This is the journal of my endeavours to grow a range of fruit, veg and flowers from seed, grow organically, and my attempts to create a personal paradise with 1/2 acre of maintained gardens and 1/2 acre wild meadows. Northern Ireland's average daily high temperatures are 18 °C (64 °F) in July and 6 °C (43 °F) in January. Soil type: Clay

Sunday 14 July 2013

Community Gardening Update - part 1

The community gardening project has had a slow start but is really starting to take off now. We must have about 20 or 30 members who are involved in the project at Antrim Castle Gardens. Back in April we designed detailed planting plans and chose mostly perennial plants for the site, however, during May- June there were various delays that meant our group couldn't meet. Then at the end of June we had a phone call that a large number of bedding plants were at our disposal if we wanted them. This was great news as our group had only been involved in digging over and weeding beds thus far.

Left: A range of plants (lobelia, begonia, alyssum, geranium / pelargonium, snapdragon, perilla) are given to our group.

First, as a group, we discuss ideas for planting.
We agree a planting scheme, then we get suck in - this is the fun part!
Above and Below: This is our first planting result as a group. We're all quite happy with the result. Soon we will be using the glasshouse in the background to grow from seed.
I usually take the photos, however, I'm in this one (far right).
To see the 1st blog post on the project - click here.
A further update on the community project (part 2) will be posted later this week.


Copyright: All words and photos are property of Kelli's Northern Ireland Garden.

12 comments:

  1. So are you still planning on using perennials?

    The bed will look lovely once they bulk out

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  2. Those raised beds made of old bricks look really "mellow". And how nice that you got all those plants for free. Was the donor a Garden centre?

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  3. Those brick raised beds are fabulous. It's a great venture, bringing like minded people together and doing good for the community.

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  4. The plantings look lovely and I imagine as they grown and fill out, they will indeed look stunning. I, too, love the old brick raised beds. The different textures and colors in the beds is very pretty.

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  5. We don't have community gardens here (allotments), but such gardening does look fun. A nice time to gather with friends and plant pretty gardens.

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  6. Those beds will be beautiful! Did your group have to pay for the plants or were they free? It looks like a fun day. :o)

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  7. Hi everyone, I've been abroad so couldn't respond to your comments. The annual bedding plants were given to us by the local Council as they didn't need them so they were free and will be enjoyed by the public. We also have a load of perennial plants and additional areas to plant up; photos to soon follow.

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  8. Hi Kelli, I'm producing a free placemaking guide using examples local to Northern Ireland. Would there be any chance I could use one of your fantastic Antrim castle photographs, fully credited ofcourse?

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    1. Hi James, thanks for asking about my photos. Could you send me the name of the company or name of the guide to see what type of publication you are producing please? Thanks very much, Kelli.

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    2. Hi Kelli, Yes - follow the link below to the draft of Living Places: An Urban Stewardship & Design Guide for NI. We're now finalising the document in response to public feedback.
      https://www.planningni.gov.uk/livingplaces. Perhaps you'd like to get my contact details at www.paulhogarth.com
      thanks very much
      James

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    3. Hi James, thanks very much for the information. I have emailed you. Happy to help out if you could credit the photos to me accordingly. All the best, Kelli.

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    4. That's brilliant, thankyou very much. I've dropped you an email reply.
      james

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