Lessons learned, and signing off for this year...

We're being very unlucky with the weather at the moment, and it highlights the difficulty of trying to keep the garden productive and tidy on this kind of course. Marcus and any other volunteers - and we have one or two willing souls at present - can only work in the garden if it's not pouring down. For us this means that the dry weather has to coincide with a time when they're not studying literacy or numeracy or any of the other important things we cover. And it has to be Mon-Wednesday because those are the days the students and I are around. It's a bit limiting in terms of the love and care we can lavish on our potential crops.

The plan now is to sort out as much as we can next week - get rid of the waterlogged veggies that never quite made it, dump the terracotta pot that mysteriously got smashed, weed and tidy, then plant the over-wintering onions and garlic (hoping they've survived the period they've spent in the shed), and then we'll retire the garden for the winter.

Roll on next spring! A lesson learned, I think, is that we need more flowers and fewer veggies next year. The raised bed was a great idea, but needs more attention than we can give it and less rain than it suffered. It's been, as they say, a learning curve. Meanwhile though, the hanging baskets are still in bloom in October, so they must've brought a small amount of joy to a few rail passengers, and the three clematis are rambling all over the fence and should be stunning by next spring.

The photos I've dotted around here represent The Way We Were. It's good to look at them now and then to realise that actually we've come quite a way in quite a short time.

That's all for now - we'll be back in spring.

Meet Marcus...

...who's on the P2S course and has volunteered to do some work in the garden. Thanks Marcus!

In a lull

It's been a long time between posts - sorry! - this was mainly due to holidays but also due to the dreaded rain, which comes at the most inconvenient times. On the other hand, it's kept the baskets looking pretty for a good while, so all is not lost.

We have a lot of work to catch up on - many weeds to pull; many tomatoes to water; even a couple of cabbages to harvest. We're thinking jacket potatoes and home-made coleslaw for lunch next week? - should be both tasty and healthy.

We've been plotting what we can do gardening-wise during the winter months and we think maybe we'll plant up a few hyacinths to sell at the main desk, just starting in a small way, and seeing how far our entrepreneurial skills get us...

Playtime!!

Thanks to Carl and Ryan for permission to upload this great picture of them enjoying swingball in the new garden space. It's proving popular so Julie and I will just have to have our turn sometime when they've all gone home...

Raised veggie bed, featuring particularly rampant tomatoes, in the background. Beyond that is the back area, which we kid ourselves we're leaving wild for the sake of the local birds and butterflies, but if we're honest we just haven't managed to tackle it yet. Top priority for next year.

Salad days

Rainbow radish, grown by our own fair Platform hands and shortly to feature in a very small, supporting role on the Café Jaxx menus...

Sadly, the lettuces were rotted by the rain before we could get to them - and just don't mention the peas - but the tomatoes are looking healthy. Tomato pasta's looking a distinct possibility on the healthy eating front.

Have been giving a lot of thought to the whole garden operation. We can use it for the PSD modules as we'd planned, but the regular watering, deadheading, weeding, etc, needed would maybe also suit a half-day work placement for an E2E student - preferably one of our own! Students happy to garden come and go here but there aren't usually more than two of them at the same time, so a work placement type system might be more workable? Worth a try anyway.

Phase Two

Our latest enthusiastic gardening student has left us for pastures new - a quick turnover's an occupational hazard with a tier 1 E2E provision - and it seems like a good time to stop making the less enthusiastic ones take part in planting, digging and weeding.

Alongside that tho' we're bringing in a new qualification which most, if not all, of our students will be expected to take. Two of the modules, Making the Most of Your Leisure Time and Healthy Living, can easily incorporate a gardening/garden produce element so the changes we've managed to make in the garden will continue to benefit future students.

We have a little of the YOF cash left so we're ordering some onion sets - I have visions of steaming bowls of French Onion Soup for the students we have over the winter - and a few windchimes to counteract the constant rattle of the nearby trains and drone of the railway announcements.

A touch of colour

We have 4 big tubs, a cwt or so of compost, trellis on the fence and some stunningly healthy clematis to plant up, but will it stop raining long enough to allow us to get on with it? Nope.

So, in the absence of climbing plants to photograph, here's a shot of one of the hanging baskets. Won't that look pretty from the railway platform at the other side of the fence?

What we need to do now...

A visit from Barry to see how we're getting along and to offer some advice on jobs we can be doing now or in the near future:

Tomato plants - pull off the extra growth at the axis of the leaves and the main stem.
Also buy some tomato plant food and use regularly according to the instructions.
And for next year - remember to plant only one plant per tub. We planted some surplus plants in a tub and at the moment they look healthy but a little crowded!

Webb's lettuces - maybe thin these by taking out alternate plants. Poor things - they're not ready to eat but they're cramping the style of their near neighbours so they have to go for the good of the crop.

Beans - snap them off at the top of the bean poles, otherwise they'll just keep on and on growing.

Gherkins - let them trail over the side of the raised bed. They're obviously free spirits and won't come to harm from a bit of adventuring.

Veggies generally - dig in some granular feed but don't let it touch the leaves or it'll burn them.

Send off for horticultural catalogues with a view to finding some onion sets for August sowing.

Finally, we can re-sow the patch when we've harvested. This is the bit that fills me with unease, in case I get it wrong. But Barry advises 1) it's too late for carrots now and 2) we can plant anything we like from the long list he's given us. Everything is in seed form straight into the ground, except for the onion sets.

Phew, I feel tired thinking about it.

