Get growing!

Grow Together Bucks have stayed busy over the winter season

We have been busy over the winter getting ready to take advantage of the warmer weather and the lengthening days. The second greenhouse at the allotment will boost our growing capability this year and help us with our education programme. 

Recuperation and preparation

After a wet Winter, Spring is in the air. As the days started lengthening in January and February, we were cheered by seeing snowdrops, then crocuses and more recently daffodils flowering. In Winter it can feel as if nothing is happening, but it is nature's recuperation and preparation time to be ready for Spring and Summer. 

We too have been recuperating and preparing over the winter; we held four sessions at Wrights Meadow Community Centre for the Community Allotment volunteers. All sessions were well attended. As well as the all-important social benefit, we started by collecting ideas and suggestions for improvements, we cleaned and repainted vegetable signs, repaired mesh nets and, in the most recent session, we had a demonstration of how to grow sprouting seeds. These are very nutritious and easy to grow at home over the winter when local fresh salad crops are not in-season. 

Greenhouse

In December we purchased a second greenhouse generously funded by Marsh and Micklefield Big Local. In February we sourced paving slabs to be laid in March ready for arrival of the greenhouse in time for us to have it full of seedlings in April. To have a productive allotment, significant planning is required, including planning for contingencies. When will the soil be warm enough to plant potatoes? (it needs to be 10C) How quickly will the first tranche of seedlings grow and when can we move them out of the greenhouse to make way for the second set of seeds? How many seeds will germinate?  Particularly with the work we are doing in schools the second greenhouse is essential to give us space to bring on many more seedlings. Increasingly it is also more growing space that we need! 

Six Inches of Soil Film

The combination of seeds and soil is a miracle which we explored by showing the film Six Inches the Soil at Wrights Meadow on the 4th of March. Fifty people attended and participated in a good discussion afterwards covering: the health benefits of eating in season produce, the principles of no-dig gardening, composting, and access to growing space.

What’s Happening at the Allotment?

As well as the weekly allotment sessions on Wednesday and Saturday mornings 9:30am to 12:30pm we continue our schools programme. At Loudwater School we arranged for fencing around the planned growing space to be donated and installed. This will protect the area from deer and badgers. The next stage is to build the beds, then later in the year we will be running classes there. 

For children who are home educated, this year thanks to a grant from National Lottery Awards from All, we are offering practical growing sessions at the allotment. 

Find out more

If you are interested in any of the above and would like to find out more, please take a look at our website.