Final Report 2021

It’s the end of an era. For almost 12 years, the Sherfield English Children’s

Garden has been providing a friendly, multigenerational setting for local children, their parents and volunteer helpers to meet, learn and share a passion for all things gardening. Whether growing vegetables from seeds, harvesting fruit from the fruit bushes and trees, weeding and watering plots

or learning about the insects that play an important role in our ecosystem; Saturday mornings from March to October would see hardy gardeners of all ages congregating in the plot next to the car park at Gilbert’s Nursery -

whatever the weather!

Sadly following the uncertainty over the past couple of years the Children’s Garden at Gilbert’s Nursery will be closing down. We are very grateful for all the support and refreshments given over the years by Gilbert’s Nursery

to this community group, and also for the very dedicated volunteers who gave up their Saturday mornings to share their knowledge and skills with

the children. Many thanks to you all. We are hoping to be able to continue a community gardening group in another form if we can work out what and where, so hopefully more to follow. Neil, volunteer at the Sherfield English Children’s Garden

St

November 2019 - End of Season Report

…so you can have parties in polytunnels as well as grow things! Tomato and pepper plants removed, cardboard on the floor and it was time to make some pumpkin lanterns for Halloween!

Memories from this year – amazing number of tomato varieties, butterfly count, garden crafts, eating your own fruit and veg (of course!). Pond dipping, ‘Waitrose’ peppers, Village Garden show trophy and certificates, and just time outside with village friends.

A bit of tidying up around the garden to be done and hoping to get some manure to put a cosy cover on the veg beds for the winter. We will try and tackle these when it stops raining one Saturday – at least the pond is now full again!

Community garden regular Saturday gardening will start up again about March time and all are invited to join us. Additional volunteers and children always welcome even if you can’t commit to regular slots and if you fancy a bit of winter garden maintenance then do get in touch.

Thank you to Gilberts Nursery for their support throughout the year.

October 2018 - Rain, rain and more rain

Well the saying "it never rains but it pours" couldn’t have been more true on Saturday morning. Having enjoyed a wonderfully warm summer the children's gardens were looking rather parched. The plants appeared thirsty, the water butts urgently needed refilling as did our pond. Needless to say on Saturday 6th October it rained and rained and rained some more, much to the delight of the children’s plants and flowers - not so much to the soggy attendees.

We made the most of the shelter the polytunnel provided by ensuring the tomatoes were picked and indoor irrigation system was working correctly (fed from the water butts outside). We even consumed our tea and cake, kindly provided by the ladies from Gilbert’s tea room, inside the poly tunnel listening to the downpour outside. During a short break in the weather, we busily collected fallen leaves from around the garden and car park. In a week or two, once the leaves have fully dried out the children will be sticking them to cardboard cutout hedgehogs providing a colourful coat of pointy brown, yellow and red ‘spikes’. Other plans we have for the coming weeks are to prepare for the children’s annual halloween party and then to ready everyone’s plots for the winter. This usually consists of removing all remaining plants and flowers and adding them to the compost heap, covering the exposed soil with cardboard to discourage weed growth and ensuring that all garden tools are clean and tidily put away in the shed ready for next year.

This year the Sherfield English Children’s Community Garden has joined the Royal Horticultural Society 'Campaign For School Gardening'. This initiative provides a chance for young people to discover the benefits of gardening, not only for them but also in their local community and the wider world. Registration has provided the children with free packets of seeds, a gardening project book and numerous factsheets to educate them in four themes of gardening around The Changing Climate, Wildlife, Growing Food For Their Plate and Creating a Happy Place. We really hope that this campaign will be running again next year as it’s helped the less knowledgable to get a better understanding around gardening techniques.

Thank you as always to all volunteers who give up their time and resources to this great local community group.

Neil