Blooming Marvellous

Designing the Library Garden: Volunteers' Perspective

2011-02-23T13:52:00.000Z

In light of our new project, to redesign the Aldershot Library Garden, we thought we'd get across what some of our volunteers make of this daunting new challenge!

Brian and Ali, seen at the bottom of the page surveying a plan of the garden, give their points of view:

"I am really looking forward to participating in the library garden project. I think it will be our biggest challenge yet, but also the most rewarding when it's complete and a valuable part of the community."

Ali

"I think it's a really good idea doing something for the community. It will be hugely rewarding and a project with real prestige value!"

Brian

Aldershot Library Garden

2011-02-18T12:55:00.002Z

Our volunteers are working with Aldershot Library to transform its garden into an inviting, accessible, learning space for use by the local community.

Plans are already afoot to create an eco-friendly garden where children and adults alike can relax together. Currently, the library garden, which fronts onto the high street, is subject to strong winds, traffic noise and isn't wheelchair friendly. We're aiming to design and build a garden that addresses all of these issues.

To date, Blooming Marvelous volunteers have surveyed the site and drawn up initial design ideas, working with the brief from the library. Our main priority is to produce a garden that's eco-friendly, attractive on the eye and low maintenance as well as being a functional learning space for children and members of the community.

It's a really big project for us to take on, with lots of responsibility. The library is a hub for the local community and we're both daunted and excited at the prospect of creating a wonderful garden that Aldershot can be proud of. Watch this space!

Our next stage is to research all of our ideas while the library raises funds. We'll then finalise our design, working to that budget. After that, once the Library has ok'd the design we can then start to implement it!

You can keep up to date with news and events at Aldershot Library via the Aldershot Library Facebook Page.

Christmas is coming

2010-12-16T14:20:00.005Z

Blooming Marvellous wish all their volunteers and clients a very Merry Christmas.

2010-10-31T10:07:00.015Z

'What a difference a Day Makes'

Our recent efforts together with Rushmoor Voluntary Services at their 'Make a difference Day', corporate volunteering at St Michaels Abbey in Farnborough.

It was a beautiful day, everybody worked really hard and the difference was amazing. And it wasn't all work! We enjoyed lots of tea and cakes and each others company.

Another Blooming Marvellous success.

Thanks to all the volunteers who made it happen, to Marie for getting it off the ground and to the Monks at the Abbey for preserving such a glorious site so close to the
town and inviting us in to their home. We hope to return!

Rushmoor in Bloom: Paul's Story

2010-10-05T21:36:00.000+01:00

As mentioned below, one of our volunteers, Paul, won two awards for his communal garden in Rushmoor in Bloom. This is his Rushmoor in Bloom story, straight from the horse's mouth!

By Joining the RVS gardening group 'Blooming Marvellous', my dying interest in gardening was reignited. After 3 years with the group, I decided to enter 'Rushmoor in Bloom'. Little did I know what I was letting myself in for!

Open to suggestions from friends and neighbours my rough plan was hatched. Decisions about which plants, the mix of colours, where to put them and how to look after them slowly evolved. Roses, mimulus, cosmos, pansies, marigolds, echinacea, polyanthus, begonia, asiatic lillies, salvias, lobelia, verbena, fuchsia, rosmary, mint, snapdragons, busy lizzies, geranium and allysium were all chosen.

After several weeks of seed sowing, potting, digging, weeding, pruning and MORE digging, the planting finally began. This was done in record time with the help of friends and neighbours.

Time passed and the plants began to take hold, form buds and grow in all directions; up, down, in, out and round in circles! Much watering, weeding, feeding and nurturing later, the flowers started to show their appreciation and they just grew and grew and grew and grew! Their blooms and scent soon got noticed by both people and the birds and this just meant that the plants became more exciting and produced yet more flowers!

The plants weren't the only thing blooming, so was my imagination. What would they look like? How would they smell? And I got many complimentary comments from staff, neighbours and visitors.

On the 27th September 2010, at the 'Rushmoor in Bloom' Award Ceremony, at the Princes Hall, Aldershot, I received three awards. A Silver in the 'Planted Containers' section, a Bronze in the 'Community Gardens' section and a further Silver as part of the Blooming Marvellous team, for our community allotment.

I felt Blooming Marvellous!

However, I wasn't the ultimate winner. They couldn't make it to the ceremony due to travel problems. They were, of course, the flowers!

Paul

Rushmoor in Bloom

2010-10-04T19:19:00.000+01:00

This year both the group's allotment collectively and Paul's garden individually were entered into the competition. I'm pleased to say we did brilliantly and won an award for each entry! Our allotment won Silver, and if that wasn't enough, Paul won Silver in the planted containers and Bronze in the Community Gardens categories for his garden at Buller Court!

More will follow about Paul's Rushmoor in Bloom experience. The full results and other related information can be found at the Rushmoor Council website here.

The photo shows Paul, Kate, Hazel, Ali and Joan picking up the group's Silver award for our allotment from the Mayor of Rushmoor at the Rushmoor in Bloom awards dinner.

Community Garden (and lots of doughnuts!)

2010-10-04T13:36:00.001+01:00

At Blooming Marvellous we do regular gardening work in the community. Some of it we do in conjunction with the council and local organisations. That type of work often involves planting and improving green spaces. The rest of our community work is done for individuals who, often through ill health, old age or some form of incapacity are unable to cope with their gardens. It can be a real downer to own a garden and not be able to look after it. So we go in, usually on a one off visit, with anything between 8 - 12 volunteers and help get that person's garden back under control. This mainly involves clearance work rather than planting. We cut back overgrown trees that are blocking out the light, re-edge (and frequently rediscover) paths, strim and cut grass and dig out and remove all the nettles and brambles that can frequently swamp a garden.

