Get-Growing gets busy

February is a key month for gardening.. preparing the soil, sharpening tools, getting ready for the coming growing season.  We have been propagating our perennial plants, grafting fruit trees, making paths, training our crew, planning courses and events and meeting with partners and funders. A hugely busy and exciting time of year.. here are a few pictures giving insight into some of what has been going on at the project.

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View of the Get-Growing organic garden Feb 2012

permaculture revolution

Permaculture is the fastest growing grass roots movement in the world, its simple philosophy of working with nature challenges the very foundations of current behaviour. Many of our ideas are informed by Permaculture design.

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Globalised production systems means there is no longer any accountability or traceability in the most important and fundamental of things.. food

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Two of our project team, here on work experience and apprenticeship and learning how to grow

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Work on the main path to the community micro allotment area

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Project member Richard tends the fire at the centre of the garden

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Fruit tree grafting workshop.. it is actually possible to graft the wood from several different trees onto a rootstock

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As part of our grafting workshop, one of our regular Get-Growing courses we practised with cutting of dogwood to learn the various techniques required

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Fruit trees are made by grafting Scion wood onto a chosen root.. you can see the scar and healed up area where the new wood has established and grown

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I am fascinated by mycelium, that part of the fungus organism we don’t see… it creates a massive amount of surface area by branching and it exudes enzymes to digest its food

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Another view of mycelium.. in the tree of life, our closest relative is fungus.. like us it breathes in oxygen and out CO2 and was possibly the first organism to live on land

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This pic is for Matti, I am hugely pleased and proud to be see our Newtown made raised beds at the community growing project in Liverpool, made by our apprentices they are helping people grow in other locations

First draft of an advert for our raised beds

First draft of an advert for our raised beds, being made by the project apprentices as part of our community entrerprise project

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Climate change is here, it is a real and present danger and we need to learn how to rapidly respond to this challenge

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Permaculture founder Bill Mollison has an uncanny knack of putting his finger right on the pulse… the solutions to our problems are simple. we just have to do it!

Permaculture is the study of natural systems and the application of that insight as a design system

Permaculture is the study of natural systems and the application of that insight as a design system

 

Veg growing trials

Raised beds in our new plant trails area

Raised beds in our new plant trials area

We are keen to try out lots of different growing techniques and to provide as much help and inspiration as we can for people out there who want to grow more themselves. So we are using some of our raised bed units to create a growing area ideal for such trials. We want to demonstrate very simple planting strategies as well as trying out a few variants of looking after the plants.. Chris one of our regular volunteers regularly uses Reiki technique on plants he has grown with a positive effect.. so we want to see if we can try it more scientifically and see if we can also get a result. We certainly do feel that as a horticulture project we should be trying out as may ideas and techniques as we can.

This 1.2m by 2.4m raised bed is 30 cm deep and ideal for growing veg

This 1.2m by 2.4m raised bed is 30 cm deep and ideal for growing veg

We are currently taking orders for our raised beds.. they are beautiful, made of heavy, durable larch timber, are un treated and ideal for growing veg or herbs. They are 1.2m wide, and 30 cm deep and come with either 1.2m, 2.4m or 3.6m sides. The idea is that you fill them with a mix of soil and compost to create an ideal and easy to manage growing space. Prices are £65 , £80 or £95 for the three sizes, with discounts for multiple orders (more than 5 units)

They are easy to assemble and come in a flat pack with instructions. We will be running a website with weekly updates show step by step instructions of what to plant, how to set them up and how to manage your plants. Our aim is to make growing as easy as we possibly can for anyone who wants to try. Contact us directly if you would like to discuss your order.