Drop in for 5 mins or as long as you can

Details on our Project Dirt Page

If you want to get more involved in the network come along to the next gathering on Sunday the 26th Feb or check out the website for future dates, details of the network’s manifesto, and how groups can become members.

CFGN website

connect // cooperate // support // defend // celebrate

When: Sunday 26th February 2012
Time: Meeting 1-5.30pm (Practical work starting at 11am)
Where: Grow Heathrow, Vineries Close, Sipson, West Drayton, UB7 0JG
Directions: From Central London: Travel to West Drayton in TfL zone 6 in 20 minutes by train from Paddington. From West Drayton either take the 222 bus towards Hounslow and get off in Sipson Village or follow the cycle path towards Sipson. Our site is a 1 minute walk from the King William Pub which is in the middle of town.

For more info and map see Transition Heathrow website
Contact: info@transitionheathrow.com, 07890751568

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11-12.30: Practical tasks on the Grow Heathrow site: Mulching, preparing compost and seeding area

12.30-1.30: Lunch

1.30-4.30: Tour of Grow Heathrow & Meeting (see draft agenda below)

4.45-5.30: Seed swap

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Draft Agenda
e-mail additional points to info@transitionheathrow.com or bring to the Gathering
1. Project Updates
2. Via Campesina
3. International Day of Peasant Struggles 17 April 2012
4. CFGN Annual Gathering
at the last gathering we resolved to make the quaterly meetings smaller ones for members only, and put our organising energy instead into organising an exciting annual gathering, to which we encourage loads of other CFPs to come to. Lets get a date, venue, and a bit of a plan for how the day will be run and publicised.
5.GM Crops in Hertfordshire
The GM trial in Herts is a focus for the GM campaign. How can London growers best support this campaign and organise against the trials?
would be good to have someone who went to the recent GM gathering report back on the latest
6. Allotment in Acton under threat
7. Stories of Food Sovereignty evening with Reclaim the Fields & PEDAL

Master Gardener induction course details

Information on becoming a Master Gardener

South London Master Gardener recruitment

If they’ve been kept in cool, dark, dry conditions they may well last for years. A seed is a living thing which needs to be kept alive while metabolising as little as possilbe to keep it ‘on hold’ til conditions are right for germination.

Most seed is viable for two years but there are exceptions, type seed viability chart into a search engine to find out more about specific common vegetable and flower seed lifespans.

Always date any seed packets (saved and bought) and don’t forget that saved seed from F1 plants will not produce the same plant when sown.

Some viability tests:

Float or sink – denser good seeds will sink to the bottom and seeds which have compromised seed coating float…

Germination – you can take a few seeds from larger batches, mark a grid on kitchen towel and place each of these small number of seeds in each of the dampened and labelled paper towel squares. Keep it moist and sealed in an airtight plastic box at a suitable temperature (around 18-25 C). Two weeks should be enough to identify the seeds from the viable batches as they will have germinated.

The link below is a fantastic pdf with loads of information about seed saving and related activities for schools.

Garden Organic Seed Saving resource

BBC news story on ice age seed germination

Heritage Seed Library

*Dye garden bed for students of sustainable fashion

*Help build new vegetable and flower beds for community groups

*Potting activities

*Tea and refreshments!

*Wear warm, work clothes, boots & gloves

Cordwainer's Garden, summer 2011

The Master Gardener Programme

• We recruit, train, and support volunteer ‘Master Gardeners’ to become food growing mentors/ambassadors for households and communities.
• Funded by the Big Lottery Fund’s Local Food scheme, Sheepdrove Trust, and in North London by the London Borough of Islington.
• Managed by the UK’s leading organic growing charity, Garden Organic. We use innovation and inspiration to get more people growing in the most sustainable way.

The Volunteer Co-ordinator

• Plan and deliver programme activities to support our lovely Master Gardeners.
• Monitor and evaluate the programme’s impact and help develop the model to sustain/expand networks.
• Needs enthusiasm for food growing, local knowledge, and experience managing volunteers and delivering training.

Hours: 21 hours a week (3 days a week)

Salary: £20,000-22,000 pro rata (£12,000-13,200/annum)

Location: Local office at Sustain, 94 White Lion Street, N1 9PF

Contract: Until February 2013

How to apply

CLICK LINKS TO DOWNLOAD

• Job description, Islington Volunteer Co-ordinator (PDF)
• Garden Organic job application form (Word document)
• Garden Organic equal opportunities form (Word document)
  (Read Garden Organic’s equal opportunities policy)

Closing date: 9am, Monday 27 February 2012

Interview date: w/c 5 March 2012

Please email or post your completed application form and equal opportunity form to:
Jo Goold, Human Resources
Garden Organic, Ryton, Coventry, CV8 3LG
jgoold@gardenorganic.org.uk
024 7630 8225
http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/jobs

For an informal conversation:
Please contact project manager Philip Turvil
024 7621 7718 or click here to email

Click here for more Garden Organic vacancies

Click here for links to other environmental recruiters

Back to Master Gardener news

We will do odd jobs and assess what we need to do for the next few
sessions.

A bit of history about the gardens:

The gardens provide a lovely oasis of calm for local residents and workers to enjoy. They have an important history, the gardens are a small fragment of a Quaker burial ground (which was also known as Bunhill Fields Burial Ground) and which was the first freehold property owned by Quakers, bought in 1661 and used until 1855 for 12,000 burials. George Fox, Edward Burrough and John Bellers were buried there and many people interested in Quakerism still visit the site from all over the world for this reason.

We’re keen to share your food growing enthusiasm across our mentored networks, websites, and Garden Organic’s membership magazine, ‘The Organic Way’.

In fact, lots of growers are looking for the ingenious watering tips that you’ve passed on – or learnt from your lovely mentored households and community gardens.

Please get in touch today to share your ideas

Email project manager Philip Turvil using the contact form here, including:

• 10-30 words per tip (from windowsills to ambitious spaces; water saving, crop-specific)
• Your full name
• Your programme area, ie Islington or neighbouring borough
• If you have a small photo of you to accompany your tip (only if you fancy!)
• If you rather not have your name or photo published (only if you fancy!)

Oh, and any suggestions for future ‘tip-topics’ are very welcome…

Please send your tips by the 27th February 2012

Seed sowing tips from Master Gardeners

Tips already shared

Thanks to a huge response in autumn 2011, seed-sowing tips from Master Gardeners will soon feature in the spring edition of the ‘The Organic Way’, the national membership magazine of the UK’s leading organic growing charity, Garden Organic.

The tips from 15 volunteers have already featured in the March edition of the national ‘Grow Your Own’ magazine, pages 66 and 67.

Look out for a growing blogs too coming soon…

It’s the perfect moment to kick-start the growing year! Come along, grab a seed tray, get your ideal sowing mix of compost and then choose from a variety of veggies to sow, grow and eat at home.

A great event for children and beginners. You’ll be helped and advised by friendly Master Gardeners and Composters!

Visit Ryton Garden’s event web page

Local Master Gardeners will be out in abundance helping visitors grow lovely organic food. Look out for lots of other Garden Organic folk too, including Bob Sherman, Pauline Pears and Philip Turvil.

Scheduled for the beginning of the growing season, the show has lots of money-saving ideas, a mix celebrity gardeners, chefs, livestock experts, growers, unique products, cookery demonstrations and interactive events for the whole family.

Voted the UK’s Most Popular Garden Event of the Year – this ‘must-see’ 2012 show.

Read schedule from Warwickshire Master Gardener website

Visit Garden Organic’s website for more details – and where members can claim ticket discounts