HEDGE PLANTING

Breaking news - we are planting the fruiting hedge on Sunday 31 January and Sunday 6 February, weather permitting

We need lots of helping hands, so come along and join in, meet new people and get some exercise. Wear sturdy boots or wellies and old warm clothing. If you are planning to stay a while, bring a drink and snack.

Our first season in the garden is almost at an end - it has been more fruitful than any of us imagined when we started out in March. We have harvested beetroots the size of melons, large and tender carrots, purple crunchy kohl rabi, three big butternut squash and our pride and joy, a pumpkin. We enjoyed runner and french beans, three kinds of peas, lettuce, mixed salad leaves, radish, parsnips, shallots, potatoes, spinach and swiss chard and some luscious autumn raspberries. The broccoli was delicious before the cabbage white caterpillar arrived and more or less decimated the crop, and the herbs in the boat and in the spiral bed grew prolifically. The tomatoes cropped very well, but did not really ripen. However, waste not want not, they have been turned into very tasty green tomato chutney along with chillies and peppers, also from the garden. Check out the gallery page to see the results of our labours!

Of course, we are now looking ahead to next year and are waiting for the cold snap to end so that we can plant a fruiting hedge all around the edge of the garden. We have already begun to prepare the ground, and will need plenty of helping hands to finish the job when the time is right. Once established, the hedge will help to protect the garden from damaging winds and it will also encourage the birds into the garden by providing food. Hopefully the birds will also eat some of the pests including the cabbage white caterpillar!

MOSAIC

As you can see from the gallery page and the photo above, Genevieve Harden has designed and made a beautiful mosaic of our logo, which was fixed to the front fence of the garden. Its great that we have such talented people in the group and a big vote of thanks go to Genevieve and husband Simon for giving their talent and time to our project.

FAMILY PICNIC - SUNDAY 4 JULY

We had a lovely picnic despite the gale force wind - there were plenty of goodies, including Jackie's cupcakes made with produce from the garden - you can find the instructions on how to make them on our new Recipe page. Hannah's cookies looked and tasted so scrumptious they vanished straight away, Helen's fruit salad went down a treat and Darragh's sprouted seeds, pesto and salad plus hummus was the healthy option - we also found that they were great with our kohl rabi pulled straight from the raised bed. It was all washed down with some of Maire's delicious and refreshing elderflower cordial. Music was provided by Ago on classical guitar (see the photo on the Gallery Page)

We would like to thank Andrew King, of Gardenworld in Kilcoole, for donating 5 apple trees and 2 cherry trees

Great news

The Greystones/Kildcoole Community Garden is open at last!

We have had a wonderful weekend for our BIG DIG in the new garden. The sun shone solidly and we have made great progress already. Many thanks to all the people who turned out to dig - you can see photos of how we got on if you click on the link to the Gallery page. As you can see, our younger helpers had a great time out in the open air and learning how to start a new garden. We have already created the central spiral shaped vegetable bed, dug out a path around it, and created a sunken area for our "boat on a beach project".

There is still much to do, and we will be working hard again in the garden on Wednesday and Thursday evenings from 7-9 pm and occasionally on Sundays from 2-5 pm. If you have some time and energy to spare, we need plenty of volunteers. Bring boots, warm clothing, tools (a spade is the most useful), drinks and snacks. So don't miss out on this exciting new project.

Special thanks to Anto for delivering a truck load of bark mulch and to GreenKING for a truck load of compost.

We would like to thank all the people who have worked hard over the last two and a half years to get this project up and running.

We are now looking for help with materials and tools:

• Cold frames
• Cloches
• Gardening Tools
• Timber for raised beds
• Manure
• Compost
• Compost Bins
• Hedging - in particular Eleagnus
• Fruit Trees
• Fruit Bushes - black, red and white currants, gooseberries, raspberries, etc.
• Alpine Strawberries
• Seed potatoes
• Vegetable Seeds and/or seedlings/plug plants

If you can help with any of these items, please contact

Jackie on 0872333451
email address: jackydempsey@hotmail.com

or

Darragh on 0861014181,
email address: gkcggp@gmail.com

The Garden Library is now open in the Happy Pear - ask for the key in the fruit and veg shop and be sure to sign in your details in the red library loan book kept in the bookcase . There is a great selection of books and magazines on vegetable growing and organic gardening, and the dark winter days are the time to prepare for the new growing season.