Registered Charity No. 1167913 - Inspire Community Garden · store our supplies. We had a...
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Welcome to the Inspire Community Garden … We began our project on- site on the 17th April 2016 with the following aims: To reclaim a piece of land back from wasteland. To create an organic demonstration garden to encourage and support organic gardening in Chesterfield. To work with partners such as 'Garden Organic' to give volunteers new skills and confidence. To improve the health of local people. To support healthy eating by providing fresh produce to local groups and schools. The Story of the Site, so far… On our first working day on the land we began clearing the top section of the site. We managed to plant some seed potatoes, we reduced a willow and a very useful set of steps were created to help access from the bottom of the plot. Over the next few weeks our plan changed quite quickly when we found that the middle section of the plot had beautiful soil and so we began to concentrate on this section of the plot. We began to clear it and we were able to start growing crops very quickly. Given our late start, our grow- ing of fruit and vegetables is a bit random for now but we decided to take advantage of the available ground as soon as it was cleared. Over the next few months, we will make a plan for next season and introduce crop rotation and management. We bought an old catering van as a lockable store and have positioned it in a convenient location on the site to store our supplies. We had a polytunnel donated and this was erected in late July and was immediately planted with various fruit and vegetables. We also set up a simple collection method to capture most of the water falling on the structure. Chesterfield’s Organic Demonstration Garden Registered Charity No. 1167913
Transcript of Registered Charity No. 1167913 - Inspire Community Garden · store our supplies. We had a...
Welcome to the Inspire Community Garden …
We began our project on-site on the 17th April 2016 with the following aims:
To reclaim a piece of land back from wasteland.
To create an organic demonstration garden to encourage and support organic gardening in Chesterfield.
To work with partners such as 'Garden Organic' to give volunteers new skills and confidence.
To improve the health of local people.
To support healthy eating by providing fresh produce to local groups and schools.
The Story of the Site, so far…
On our first working day on
the land we began clearing
the top section of the site.
We managed to plant some
seed potatoes, we reduced a
willow and a very useful set
of steps were created to help
access from the bottom of
the plot.
Over the next few weeks our plan changed quite quickly
when we found that the middle section of the plot had
beautiful soil and so we began to concentrate on this
section of the plot. We began to clear it and we were
able to start growing crops very quickly.
Given our late start, our grow-
ing of fruit and vegetables is a bit
random for now but we decided
to take advantage of the available
ground as soon as it was cleared.
Over the next few months, we
will make a plan for next season
and introduce crop rotation and management.
We bought an old catering van as a lockable store and
have positioned it in a convenient location on the site to
store our supplies.
We had a polytunnel donated
and this was erected in late July
and was immediately planted
with various fruit and
vegetables. We also set up a
simple collection method to
capture most of the water falling
on the structure.
Chesterfield’s Organic Demonstration Garden
Registered Charity No. 1167913
Contact us now and get involved !
www.inspirecommunitygarden.org.uk [email protected]
Follow us on Facebook Telephone/Text: 07544 566560
PROGRESS OF THE PROJECT:
As a group we’ve been working on the plot several times every week since we began. Our initial plan has been to clear suitable sections of the plot and attempt to grow the fruits and vegetables that it is possible to despite the late seasonal start.
We have successfully grown and cropped a variety of food this year including a variety of
potatoes, beans, sweetcorn and pumpkins. In July we erected our first polytunnel and have been experimenting with what we can grow in this warmer environment.
We decided to make the garden a charity and we successfully registered the Inspire Community Garden w ith the Charity Commission. We currently have five Trustees, from very different backgrounds, who help us manage the project.
We’ve had well-attended monthly planning meetings at Monkey Park where everyone is welcome and we value the contributions in discussing the project.
JOIN US?
We hope that this has encouraged you to want to join us to help make all of this happen. We need people to help with:
clearing, digging, ground preparation
construction of paths, beds and structures
weeding, planting, cuttings, sowing etc.
Our contact details are below. We also publish a regular e-Newsletter. Please sign up via the website below.
THE FUTURE:
We have met with the national charity ‘Garden Organic’ at their Ryton
Gardens near Coventry about setting up two projects 'Master Gardeners Programme' and 'Master Composters Programme'. Four of our volunteers are attending the annual Garden Organic Volunteers Conference at Ryton this year.
In these schemes Garden Organic will come to our garden to train up people with an interest in gardening & composting to become experts and enable them to achieve the status of Master Gardener & Master Composter.
We hope these people will then be willing to share their skills by mentoring other people to help them improve and better understand their gardening. The help could be for people at Inspire or perhaps at other projects, at their allotments, at home or anywhere that we receive a request from locally.
NEW GRANT FUNDING:
We recently received a significant grant from Derbyshire County Council’s ‘Thriving Communities Fund’ which will enable us to make further purchases to help move us further forwards in the coming months. This will enable us to introduce a number of new features to the Community Garden, including a larger secure storage container, a workshops area, a composting toilet, a demonstration composting ‘corner’, demonstration raised beds, an orchard, a soft fruit garden, a wildlife pond and we will acquire many new tools and materials to move us forward.
