2009-06-05T13:45:00.004+01:00

Here are some art activities for children inspired by our community garden.
ART WORKSHOPS with The Ark.

Bloom 2009 28 May

2009-05-28T20:57:00.004+01:00

Hi all,
Greetings from Bloom 09 just some photo`s I took when at Bloom in the park.It turned out to be a very warm sunny day,lots to see.If you are intending to go it well worth while.

Regards
Willie B. ;>)

Looking into our Speakers tent at Bloom 09

Community garden show area

Looking out from our area

What you can do with an old washing machine & cooker

Interesting designs

Curved walls and seating

Back garden plots

Seed Bombs

2009-05-25T18:55:00.006+01:00

On Saturday Willie gave the Eco Unesco youth group a tour of the garden. Seoidín then led an art workshop with them in St Andrews community Centre. It was National Drawing day on Saturday and the young people made drawings in response to there garden visit. The group also created Seed Bombs with wild flower seeds to throw into derelict sites in there areas to improve biodiversity. Seed bombs consist of compost, clay and seeds made into a round shape.see here for demonstration: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/video/2008/apr/25/seedbombing

June work in the community garden

2009-05-21T21:26:00.002+01:00

This is just a guide to what we can be at in the Community garden. As we can only hope the weather improves so the plants get some sun shine as well as ourselves.

Regards
Willie B. ;>)

June should bring us a hot sunshine filled month with the risk of frost passed and those in more northerly parts should be able to catch up with those in the south. We're also moving towards the longest day, June 21st being the summer solstice so there is plenty of daylight to let you get on with things.

There is a lot to do in June but the rewards for our efforts are coming in the harvest.
Harvest
Salad crops should be available, lettuce, spring onion, radish etc, Summer cabbage and early carrots. With carrots the later thinnings can provide a great addition to a salad or just steamed with a cooked meal.
The early potatoes will be coming in this month. Because your potatoes will be going from ground to pan in a matter of minutes you will discover a truly wonderful flavour.
Beetroot, young turnips and summer spinach may all be welcome fresh additions to your diet.
The early peas could well be cropping in June, especially in the south

Sowing, Planting and Cultivating

Cultivating
As with May, we really need to keep on top of the weeds. Hoeing them off as small seedlings will make the job far easier than waiting for them to grow and send their roots down. Hoeing is best done on a dry day so that the weeds do not have a chance to recover. Don't forget to sharpen your hoe before you start and frequently as you use it. Keeping a small sharpening stone or file in your pocket will make this more convenient.
Continue thinning out your carrots, parsnips, beetroot etc. As I said above, later carrot thinnings can provide a tender and tasty addition to a meal.
Water when required. Your best measuring instrument for water is your finger. If the top of the soil looks dry, insert your finger into the soil. If it's dry at the tip, then you need to water.
Don't just sprinkle a few drops on the surface, it probably won't penetrate and do any good. Far better to give a good soaking less frequently that will get to the roots of your crops.
In very dry weather, keeping the surface friable by hoeing will help keep the water from getting to the surface by capillary action and then evaporating away. It also helps water soak in when you do get some rain.

Planting
You should be able to plant out brassicas now. Broccoli and Calabrese, Brussels sprouts, summer cabbage.
If you have started beans in pots, both runner and French these can go into the outside too. Leeks may well be ready to move to their final position. Ideally they want to be about pencil thickness. Don't follow the old guidance to trim the leaves and roots when transplanting leeks. It has been proven to be of no benefit and is counter-productive. Celery can go out now as well.
Outdoor tomatoes can go to their final position now. When moving plants from greenhouse to outdoors it is a good idea to condition them to the move. Take them out in the day and put them back at night for a few days or move from greenhouse to coldframe. This avoids shocking the plant by a sudden and drastic change in climate.

