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,

A big thanks to all who came along last Saturday to help get the bulbs planted. We’ve only a few weeks to go before the 31st December and are aiming to have all the bulbs planted by then. To do so we really, really need your help.

We are not looking for any further donations of bulbs! Whilst we haven’t managed to get 1000 bulbs of each of the ten varieties we asked for we have received over 10,000 bulbs all in and now urgently need to get these planted.

On average one person can plant plant roughly 300 bulbs in an hour. So even giving up just half an hour to an hour of your time would be a huge help to us. All you need to bring is a trowel or a bulb planter or a fork, a pair of gardening gloves and yourself. Bulbs will be provided for you to plant so there’s no need to worry about what varieties to bring.

We’ll be meeting up at Townhead on Saturday 12th December at 11:30am, Saturday 19th December at 11:30am and Saturday 26th December at 11:30am. If you’ve never been along before we meet in the lane that joins Parson St and Stirling Rd just outside St Mungo’s Primary School. You don’t need any previous gardening experience or knowledge at all and we’d be delighted to see you, even if it’s only for 10 minutes planting.

Our aim is to have about ten volunteers turn up each Saturday between now and the New Year so feel free to bring friends, family and next door neighbours.

Bulb shoots are already popping up all over the site, we’re already on the way to spring 2010 being a blaze of colour but there is still room for improvement, so if you can spare just 10 minutes please come along and help out.

The next few weeks will see a big increase in activity as we get the rest of the bulbs planted. Already we’re on track for a bright and colourful spring 2010 having now planted over 5000 bulbs since launching our appeal. We’re still looking for more bulbs in order to reach our target so all donations of bulbs or cash are welcome.

We need the following bulbs in order to reach our 10,000 target – 1000 English Bluebells, 950 Wood Anemone, 700 Snakeheads and 500 Crocuses. If you can get your hands on any quantity of these no matter how small we’d be delighted to accept your donations.

We’ll next be meeting on the 7th November at 11:30 am to plant winter aconites and grape hyacinths as well as any donated bulbs you might have. We have 900 aconites and 1000 grape hyacinths waiting to go so the more folk who come along to help us with planting the better.

The next November meeting on the 14th November will be at a time later than usual because I’m taking part in a Gardeners Q & A at the Scottish Retirement show in the morning so we’ll be meeting up at 2pm at our Townhead site to plant some more bulbs and tidy up the falling leaves.

We’ll be back to our usual time of 11:30am on the 21st of November for more leaf removal and bulb planting.

The last dig for November will be at 11:30am on 28th November at Townhead and again the emphasis will be on bulb planting and leaf removal.

A big thanks to everyone who has donated or helped out throughout the year -it is thanks to your generosity and hard work that we are now so near our target. If you haven’t helped out yet but would like to become involved it’s not too late to join in. You can either come along to one of the digs to help out or even just to hand over some donated bulbs or make a donation via paypal using the donations button on this blog.

If you are coming along to a dig, please bring gloves and either a trowel, bulb planter or fork as these cannot usually be provided. If you’d like to bring bulbs any from the above list would be great or if you’d prefer to bring a plant we are very short of pansies, cyclamen and hellebores.

Thanks to those who turned up and especially the passers by who mucked in and helped plant the bulbs.

Thanks.

Location:   http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=parson+street+Glasgow&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=18.388688,30.717773&ie=UTF8&ll=55.864915,-4.237901&spn=0.00425,0.007499&t=h&z=17

Just south of the A on this map, on the path that links parson Street to Stirling Road.

What to bring???

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:

Taken from North Kelvin Meadow:

“Hi all

Your all invited to a bulb planting event at North Kelvin Meadow on
Sunday 11th October at 2pm. That’s a week this Sunday so mark it in
your dairies.

We’ve got 400 bulbs all ready to plant. If all goes well the Meadow
should be a wash with colour next spring / summer.

Things to bring?
Yourself! Bulbs should be handled with gloves so bring an old pair.
Bring a trowel or spade if you have one (we have a few spare). That
it.

How long will the event last?
Don’t worry about coming down for a long time  - 30 minutes to an 1
hour is all that’s required.

How to plant a bulb?
Each bulb needs to be planted to a depth of 3 times its size. So dig a
small hole and place the bulb with its top facing upwards. If not sure
what is the top then plant it on its side. Cover with soil making sure
there are no obvious air pockets. If you need some decent soil to
surround the bulb then take some from the big white bags in the far
corner. Its as easy as that! What’s more, many of them should flower
year after year.

Can’t make that time?
Feel free to plant bulbs at other times if you have them. The more the merrier!

What’s the latest with the Land?
Not really that much! The Council still want to sell it, but haven’t
found a buyer. The local community increasingly see it as a place that
shouldn’t be built on. As the land is used more as a green space by
the local community the case strengthens to keep it as such.

Hope to see you then”.

For more information, please visit http://northkelvinmeadow.com/

You may have noticed that we are raising funds for a mass bulb planting project at Townhead.

29th – 11:30
30th – 1 pm
31st –  7 pm

Our aim is 10,000 bulbs: http://www.glasgowguerillagardening.org.uk/10000/

Guerrilla gardeners are reclaiming Glasgow’s neglected spaces … one plant at a time