2015 pictures

We are looking for new members

The Broadmeadows garden is looking for new members, there are a few free beds.

The annual fee is €20 for 1 bed.

We are also planning to organize events for people to meet and kids to play.

If you are interested, or have questions, feel free to send an e-mail to broadmeadowgarden (at) gmail.com.

Strawberries, yum!

Strawberries tend to take up a big amount of my allotment as there's no beating the taste of freshly picked home grown strawberries. I picked the 1st 2 ripe berries today, yum!

If you haven't got strawberries planted by now it will be too late, you need to put them in by autumn. If your neighbour has some you may be able to pot on runners. They are new plants that the original one make at this time of yr.

If you have put them in make sure to net them, the birds love them as much as we do. Don't forget to feed them, tomatoes or comfrey feed is good, and place a mulch of straw or dry materials around the plants to stop fruit from rotting.

Enjoy!

Sometimes it pays to be lazy

Look what I dug up with the weeds on the allotment today. Enough new potatoes for dinner. They grew from spuds I missed when digging last years. So don't worry if you don't get it all done by the book sometimes it pays to be lazy!!

Slugs and snails and puppy dogs tails!!

This year I'm trying not to use any chemicals. May that be fertilizers, plant food, weed killers or pest control. So far my biggest problem has been slugs and snails. So here's what I'm trying.

Coffee grounds ( used ones) - these seem to work but need replacing after rain.

Sand - apparently they do t like a gritty surface.

Beer traps - jam jars buried with beer at the bottom. They are attracted by the beer smell and drown happy and drunk.

Removal - today I went put after the rain and collected a couple of dozen. They are in the picture below!! Most were hidden under plants but I got them!

Fingal Howth BioBlitz 2014

Please find attached the details of the next An Taisce Green Communities event, which is being held as part of Ireland’s annual Bioblitz event. Organised at 4 sites around Ireland this year, including the Hill of Howth, where Wildlife recording activity will be run from the Deer Park Hotel. I have attached a map with this email locating the venue. An Taisce Green Communities Programme will be participating in the Howth Head Bioblitz event, which is being coordinated by Fingal County Council and the National Biodiversity Data Centre.

Ireland’s BioBlitz brings together scientists and recorders in a race against time to see how many species can be recorded in a 24-hour biological survey of four of Ireland’s heritage sites. The public is invited to observe the activities, to interact with the recorders and to participate in the range of other activities arranged by the host venues.

During Friday the 23rd of May the Bioblitz event will run at the Deer Park Hotel on the Hill of Howth:
The event in its entirety will run from 5pm on Friday the 23rd of May until 5pm on Saturday the 24th of May.
The draft programme for Friday the 23rd is as follows:

5:00 pm Butterfly Walk and talk by Robert Moss – Green Communities Programme. Meet at Deer Park Hotel.
7:00 pm Biodiversity talk by Mary Tubridy. Deer Park Hotel.
9:30 pm Moths Ireland Talk by Cian Merne – Moths Ireland. Deer Park Hotel
9:30 pm Moth trap demonstration and ongoing recording of species by Cian Merne – Moths Ireland. Meet at Deer Park Hotel.

10:30 pm Bat Walk – Bat Conservation Ireland. Meet at Deer Park Hotel.

As part of the recording activities we will be completing NBDC recording sheets during the Butterfly and Bat Walks. All Wildlife records are valid including birds and wild flowers. Therefore bringing binoculars and Bird/Flower/Tree/Butterfly/Moth field guides will be a good idea. Outdoor clothing essential,  bring a rain coat just in case! A picnic will be provided at some point. Bring a snack with you if you can.

For further information and to reserve a place please contact Robert Moss at: rmoss@eeu.antaisce.org

Rhubarb

The  rhubarb is looking great this year. Don't forget to harvest some soon as it can't be used after June. This is to allow the plant to recover and get big for next year. So get picking and make some rhubarb and custard yum!!!!

Spring onion video.

http://www.giyinternational.org/videos/detail/spring_onions

Hi Gardeners!

Above is a link for a great video from the giy website on how to sow spring onions by Klaus Laitenberger.

Enjoy!

Ann-Marie

Community taking root as Broadmeadow garden grows (Fingal Independant)

Thanks to Fingal Independant for this nice article about the community garden !