We did all of this on the 23rd of September when we tackled a garden in Farnborough for a lady called Sue. Her garden had become very overgrown, so much so that her children were unable to play in it and she couldn't reach her garden shed! It was also difficult for her to hang washing out because the garden was constantly deprived of light.

So we set about tackling the garden. We cut back a mature apple tree that was mostly responsible for blocking out the light. It was a bit of a balancing act because the tree was partly in Sue's garden and partly in a neighbouring field. We could only cut it on one side so didn't want to leave it lopsided and unbalanced. After strategically taking off certain branches we lopped most of the excess growth and managed to get a lot more light into the garden.

Our other work involved strimming the long grass, rediscovering a garden path, cutting back a mix of overgrown trees and shrubs, and clearing some of the guttering. While cutting back the long grass we discovered a bees' nest, which we were careful to leave well alone after Ian was stung the week before! They are obviously harmless unless disturbed, and, frankly, it's good for biodiversity to have these insects in your garden. We just avoided their patch of grass and that was fine.

Sue was really happy to be able to use her garden again, and to reach her garden shed! She kindly made us tea and gave us chocolate chip cookies and a plate of doughnuts, most of which disappeared without a trace!

Gardens and bee stings!

2010-10-02T21:44:00.003+01:00

On the 16th September we did a community garden for an elderly couple who'd had some ill health and struggled to keep on top of their garden. It was actually a lovely garden with a pond, sun dial and nicely designed pathways with trellis and wooden edging that had become a little overgrown. Obviously over the summer everything grows a lot - some things you want, but mostly things you don't want! - so we did a lot of clearance of brambles and nettles that had swamped many of the paths, making the garden quite inaccessible in places. We also re-edged all the paths, clipped some trees and generally gave it a good tidy up.

Unfortunately, one of our Volunteers, Ian, was stung by a bee right under his eyelid, having only been stung in another garden two weeks earlier! Talk about unlucky! After consulting NHS direct, he went to the Doctors and got some anti-inflammatory gel to put on it, which took the swelling down after a few days.

The couple who owned the garden were absolutely thrilled to get it back again and actually made us a donation to say thanks. We're obviously volunteers and it's not something we ever expect, so we were overwhelmed! We'll probably put the donation towards some new gardening equipment.

Barbecue & Open Day

2010-09-27T17:02:00.000+01:00

On the 17th September we held a Barbecue and Open Day at our allotment site in Aldershot. It was a chance to advertise what we do to anyone who was interested and as a thank you to the volunteers and everyone involved with Blooming Marvellous. It was also an excuse to eat a lot of food, because, let's face it, everyone loves a barbecue!

We have quite a big plot at the allotment and it was certainly needed because we got a really good turnout. All kinds of people attended, from prospective volunteers to the staff and trustees of Rushmoor Voluntary Services, as well as friends and family of the current volunteers. There was a range of food on offer from the usual barbecue fare to plenty of vegetarian dishes, including ratatouille (thanks to google for helping me spell it!). As well as meeting people and talking to them about what we do, we also had a display of photos from many of the community gardens we'd done in the last year. We struck it lucky with the weather and it stayed dry all day, though we had to reinforce our photographs because the wind really whips through the allotment!

Thanks to everyone who attended and to the members of the allotment for being so accommodating and lending us some chairs! They got some food in return, by the way.

The Fruits (and Veg) of Our Labour!

2010-08-16T16:05:00.029+01:00

Hi, I'm Richard. I've been a volunteer with the group since March this year. I come on Wednesdays each week when we are at our allotment. This is the bed which I look after. I have grown carrots, beetroot and peas so far this year. There is now some brussel sprouts growing as well as some lettuce, some pak choi and a tomato plant. Not everything I've tried to grow has succeeded but I'm still learning and hope to do better next year.

This picture shows us with the fruits of our labour. In our communal beds we've grown potatoes, courgettes, onions, garlic and shallots as well as other fruit and veg not shown here such as strawberries and runner beans. My salads have been much tastier this year with all the beetroot I've grown! From left is Kate, Ali, me and Paul.

Being on the allotment this summer has been really enjoyable - it's given me the tangible benefits of some free fruit and veg as well as the intangible satisfaction and enjoyment you get from tending a plot then harvesting and eating your own food.

Welcome to the Blooming Marvellous Blog

2010-07-21T14:14:00.000+01:00

Hi, welcome to our blog. We're a volunteer gardening group working in the Rushmoor area, Hampshire, England, UK. We help local people who struggle to look after their gardens and work with local organisations on projects to help enhance the local environment. As well as this, we maintain two large allotment plots, on which we grow a wide variety of flowers, fruit and vegetables.

The aim of the project is very much to help the volunteers build a healthier lifestyle for themselves whilst helping to enhance the local environment. People who volunteer with Blooming Marvelous come from all walks of life and age groups. Some people just have a passion for gardening, some want to learn about horticulture and help volunteer in their local community. Many volunteers go on into other types of volunteering or back into work or education having built greater self-confidence.

We'll be posting information about the work we do in the community and what we get up to in general. The blog is currently under construction and a work in progress, so bear with us!