Glasgow Guerrilla Gardening

Hi,
A massive thank-you to everyone who turned out on Saturday and also to those who sent their apologies and best wishes. It’s all very much appreciated.
As those of you who braved the cold on Saturday or received the last email will know the BBC will be along on Wednesday to film our activities. This is
a really great opportunity for us to attract some much needed practical support so it would be great if we can all ensure it goes well.

From my limited showbiz experience, I’m guessing that they’ll be looking for a before and after shot for their report. Whilst this isn’t the most realistic
representation of the work both we and nature put in, in trying to establish the garden, it is a neat way of showing visually the positive impact groups
like ours can have on the local environment.

The easiest and cheapest way open to us of making a big impact on the site in a short time is for us all to be planting similar stuff. So for that reason
we’re again asking anyone who is able to bring along primroses/primula or polyanthus on Wednesday. Morrisons supermarket are currently selling these
at £1 each or 4 for £2.29 or 6 for £3.29. They are also available from garden centres and other retailers. This tactic of planting from the same plan served
us well for our big 10,000 bulb challenge as you’ll see from the multitude of green shoots popping up all over the site and in this case will let us make a big
impact quickly.

This is not only a good thing for the TV cameras. Primroses are a natural woodland plant and even cultivated varieties provide a valuable source of
nectar for bees who will be back with us in the next few weeks. Food is really scarce for bees in early spring and with so many species of bee under threat
it is vital that we try our best to provide them with a meal.  As people who have been helping out for a while will be aware this is a planned and designed site
a major factor in designing the site was the hope that we could use the land to create an urban oasis for wildlife. So if you can come along with a primrose
or two on Wednesday you’ll be doing us and the bees a massive favour.

Beyond Wednesday we’ll next be meeting up at 11:30am on Saturday 13th March at our Townhead site and as ever you’re all more than welcome to come along.
We’ll be planting more primula, hellebores and crocosima bulbs as well as picking up litter and relocating a few already established plants to make way for some
new introductions and bring the layout of the site into line with the agreed design. If you’re intending to bring along different plants to those mentioned, can I ask
that you email ahead for advice on suitability and to discuss where on the site it should be located.

Hope to see you all soon

Townhead site.

Saturday morning 11:30 till 12:30.

Townhead site is at ‘B’, A is Queen Street, to give you a guide on where to go.

If you’d like to attend on either or any day can you please respond to this message or email  so that we have an idea of numbers.  If you haven’t attended before you’d be more than welcome on any of our Digs.

Thanks,

This Saturday then, 11:30 am. The Townhead Site. Just outside St Mungo’s Primary School on the lane connecting Stirling Rd and Parson St. It is just down from the ‘A’ on this map:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=parson+street+glasgow&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=19.983648,38.979492&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Parson+St,+Glasgow,+Lanarkshire+G4,+United+Kingdom&t=h&z=16

Unsure what to bring, just ask,

for about 6 months now a group of resident in battlefield (southside) have been transforming a bit of derelict land into the area. so far we’ve planted around 300 bulbs, a couple of fruit bushes and built a composting area. next we’re making raised beds.
the garden doesn’t have ‘permission’ and is completely done by volunteers with no funding, not a lot of time but lots of love.
if anyone lives in the battlefield/langside area you’d be welcome to join us.

A massive thank-you to everyone who came along last Saturday, your help is as ever very much appreciated. However there’s still tons to do we have daffodils, tulips, fritallaries, alliums anemones, grape hyacinths and hyacinths that urgently need planted before the New Year.

As things stand I’m pondering the very real possibility of having to spend the earlier part of Christmas Day planting to get everything in the ground before the end of the month. Much as I enjoy gardening I’d rather be in a position to take Christmas Day off!

We’ll be meeting up this Saturday 19th December to plant the above bulbs at the usual meeting place on the lane that connects Stirling Rd and Parson St outside St Mungos Primary in Townhead at 11:30am.

If we can get roughly twenty folk out for an hour this Saturday it’s very likely that we’ll get the planting finished ahead of deadline and it really would be a shame to have come this far and fall at the last hurdle.
So far four people have confirmed they’ll be attending, all we need is another sixteen folk and we’ll be done in no time. Provided everyone sticks to the planting plan and pitches in to help the site should be very impressive come next spring, not to mention highly attractive to both people and wildlife alike.

As you may be aware we are an unfunded group (though we hope this will change over the coming months). That means every bulb that has been bought and planted is down to the donations and hard work of everyone who has helped out this year. Everyone who has been involved can rightly feel proud of their amazing achievement so far, we just need one final big push to finish on schedule. If you haven’t been along so far it’s not too late to be part of this remarkable piece of community action.

We have plenty bulbs for you to plant so all you need bring are a pair of gardening gloves and a trowel, small fork or a bulb planter. If you haven’t been along before, lack of experience is not a problem as I’ll be on hand to explain the very simple planting plan and give a bit of guidance if you’re unsure of anything.

If you have any questions or would like to help out please do not hesitate to get in touch via email.

Morrisons are doing some very good deals on plants just now, including two of the plants we need for Townhead. We are desperately short of Primroses and Hellebores both of which are available at Morrisons at £3.29 for six Primroses and £1.79 for a single Hellebore. Please feel free to bring these along if you fancy planting something.

Here is a short interview with Richard Reynolds on The Browser in which he discusses five books which have inspired him in his guerrilla gardening activities. It looks an interesting list and should be of interest to anyone involved in guerrilla gardening. I’ll certainly be adding a few of the titles to my never ending list of things to read.

Returning to books I have got round to reading I can highly recommend Richard Reynolds On Guerrilla Gardening: A Handbook for Gardening without Boundaries
and Chris Baines very readable How to Make a Wildlife Garden