THE GREEN fingers of Broadmeadow Community gardeners came to fruition when the Community Garden was officially opened last weekend by Mayor of Fingal, Kieran Dennison.

For the past three years the garden, a 'conventional plot rather than an allotment,' has grown with the help of its members tending to the plants, shrubs and fruit trees.

According to Vice-Chairman of the Broadmeadow Community Garden, Patrick O'Keeffe, the concept of the project was 'to bring the community together and promote the community around growing.'

Fingal County Council gave the members the land to use, B&Q sponsored them from the beginning and, back in 2011, they received funding from the council's Integration Funding Scheme.

The garden, which is approximately 30 metres by 50 metres, with 32 five by one metre plots with a central piece containing herbs and vegetables, along with fruit trees, is located in the middle of Broadmeadow Park, near Thornleigh, Aston Brooke and Applewood estates.

'This is our third year of the garden and it's coming along really well with plants growing fast,' said Patrick.

'During the first year we did a lot of building work, making the raised beds and planting trees and the hedge while the second year we finished off the hedge work and community beds,' he explained. 'The hedge is flourishing now and the fruit trees have given us apples and cherries and the herb bed is coming along great.'

He said everyone involved in the garden give their time free of charge and have built up new friendships through the work at the garden.

'People are coming together and getting to know new people which is the concept behind the garden – to promote the community around growing. The young children are helping with the watering of plants and digging which is great to see.'

A number of events have taken place at the garden including an easter egg hunt for youngsters.

He said the main agenda was to have a garden using the natural environment to fit into the surrounding park area.

'The garden isn't quite finished yet and there is still a bit more work to do but everyone involved has enjoyed every minute of working on it,' added Patrick.

He said if more people are interested in becoming members and helping to maintain the garden, there is a possibility of extending it.

'Members pay €20 a year to go towards the maintenance of the garden and they do work on it themselves maintaining their plots and the general area,' said Patrick. 'We are extremely happy with the facility and have enjoyed the plants growing and growing over time.'

http://www.independent.ie/regionals/fingalindependent/localnotes/community-taking-root-as-broadmeadow-garden-grows-29600124.html

Official opening of the garden

Sathurday 14th September 2013 : official opening of the garden, by the mayor of Fingal

Easter Egg Hunt

Easter Egg Hunt was a great day, we had 21 members with 21 kids !

What going on the the veg plot?

Hi Everyone,

I hope you have your wellies polished and trowels at the ready, the planting season is about to begin!

Traditionally St Patricks Day is the day to plant your spuds, as they are meant to be blessed by the holy day.
Well with the horrible weather we have been having blessed is not the word I would use to describe us! Ideally the ground should have warmed up a bit more to plant potatoes as they are very frost sensitive. They are from South America dont forget.

So if im not planting now what can i be doing?

Potatoes need to be chitted to give them the best start. Chitting simply means sprouting them. All you have to so is place them with eyes up (the little dimples in the end of the spud) in an egg carton or modular tray, and put them in a light but not bright place.
Make sure they dont touch and trow away and bad looking ones. Rem one bad apple spoils the crop!

Where to get spuds and what to buy. There are so many out there! You can get potatoes in most garden centres and DIY shops. I bought mine in Rolestown Garden Centre as they are always good quality.

Potatoes can be put into 3 catagories according to planting First earlies, second earlies and main crop. Sounds complicated but its not. When do you what to eat your spuds?
They all go in at the same time but are ready at different times. Then what kind of spuds do you like. Soapy or flowery and what whay will you be cooking them?
Liuckly the shops have mad it easy by telling us how best to cook your spuds.

the main thing is to pick the spuds you like and grow them Im growing Sharpes Express as tasty first early thats good boiled and in salads and Cara a prolific main crop that has good resistance to blight. But its up to you, generally i say go with the ones that are expensive in the shops.

If you just cant resist getting out there and planting something onion sets can be planted now. Red baron and Stutgartter are the ones in planting. Just rem each tiny onion turns into a big onion. Dont do what I did my 1st year and plant over 300 onions. No one can eat that many in a year!! Trust me!

Happy Gardening!!

Ann-Marie

Rolestown Garden Centre start Saturday morning classes tomorrow the 9th Feb. 2013. The first class is 9.30 - 10.30 am and repeats 11.30 - 12.30 am. See their website for more details: http://www.rolestownplantsplus.ie

Here's some timely information
 - compliments of GIY Ireland:

Preparation

If you haven't already done so, you could still spread some manure or compost on your vegetable and fruit beds and cover them down with black polythene to start warming them up for spring sowing.

