Glasgow Guerrilla Gardening

We next meet on 10/04/2010 at 11:30am at Townhead to plant Crocosmia bulbs, continue removing leaves and sow nasturtium seeds.

I was tending the plot at Wilson Street today when I was surprised to discover two small bushes had been added to the garden. It would appear that I am not alone in tending this patch. I’m delighted to be receiving help and would love to know who’s responsible. Can anyone help?

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,

Let’s start off with a massive thank-you to all who braved the hellish weather at the weekend to get some more bulbs planted. Despite the low turnout and my abduction by the press an impressive amount of work was done with hundreds more bulbs planted.

Next week we’ll be back to our usual time of 11:30am up at Townhead and as ever there’s loads to do. This week should see the winter aconites and the last of the grape hyacinths planted. In addition I’ve been given a bag of daffodils and post permitting should have 1000 snowdrops, 50 wood anemone and 100 English Bluebells to add to the display.

We’ve done well to raise the funds we have but sadly we’re still short of our 10,000 target by some way. The council were in touch recently and made positive noises about helping us out with some tulips and daffodils which should hopefully see us reach our individual targets on those flowers. However we still urgently require 900 English Bluebells, 950 Wood Anemone and 300 Snakeshead Fritallaries. If the council let us down then we’re also still short by 600 mixed daffodils and 900 tulips. A total shortfall of around 3650 bulbs.

If you would like to donate to our funds then please do so via paypal. If you’d prefer to bring some bulbs along then we’ll be accepting donations of bulbs at Townhead if you’d like to come along and drop them off. We’ve only got until 31st December to meet our target and have done well despite some recent setbacks. It would be a shame to come this far and fall short so if you have any spare cash or bulbs we really would be very grateful for your donations.

We’ll be up at Townhead on Saturday 21st Nov at 11:30am, Saturday 28th November at 11:30am, December 5th 11:30am, December 12th 11:30am, December 19th 11:30am and Wednesday 30th December at 12pm. If you’d like to come along to any of these events with some bulbs of the still needed varieties, some gloves and trowel or bulb planter you’ll be more than welcome.

A big thanks to all those who have been coming along and an even bigger thanks to those who have donated or contributed to the 10000 bulb campaign. As of Saturday we have planted around 4000 of our 10000 target.

some photos from Saturday 17th October 2009:

As you may be aware we have started planning and fundraising to buy spring bulbs for next year. So far donations have been slow but hopefully things will pick up as the year progresses, so far we have raised a total of £88:95 which leaves £866.05 to go to reach our target before the New Year. To break this down further if eighty-six people donate a tenner, I’ll fire in the £6.05 and we’ll have cracked it!

The donations received so far mean we have been able to order our first bulbs, 1000 Muscari Armeniacum, 200 Mixed Crocuses, 1000 Alluim Sphaerocephalon and 1000 Winter Aconites which means we’ve 6800 bulbs to go with just £40 remaining in the kitty. Having reached the 1000 target on Muscari Armeniacum, we are now looking for 800 Crocuses, 1000 Mixed Snowdrops, 1000 Native Wood Anemone, 1000 Mixed Daffodils, 1000 English Bluebells, 1000 Snakeshead Fritallaries and 1000 Mixed Tulips. So we still need your help.

If you would like to help out you can donate cash via paypal or donate bulbs at our big bulb planting events at the end of August (if you would like to donate bulbs without attending please email us to arrange collection/delivery). You can even help without putting your hand in your pocket by visiting our Squidoo site and using the Amazon and eBay links to make purchases on these sites which will earn us a small commission.

If you work for or run a business and are interested in sponsoring the challenge, please get in touch with us to dicuss how your support can help both us and your business.

UPDATE: At the last minute we have recived payment for our talk at the CCA which now leaves us with only £765.05 to go.

UPDATE (MG 03-08-2009): £745.05 to go