Sowing
There is a lot to sow this month and with many crops you can sow one set and then a few weeks later re-sow to give you a succession of fresh vegetables at the peak of perfection. In dry weather it is a good idea to soak your seed drill before sowing and then just water with a fine rose after.
French and Runner Beans
Maincrop peas
Beetroot
Carrots
Turnips
Swedes
Cauliflowers
Chicory
Endive
Kohlrabi
Sweetcorn
Squash
Courgette and Marrows
Cucucumber
Beetroot, french beans, carrots, kohlrabi, peas, lettuce, endive,radish should be sown at intervals throughout the summer months to provide a constant supply Successional sowing ensures you always have fresh crops at the peak for your table

In the greenhouse
Keep pinching off the side shoots with your tomatoes and keep an eye out for pests such as aphids, whitefly, red spider mite. If you are subject to attack by these pests it is worth checking out biological controls as these are perfectly safe to use and, used correctly, more effective than traditional chemical controls. Many of the chemical controls of the past are no longer available anyway so the organic alternatives are now the mainstream choice.

Fruit
Make sure your fruiting plants have sufficient water when the fruit is swelling. This is critical to a good crop.
Thin out plums and apples in June. Better to have one reasonable apple than three miniature marbles. Nature naturally tends towards this and sheds excess fruit. This is known as the 'June Drop'. It's best to thin out after this.

General Tasks
The infantry of slugs and snails are attacking at ground level so take action to keep them down and the air force of birds are coming from the skies to eat your crops. Don't forget the netting.
The butterflies are about now as well. Beautiful as they are, check the undersides of your brassica leaves for the yellow or white eggs that will hatch into caterpillars and devastate the plant. You can squash them, wipe or wash them off easily at this stage.

Food Cycle

2009-05-19T15:23:00.001+01:00

Food Fight

2009-05-19T11:49:00.002+01:00

Food Fight! Present:

Growing Food Building Communities
A Presentation & Discussion on Community Gardens

A presentation by Miriam Turley ( Eglantine Community Garden , Belfast ), & Seoidin O'Sullivan (The South Circular Road Food Garden Project, Dublin ).

Wednesday 20th May

Seomra Spraoi
Dinner Served 7-8pm

Presentation kicks off at 8pm

Food Fight!:

Food Fight! is a monthly food/politics info night & cafe at Seomra Spraoi. Take some generous lashings of sustainable food, whizz it up with flavoursome talks, films & presentations and you're in for a tasty treat. It's for anyone passionate about food & changing the world...

The South Circular Road Food Garden Project: Dublin

The South Circular Road Food Garden Project began in April 2007 when a collective from the recently evicted Dolphins Barn Garden (2005-2006) decided to continue the project on a new site. They have a derelict site, once a car park on loan from ST Salvage Company that they have converted into a community food garden. Seoidin will talk about the history of the project and bring people up to date on community and educational initiatives that they are currently involved in."

http://southcirculargarden.blogspot.com/

The Eglantine Community Garden (The Anarchist Plot): Belfast

The Eglantine Community Garden has achieved lots of things in its 5 year lifetime. It has provided a community space for people who would have been strangers to become neighbours. It has been a training ground for community organisers and community gardeners. It's a wildlife space, and things can get pretty wild on friday nights. Islamophobes have been seen out gathering up rubbish with the objects of their fear. We met a 97 year old local resident and started a local history project.

Where does the food come in? To be honest, it hasn't featured highly to date. The idea of community food production has attracted a lot of people to the site, but the production is not what you might call intensive. But from this month 8 people have their own plots, and are learning to grow with the help of gardening workshops. And some of us are starting to look a bit more closely at food production methods. Working on and using the site has embedded it in people's hearts, and protected it for the future. In the future perhaps it will significantly contribute to the diet of the local population.

http://eglantine-community-garden.blogspot.com/

Seomra Spraoi is Dublin 's autonomous social centre.

Cafe every Wednesday at 7pm and Sunday at 3pm with food at recession friendly suggested donations we believe healthy food is a right not a privilege.

10 Belvedere Court

Off Gardiner Street

Map & more info at

www.seomraspraoi.org

Potential new site in Sundrive area

2009-05-15T20:14:00.003+01:00

Hi all,

I have had a request if any of our community would be interest in delvloping a site in the Sundrive area near sundrive shopping area.I enclose some photo`s of the site.This site is owned by the DCC and the contract is John Houlihan senior community officer in the Crumlin area.His contract numbers are (O) 01 2225507 (M) 086 8150174 he is based in the Crumlin village office of DCC.

