Glasgow Guerrilla Gardening

I spent a very enjoyable few hours up at Townhead today, every week new shoots are appearing and more spring bulbs are blooming. We currently have a very nice display of hellebores and primroses on the site, so it’s well worth talking a stroll by if you’re in the area.

We continue to get great feedback from the public for all our hard work on the site. Today I was awarded a banana by a passer by which provided a welcome snack and excuse to pause for a break.

All in all I managed to get a fair bit done and have added teasel, hardy geraniums, quaking grass, yellow loosestrife, primula, poached eggs and sweet rocket to the beds for what fingers crossed should be a colourful display come summer. Removing the debris of autumn and winter continues and there is still loads to do so any help, even just a quick half hour is welcome.

We next meet as a group on the 26th Feb and it would be great to see a few old and new faces come along.

A big thanks to all who came along today. We got quite a bit planted and made some inroads into clearing the weeds and fallen leaves. As ever with gardening, there is still tons to do. With that in mind we next meet up on
Saturday 30th October, 11am at our Townhead site.

We’ll be planting bulbs, if you’d like to bring some we’re after native bluebells, snowdrops, daffodils, crocuses, amemone blanda, snakeshead fritallaries and grape hyacinths. We shall also be continuing to weed and clear leaves from the borders and any help at all you can offer with these tasks would be greatly appreciated.

If you haven’t been to the site before it’s just along from The Lee pub on the lane that connects Stirling Rd and Parsons Street- right outside St Mungos Primary School.

We next meet up at our Townhead site at 11:30am on 23/10/10 to carry on planting spring bulbs and are looking for volunteers to come along and help out.

All you need to bring are some gloves, a trowel or bulb planter and any of the following variety of bulb, daffodils, tulips, grape hyacinths, crocus, anemone ‘white spendour’, snakeshead fritallary, snowdrops, winter aconites or native bluebells. You can also donate cash via paypal or on the day if you’d like to give the bulb fund an additional boost.

As we do not receive any funding we rely on donations of plants and bulbs to fill the site. If you would prefer not assist with this there is plenty of weeding, leaf removal and litter picking to be done and help with these tasks is always greatly appreciated.

We are presently working with an LRA with a view to becoming formally constituted to allow us to apply for funding. This will take a bit of time to come through so in the meantime any help you can offer will be gratefully received. On that note we are also looking for people interested in undertaking some committee/steering group work in order to get things moving. If you can devote at least one evening a month to this and are interested please get in touch to discuss this further.

Hello All,
We’ll be meeting next on 9th October 2010 at 11:30am at our Townhead site to plant spring bulbs. If you’d like to come along and help out you’re more than welcome.

All you need to bring are some gloves, a trowel or bulb planter and any of the following variety of bulb, daffodils, tulips, grape hyacinths, crocus, anemone ‘white spendour’, snakeshead fritallary, snowdrops, winter aconites or native bluebells. You can also donate cash via paypal or on the day.

As we do not receive any funding we rely on donations of plants and bulbs to fill the site. If you would prefer not assist with this there is still plenty of weeding and litter picking to be done and help with these tasks is always greatly appreciated.

Hello All,

We shall be at our Townhead site this Saturday 11:30 am; for a general tidy up and weed. There is loads to do so any help you can offer will be appreciated. Depending on numbers we may also be planting some more spring bulbs. If you’d like to contribute some bulbs we are looking for native bluebells, winter aconites, snakeshead fritillaries, anemone blanda white splendour, wood anemone, daffodils, tulips, ramsons, crocuses, snowdrops and grape hyacinths. You can also donate cash on the day or via paypal – link on the side of the page.

Map Link

Cheers,

Hi All,

Townhead site: 6:30 pm - Thursday 24th June

Map link: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=parson+street+glasgow&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=51.621706,79.804688&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Parson+St,+Glasgow,+Lanarkshire+G4,+United+Kingdom&ll=55.864764,-4.237633&spn=0.002255,0.004871&t=h&z=18

The majority of the bulbs that were in bloom a few weeks ago have now finished flowering and the Townhead site needs a wee bit of a clear up and some new plants planted in. There will be some weeding needing done as well. If you want to bring a plant along we’re after Columbines, Oriental Poppies, Hostas, Foxgloves, Hollyhocks, Mexican Fleabane, Sweet Woodruff, Ferns, Solomons Seal, Scabious or Campanula or see ‘What to Bring’ here. I’ve noticed in my local B+Q that they may not have all these plants but please bring along what you can.

I’d defiantly suggest bring gardening gloves, a bin bag (for any rubbish) and maybe a bottle of water as the site is a bit dry (this will now mean that between then and now it will rain, but please bring along some water).

I hope to see some of you along in Thursday evening,

Thanks,

Michael

A big thanks to everyone who turned out at the weekend to get the rest of the bulbs planted. The site is looking great just now and hopefully everyone’s continued hard work in 2010 will keep the site colourful all through summer and into autumn.

In addition to bulbs we also added Brook Thistle, Anemones, French Marigolds, Garden Pinks and a very generously donated conifer. The conifer wasn’t our only donation, a passer by impressed with the job that we’ve done over the last couple years on the site stopped to hand over a fiver which was used to purchase the Garden Pinks.

We next meet at Townhead on Saturday 24th April at 11:30am. There’s lots to do with plenty weeds and litter needing removed from the site. We will also be starting to plant out seeds -if you’d like to bring some seeds along we’re looking for poppies, nasturtiums, nigella and dwarf sunflowers. If you are bringing seeds you must also bring some water along to water them in with otherwise it’s highly unlikely they’ll germinate. As I do not drive I have to carry everything along to the site and cannot carry enough water for everyone so if everyone can bring along some water hopefully we’ll have enough for our seeds.

If you’d prefer to bring a plant we’re looking for Campanula, ferns (ideally Soft Shield Ferns or Common Polypody), Aquilegias (Columbines), Oriental Poppies, Foxgloves, Mexican Fleabane and Sweet Woodruff. Please note the links above are just for information for anyone unfamiliar with the above plants -I’m not suggesting you use these suppliers -though they are very good, if pricey. You should also be able to find most, if not all of the above plants and seeds from big DIY stores, garden centres, supermarkets, poundshops and the like.

A big thanks to everyone who came out to garden this morning. Despite the sporadic showers it wasn’t a bad day and we got lots done with a selection of perennials, crocosmia and seeds planted. The bulbs we planted over winter are still looking good. The crocuses are beginning to die down but are being rapidly replaced by Winter Aconites, Snowdrops and Daffodils.

Not much to report in the way of wildlife this week just one large Queen Bee, a Wood Pigeon and a gaggle of ordinary Pigeons.

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

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