Spot the difference

One from a few weeks ago; one from today

What have we learned so far?

...that not all students will be enthused about the gardening project even though it offers us a brilliant, useable, outdoor space. And that, while some students will happily trundle off with the watering can, others need a bit more encouragement.

...that this kind of project doesn't easily lend itself to one regular day a week in the timetable. Sometimes it needs more then a day; sometimes it needs less; sometimes it needs a day other than our usual gardening day; and sometimes it rains.

...that clearly we'll need to allocate more time and energy to it in these early months than we will over the cold winter months.

...that people delivering large amounts of soil aren't always kind enough to take it to the specific spot you would like it leaving, no matter how doleful your expression.

...that we need to be faster if we want to catch Fran on camera in a compromising position. Well, okay, she was only pushing a heavily-laden wheelbarrow while dressed to the nines, with her stiletto caught between the boards of the decking, but it was pretty entertaining.

And finally:

...that now and then one of the students will admit to enjoying one of the gardening activities even though they're far too cool to say so in front of their mates.

coming to life

"Today we watered the flowers and vegetables that had already been planted and then got to work on planting some of the remaining flowers. We put together 2 new hanging baskets with a range of diffrent coloured flowers. We then chose some flowers to go in a big pot and set about planting them. We had some tomato plants which had been left in the sun for too long and had started to die but we replanted them in a pot and gave them lots of water and now we're waiting for them to grow nice and healthy. All the rest of the vegetables and flowers are growing very well and we can not wait until they flower properly. "
Helen

Monday morning blues...and greens...and pinks...and...

Julie and Kellé pose among the newly-watered flowers.

A sign of things to come

Poppies and marigolds by the entrance to greet our visitors.

A word from our gardening expert

Barry has done great things for us - constructed a raised bed, put up trellis for the clematis and honeysuckle we're going to buy soon, offered loads of advice and donated lots of seeds and veggie plants. Here is his own record of the process we've been through, focussing on one recent, very arduous weekend:

"Well, we seem to be getting there. It seems a long time since we first met and discussed plans and options to brighten the place up. On reflection, I think we took the right approach by being patient and implementing an agreed, structured plan. I think it's paid dividends.
Friday 12th June. My major role was the construction of the raised vegetable bed. This project was a team effort with siting being a big concern. With help from Kellé and Julie, we decided on an ideal location. Many thanks to the men from Best Training for their help in manoeuvring this structure, and also the welcome I received from Rick and John.
Saturday 13th June. We fitted the extra timber to the trellis and attached the back screen membrane. Josie helped greatly with this. The other main job today was filling the raised bed with soil, ready for planting.
Sunday 14th June. Really early start today to make sure the railway platform (our near neighbour) was clear of passengers. Josie finished the trellis and I started planting veggies. Josie was a star and also helped with putting up the brackets for the hanging baskets.
Myself and Josie hope you like the results so far and would like to wish you great growing success for the future.
A big thank you to Kellé for her negotiating skills and to Julie for looking after us with tea and biscuits!

For our part, we'd like to say very many thanks to Barry and Josie for putting in this huge amount of work over a three day weekend when some of us were at home relaxing...
The garden is slowly transforming into a welcoming, useable space; the veggies look happy in their new position and we're buying and planting plants like there's no tomorrow.
Don't forget to come and see us, both of you - we're always eager for extra gardening advice.

Making progress...

"Today we thought it would be a good idea to do the rest of the garden, as it is an excellent day. We weeded the pots to enable us to put new flowers in them. We brushed the moss of the ground to make it look presentable. We then walked to the local town market, where we picked up some flowers for the garden. We choose different types of flowers but kept to a colour coordination theme of blue, pink, purple, red and white. We are now waiting for another nice day to plant the flowers in the pots that we have prepared."

chelsea lea wany

They're the Best!!

After Julie, Sidrah and I spent a happy (well, sort of...) few hours undercoating the wood for the trellis and the raised beds, six lovely men from Best Training, Huddersfield, came along and finished off the job for us in no time. Brilliant! Thank you so much!

Now we can organise our students doing the 'proper' gardening work. Next week's plan includes planting up some hanging baskets to prettify the area a little.

Taking shape

"I helped with the painting the wood for the garden. I didn't like wearing the overalls but it stayed dry while we painted."

Sidrah

Look at this beauty!

This is our one little touch of colour in the garden at present. But lovely, don't you think?

Started the big clean up!

"A few of us went around the garden area this morning picking up the rubbish which people from the railway platform next door have inconsiderately thrown over the fence! It took us a while to get used to being watched by the people waiting for their trains, and we felt a bit stupid at first, but we collected three or four black bags of Fruit Shoot bottles, old cigarette boxes and carrier bags.

Hoping for more sunshine tomorrow!"

Helen

This is what we've got at the moment...

The story so far...

A very quick post to tell you what we're up to and what we've done so far.

We've done a lot of waiting for the rain to stop...

We've been to the garden centre to price everything up.

We've asked for, and been awarded - thanks, Youth Opportunities Fund! - a grant of just under £1000 to buy the items we'll need to make the area pretty and productive.

We've had a chat with our local gardening expert on the best way forward.

And today, we'd planned a visit to a local park which boasts greenhouses, a 'savage' garden and a demonstration garden, but it rained. Again. So instead, we bought more stuff, borrowed some gardening books from the library and started work on our 'gardening project diaries'. We'll be so well-prepared by the time the sun appears!

That's it from me. It's over to the students from now on...