This site will offer somebody a challenging opportunity to getting this site off the ground so to speak.I am at the moment just too busy on other projects.You can mention my name when talking to John Houlihan.

Regards

Willie Brennan

sat 11 April 09

2009-04-13T15:03:00.003+01:00

We are getting our community garden ready for the coming growing season,as we have had our seed sharing event we are just waiting to have our seeds come back from all our committed gardeners.As when we get our seedlings up and growing they will be planted in the garden so all can see the fruits of their labour.

Doing some garden chores.

Close up of one of our compost bins in a very healthy state.

Very nice compost made from all green waste.

Some of our visitor's from Islandbridge helping with watering.

Getting a helping hand.

Griffith Barracks School's Plot

2009-03-27T11:49:00.007Z

On Wednesday, Griffith Barracks Multi Denominational school's green council (http://www.griffithbarracks.ie/green-council) walked down to the community garden with a wheel barrow of compost. They had a tour of the garden and added the compost that they had made to the plot that we have given them. They each planted peas that we had saved from last year. We are looking forward to having them participate in the project.

Its that time of the year

2009-03-15T20:18:00.004Z

Ah the start of a new growing season.

Our new community compost bin area.

New area for our fruit shrubs.

New tent like small green house.

Planting starts anew with Onions & Scallots.

Time to get the seeds and start growing in "09"

Starting to plant our Onions and Scallots in our bed 1 as the new growing year starts in March 09 .

Regards

Willie

Spring 09

2009-02-17T19:34:00.003Z

Planting of Fruit tree.

Clearing an area for planting fruit shrubs.

First signs of new fresh Rhubarb.

New compost area.

Area cleared and fruit shrubs planted,manure mixed into soil and mulch.

Hi from Sth.Circular road,

Have planted some fruit shrubs in an new area of the garden and did some general tidying up after the Winter.Created a new compost area and to allow the old site to decompose over the summer period.Hope we get a good summer after last years wet and windy summer.

Regards

Willie B.

Winter Chores

2008-11-12T23:22:00.002Z

Planting some some sommer flower plants.

The last of the wood mulch.

Mulching the walk ways.

Hi all,

Just a few lines to let you all know that there is still some Winter chores still going on .

Dublin Food Growing Meeting

2008-11-08T15:34:00.000Z

The next full gathering of Dublin Food Growing will take place from 2pm to 5pm on Sunday November 9th, 2008 at the Cultivate Centre, Temple Bar, Dublin.

It has been a while since there has been a full gathering of people interested in Dublin Food Growing and it would be good to get more people involved.

The first half of the meeting will include short presentations and discussions about the various projects and plans, to bring everyone up to speed with what has been going on in Dublin Food Growing. These presentations will include:

- intro to Dublin Food Growing
- website development
- allotment campaign
- backyard sharing
- National Community Garden Network
- feasibility study
- Farmleigh Allotments proposal and follow-up
- research/educational gardens
- etc.

For the second half of the

meeting will be breaking up into smaller groups to have more focused discussions about key areas:

- website (have a look at the new website if you get a chance - it is still under development)
- allotment campaign
- fund raising
- education
- other

Everyone who is interested in more food being grown in Dublin is welcome to come along. Please tell anyone that you think might be interested.

For more information go to dublinfoodgrowing.org email dublinfoodgrowing@gmail.com

Seed Saving Wednesday

2008-10-22T20:07:00.010+01:00

Regular Gardening will be on Wednesday from 3pm for those that can't make Saturdays. Dot and myself (Seoidin) gardened today, we did a lot of weeding around the spinach and strawberries. We collected seeds off the Nasturcians. This is the first year that we have started seed saving in our garden, which is exciting. Beans and peas are drying in the shed and Willie printed and designed seed packets for the garden. Sister Timothy and Sister Deepthy called to say hi and had a tour of the garden.

2008-10-19T13:59:00.002+01:00

Winter veg,Onions,Garlic,Shallots in raised bed.
Nice close view of var.vinca,cotoneaster.

Hi again,

Some more photos for Oct.19 08.

Spring Bulbs/Winter Veg.

