- Clearing the ground ready to build our shed
- Still a bit of work to do on the workshop side of things
Our ‘little’ Shed ~ the story so far
The Beauty of Nature
The flower bed took shape after the pile of woodchip had been used up around the garden. The woodchip had been in a pile for two years so the weeds would be under control and so we decided to throw together a flower bed. People offered us plants until the flower bed was overflowing.
I think you’ll agree the style is slightly boho but it works. It is a small haven within the garden to attract pollinating insects.
Blooming Polytunnel
This year we saw a raised bed being installed into the polytunnel. Community gardeners went along and collected horse manure from a friend with horses. We managed to get enough to fill up one side of the polytunnel.
Roy filled the polytunnel up with seedlings of lettuce and kale and sewed some radish seed. Henry planted out some tomatoes and peppers at the far end of the polytunnel.
We had harvests of lettuce, radish, kale and now have the first signs of aubergine poking through the blossoms. When the first lot of lettuce was all harvested we replaced it with cut and come again lettuce. Some spinach has now been sown in place of the radish.
The Big Get Together
To be a part of the Big Get Together, a celebration of the life of Jo Cox we held a community gardening day.
It was a swelteringly hot day in June and we celebrated by having a small communal BBQ.
Oh! And of course, we did a bit of gardening…I promise!
A Chilly Day in April
The community garden involves people from all different backgrounds
We have involved teenagers undertaking their voluntary work as part of their Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award
We have had a lovely gentleman, Roy, who came to the garden this year and has become quite a presence in the garden. He built a structure under which he grew broad beans, peas, onions, kale, beetroot and runner beans.
We also have a small group, funded by Learn Devon, who come up and help school children plant some vegetables
Our Community
Our community has grown, ebbed and flowed. Considering the small community that is Okehampton we have a very diverse group of members.
We soon outgrew the original tea hut; such fond memories
Our lovely friends at the Woodland Trust helped improve our facilities with an assortment of seats and a picnic table
The Big Lunch
In November 2014 Fran and Linda attended one of the Eden Project’s Big Lunch Extra camps and were inspired to host a Big Lunch at the community garden. We had our first Big Lunch in June 2015.
The event really helped put the community garden on the map.
New year, new gang
A milestone had been reached and a whole new group of people popped up and started helping out in the garden.
With a new team forming there was a burst of activity in the garden.
The lads cleared a pile of gravel to make way for the rescued sensory garden created by the Prince’s Trust gang. It enabled us to clear away the overgrown grass and weeds at the entrance, using up the gravel and the start of making the community garden more welcoming and vibrant.
It’s difficult to see in the first picture that there is indeed a herb wheel! The lads dug it up and salvaged what they could of the original frame. One of our community gardening days saw the compost pile being put to good use as the herb wheel came into action.
The entrance to the garden looks much more vibrant and as a result we don’t get people dropping off rubbish, fly-tipping in the entrance.