Make sure that it's well-rotted manure and be careful not to spread fresh manure in beds which will take root vegetables in the spring.

If you don't have a compost heap, this is a good time of the year to get one started.

Timber pallets are a cheap and easy way to build a heap for all your garden waste.

Consider a compost trench for your legume (peas and beans) bed – bury kitchen waste at a spade's depth and cover with soil.

To-Do List

If you have any root vegetables left in the soil, it's probably a good idea to get them out of there now as January-March are months when you get very heavy frosts and inclement weather – so lift anything that might still be in the soil such as parsnips, carrots and celeriac.

Cover down bare beds with mulch, leaves, compost or polythene.

Rhubarb is typically the first fresh crop of the spring, particularly if you "force" it now by covering it to exclude any light. Put a layer of straw on top of the dormant plants and then cover with an upturned pot. Tender little stems should be ready to eat in March.

January is also a good month to split the rhubarb plants if you want to propagate.

Get organised: start collecting old plastic bottles and containers as cloches and covers, and collect toilet roll inserts to use as pots for sowing.

Order your seeds and seed potatoes.

Sowing Seeds and Planting Out

Don't be tempted to sow seeds too early. Be patient – it won't be long.

Harvesting – what's in season?

January will be a lean month in your first few years of growing and it requires foresight the previous spring or summer to ensure that you have things worth eating at this time of the year. Perpetual spinach, chard, leeks and kale are the most likely candidates, all of which are very good to eat. You may also have winter cabbage, cauliflowers and some Brussels sprouts left in the ground if you didn't eat them all during Christmas.

Depending on how successful your growing/storage regime last year was, you may well still be tucking in to stores of potatoes, celeriac, carrots, parsnips, onions, cauliflower, jerusalem artichokes, winter squash, pumpkins, leeks and red cabbage. It's also possible to have winter salads like land cress, corn salad and mizuna at this time of the year, particularly in a polytunnel or greenhouse.

Fingal Integration Funding Scheme

I would like to announce that we have been sucessful in our application to Fingal county council Integration funding scheme. Fingal Integration Funding Scheme for 2011 aims to promote intercultural integration in the County. The Scheme, which is funded by the Office of the Minister for Integration (OMI), may provide grants to groups and projects working towards enhancing the participation and integration of Fingal’s Ethnic Community.

Our littlest members!

Flowers For Applewood

To say a big thank you to Damien and Florence from the Boulangerie Francaise two members Aiveen and David planted flowers outside the bakery on the weekend. Damien and Florence have been very supportive throughout all the planning. Letting us have meetings in their bakery and donating pastries to our bulb planting days, not to mention the fantastic soup on our tree planting day! The panseys were donated by B & Q in swords. Thanks guys they look lovely!

Grow You Own Classes

On Sunday the 26th March Michael Connolly was very kind and opened up his Rolestown Garden Centre early for a special grow you own class for Broadmeadow Community Garden and GIY members. Michaels expertise and knowledge of gardening and growing veg is amazing. We all learned how to sow seeds, what type of soils to use, how to pot on and how to give our little baby seedling the best growing environment to grow great Veg. Even the littlest of our gardeners got to plant some seeds! We visited the Veg plot in the garden centre which has raised beds, fruit bushes, chickens and ducks! All the members who were there got so much from the class. We would like to give a big thank you to Michael and the staff in Rolestown for all their help.

Tree Planting Day! 12 Mar 11am

11am - 12pm Planting fruit trees

12pm - 12:30 pm Break and refreshments

12:30 pm - 1:30 pm Finish planting trees, herb and seed sowing.
Childrens painting

Please RSVP to broadmeadowgarden@gmail.com

It's starting to take shape!!!

Our garden is starting to take shape!

Even with the awful weather the students of Teagasc struggled on and began building the fencing on our community garden. It looks fantastic!.

There will be some alterations to the plan needed as the council said the maintenance entrance was too small but that's only minor.

We will be meeting at 11am Saturday 19 Feb at our new garden!. This is just an informal meet up and we can plan then when to continue on with the wonderful work that was started!.

Take a look at our garden so far!

A huge thank you to Teagasc for their great work