2008-10-19T13:32:00.003+01:00

Bulbs been planted.
Bulbs been planted beside pond.
Arrival of the good stuff on Sunday morning 19 Oct.08
Wood mulch & manure
Mushroom growing up from the wood mulch.

Hi all,
I have planted Spring bulbs (Daffs) all along where the sunflowers where beside pond see photos attached.Manure has arrived from Lorraine to-day Sunday 19 Oct 08.

Oct 4 08 community garden

2008-10-06T20:13:00.002+01:00

Some photos of the garden getting ready for its Winter season.

Crab apple tree showing fruits.
Lots of weeding and taken out of plants that have gone over.
One of the beds nearly finished.
Seed saving envelopes for our seeds from the garden.

4 October meeting

2008-10-01T16:53:00.006+01:00

Bruce Darrell from Dublin Food Growing will be meeting us in the garden on Saturday 4 October at 2pm. www.dublinfoodgrowing.org. All welcome!
We will be in the garden from 1pm harvesting and seed saving so feel free to join us.

RTE News Feature The Garden

2008-07-14T22:41:00.007+01:00

The South Circular Road Garden was featured on RTE One's six ones news this evening

see: Community Gardening Taking Root

http://www.rte.ie/news/6news/index.html

sat 5 July

2008-07-09T21:30:00.006+01:00

How it looks on the plot.

Label made from scrap flooring material.

Viewing progress.

Spuds for the pot.

Spud named "Desiree"

Plan of action

On Sat. 5 July 08 Compost heap was turned and a new section was created to accommodate new organic waste.Spuds section was taken up with one section left and another veg. that need to be taken out as some of the veg. was going over. .Lots of weeding was done and general maintance carried out.

Best to all

Willie B.

Art intervention in the garden: The Fog

2008-06-25T11:43:00.001+01:00

Fog is a participatory artistic intervention work intended to be developed in the landscape. The large fog banks that move across the landscape are the actual starting point of this project. The artist, Marta Fernández Calvo, has created a "portable fog kit" from different photographs of fog taken in Dolomitas (Italy). The Fog was in the garden on the 26 June 2008.

Community meeting 27 May

2008-06-10T23:21:00.000+01:00

We hosted a meeting on the 27 May on 'Healthy food for Dublin 8'. We initially met in the Parish Centre in Rialto where Annie had prepared a delicious beetroot salad. Everyone who attended received a couple of sunflowers from our last years seed harvest. We then walked up to the Garden where Willie gave a compost workshop and we all shared food growing tips and advice.

The Grass Roots Gathering workshop

2008-06-10T23:02:00.000+01:00

On Sunday we did a workshop on the story of Dolphins Barn Community garden during the Grass Roots Gathering see http://grassrootsgathering.wordpress.com/

sat June 7 08

2008-06-07T20:41:00.000+01:00

Mulch just arrived.
Mulch around sunflowers
Compost bin been turned,just look at how good it is ?
Close up of compost.

Mulch around the herbs section.

Best Willie B.

Picnic on Saturday 10 May

2008-05-15T17:43:00.000+01:00

Adrian, Willie, David, Carolina and baby Celeste take a rest in the Garden on Saturday to enjoy the bring and share picnic, while Kevin plants out the beans. We created the fourth bed, that will be used in a four bed crop rotation and planted out some of the seedlings. Beans, Peas and celery were planted. We have created a shared watering roster for during the week as all this glorious sunshine means thirsty plants.

The pond

2008-05-06T20:53:00.000+01:00

Annie, Bjarne, Alister and Sarah made a pond for the garden.

Making the pond

2008-05-06T20:51:00.000+01:00

Undercover

2008-04-14T14:14:00.001+01:00

Willie, Ralph, Ciaran and Seoidin take cover from the hale outside. We planted, beetroot, potatoes carrots and sunflowers today. Other gardeners took seeds home to begin planting on there window sills at home.

Compost

2008-04-14T14:08:00.001+01:00

Ciaran and David turn the compost. We have plans to create a local compost project so the wider community can contribute their compost to the garden.

The rain came down

2008-04-14T14:05:00.001+01:00

The rain came down so we moved to our local pub Lowes to continue discussion over a large pot of tea.

April 12 2008

2008-04-14T13:59:00.000+01:00

We met in the Garden on Saturday to organise and discuss issues around the community garden. There was a good turn out and lots of enthusiasm.

January 2008

2008-01-21T14:18:00.000Z

Gardening for the next few weeks is on Saturdays at 12 pm. All are welcome. Here is a map so you can find it . . its on the corner of South Circular Rd and Place avenue in Dolphins Barn, Dublin 8.

Harvest the sunflower seeds

2007-11-11T18:58:00.000Z

Ralph and Seoidín harvesting the seeds from the sunflowers on 10 November. We are going to bag the seeds so that they can be planted during Spring '08.

Saturday 13 October

2007-10-18T14:11:00.000+01:00

There were twelve of us in the garden today.It was lovely to have so many people working on the site. A large compost box was built with pallets (the image shows the lads taking a tea break after sawing and hammering the compost bin together), Aoife's apple trees (http://fourdublin.com/AoifeDesmondart.htm)were planted and we planted a lot of cabbage for the winter.

Winter Gardening

2007-10-09T17:38:00.000+01:00

During the winter months we will be meeting at 11 am on Saturdays
Hope to see you there

The Harvest 22 September

2007-09-22T21:32:00.001+01:00

We met today at 11am and did some weeding and harvested a lot of the vegetables. We harvested carrots, onions, beetroot, turnips, maze, herbs and chillies. Some of the vegetables were taken to Seomra Spraoi and donated to the cafe where the cooking collective will be preparing food for the vegan cafe tomorrow. There will be a presentation about the garden tomorrow in Seomra Spraoi at 5.30pm.

Sunflowers

2007-09-13T20:13:00.001+01:00

The Garden

2007-09-13T12:06:00.000+01:00

After all the rain the vegetables grew really well. This is the garden in full bloom.

Table for the garden

2007-09-13T11:58:00.000+01:00

Ralph and Helder built a table from palettes for the garden in late July. Here is an image of both of them resting and absorbing one of the precious days of sunshine. The table is given approval by our neighbour Tim.

Tuesday, 7th of August

2007-08-06T20:59:00.000+01:00

The weather forecast for Tuesday says: A few showers, but mainly dry, with good sunny spells. Assuming that it turns out to be true, I plan to be in the garden from 7pm to 9. (I have a key now!) -- David

2007-07-06T00:22:00.000+01:00

Best of luck to Kieran who is leaving Dublin soon to wield a shovel and pickaxe over in France - the French soil better beware! He'll be missed for getting stuff done - and fast! - at the SCR. Bon Voyage!

Mailing List, Email, Actions from Minutes (June 16th) and Flyer

2007-06-17T12:28:00.000+01:00

The easiest ways to keep up-to-date on events is to either:
subscribe to the mailing list here >> Mailing List
or email dolphinsbarngarden@gmail.com

Actions from Minutes (June 16th)....

Original Flyer (print as double-sided landscape)....==

A slightly late post about " Sustainability Week" in the Botanic Gardens (16th - 25th June)

2007-06-17T11:57:00.000+01:00

We only found out about this yesterday...."During 'Sustainability Week' at the National Botanic Gardens....environmental care, recycling and general sustainability will be showcased for visitors".....Details Here
Kevin will have some flyers at a stand on Sunday 17th.
...
..

Blackfly on the Artichokes

2007-06-12T00:01:00.000+01:00

Apparently, artichokes are susceptible to blackfly aphids. Apparently soapy water gets rid of them (tips here). I'll leave a spray bottle (eg widowlene bottle) nearby the artichokes tomorrow for regular spraying. In a few weeks time we might also try the nettle fertiliser approach.

Transplanted Vegetables and Herbs

2007-06-08T11:44:00.001+01:00

Garden vegetables kindly provided by the Dublin-Meath Growers Association.

2007-06-06T13:22:00.000+01:00

At Bloom 2007 we were kindly allowed to take as much vegetables as we wanted from the 'Agraria' show garden (see image above). The batch includes include beans, peas, cabbages, potatoes, carrots, corn, beets, turnips, scallions, onions, pak choi, strawberries and a range of healthy and very aromatic herbs.

We are currently in the process of transplanting all this veg so please try and make any of the Tuesday (7pm), Thursday(7pm) or Saturday (3pm) sessions if at all possible. We also just installed a tap. An image of the transplanted veg will follow shortly......

Agraria was a conceptual display garden created for the Dublin-Meath Growers Association to demonstrate fruit and vegetable production in Dublin’s surrounding counties and to acknowledge the support received by local growers from Tesco Ireland.

Some Background to the Project

2007-06-05T11:18:00.000+01:00

Over the last 6 months 20 local residents in the Dolphin's Barn/Rialto area of Dublin city have been involved in sourcing and imagining a new local community food garden. Seoidin O'Sullivan, a Community Artist in residence in Studio468, St Andrews Community Center, Rialto, invited the Canal Community Gardeners, a voluntary organisation to make use of her studio to discuss the potential for a legitimate community garden for the local area. ST Salvage kindly donated a temporary site for the project which is on the corner of South Circular Rd and Place Avenue, Dolphins Barn, D8. The Canal Community Gardeners are interested in sourcing and campaigning for allotments and green spaces within inner city Dublin. It is hoped that this garden will be a prototype for other community gardens in and around inner city Dublin. Community Gardens are places where people are able to grow food together, they provide a social space where neighbours are able to meet and plant and share in a collective activity.

Bloom in the Park 2007

2007-05-30T15:03:00.000+01:00

Details here >> Bloom in the Park 2007
Friday 1st June 10:00am - 8:00pm
Saturday 2nd June 10:00am - 6:00pm
Sunday 3rd June 10:00am - 6:00pm
Monday 4th June 10:00am - 6:00pm

Other Events

2007-05-29T09:50:00.000+01:00

Rialto Flower Sale
Tuesday 29th May from 6 - 8 p.m.
in The Garden, Rialto Day Centre, St. Andrew's Community Centre, 468 South Circular Road. Flower Sale run by Rialto Environment Group, subsidised by Dublin City Council in preparation for Rialto's entry to the National Tidy Town's Competition.

Cultivate Garden Club
Details Here...

Plants dropped off today.

2007-05-24T15:59:00.000+01:00

Artichokes – Perennial. So put them somewhere they can stay. They grow quite big – 4 ft high, and 2-3 feet wide. Celeriac – autumn/winter harvest. Need to be planted out in their final position soon. Tomatoes – from seedsavers – a variety that has been grown in Ireland for years. Planted very early, so they have got a bit leggy – fix this by planting them fairly deeply. They have been outside for a good few weeks, so they are pretty hardy.
.....Thanks Anna

Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays

2007-05-23T12:25:00.001+01:00

Regular gardening is now on the following days.....Tue (630-830pm), Thur (630-830pm), Sat (200-630pm). This post is a placeholder for attendance at the regular sessions. We may be able to get an idea of the likely attendance using the comments......Just add a comment if you think you are likely to go on any particular day. If you have any problems posting just email me....I might have to change some settings as the blog doesn't allow anonymous comments. - Kieran

Minutes, Flyer and "Before and During" Pictures

2007-05-17T16:58:00.000+01:00

Minutes of meeting May 15 2007.pdf
Flyer...print 4 pages per page on both sides for postcard size flyers
Here's some montages of before and during scenarios.
Day 28

Day 14

Day 1

Current Tasks and Topsoil

2007-05-17T14:40:00.000+01:00

1...Move plants from studio to garden.
2...Get 2 wheelbarrows and 2 fine rakes.
3...Get money for topsoil and update garden accounts (I hope to scan in receipts to date by tomorrow).
4...Draw up garden plan....click on and print the 'framework sketch' image above if you have any ideas you'd like to see included in the garden. Draw on it and leave in the garden or email it to dolphinsbarngarden@gmail.com.

Layout

2007-05-16T10:53:00.000+01:00

...

First Post

2007-05-15T23:12:00.000+01:00

Regular gardening on the SCR plot is due to begin for the Summer. At least two people will be rostered to open the garden on Tuesday, Thursday evenings and Saturday from 2pm. Email (dolphinsbarngarden@gmail.com) for further details.