Plant and Seed Swap

Our next highly popular Seed & Plant Swap will be held as part of the Chinnor & Thame Friends of the Earth Green Fayre at Mill Lane School, Mill Lane, Chinnor, OX9 4RF on Saturday 11th May 2019 between 10:00 am and 2:00 pm. 

We are already planting some items of interest which we will hope will tempt you to come and join us and make it as big a success as last year when about 1000 plants changed hands. You know how it works now. Bring something to swap or make a small contribution towards costs. 

A request to all of you gardeners out there. We are all trying to cut down our use of plastic or recycle it. Well if you have any spare 3” plastic flower pots (3” is diameter at top) then we can use them for our pricking out. If you have any available please email us at grenningchinnor@gmail.com and we'll collect them.

Station Road Community Garden

Have you been down to the new Community Garden yet? It's looking amazing.  A full list of what's available can be found here.

What a year... so far!

I think the first part of 2018 must be one of the busiest we've ever had. So just in case you missed it, here's what we have been up to.

First was a tree and hedge planting session in January where together with some of your local Parish Councillors, we put in some glorious young trees to replace those that needed felling in Conigre. In addition a row of native hedging was planted in order to help prevent youngsters having easy access to the traffic dangers of Station Road

Chinnor Repair Cafe We are pleased to say that Greening Chinnor are part of the innovative Repair Cafe Oxfordshire Programme supported by The CAG Network and Oxfordshire County Council. This initiative is happening across Oxfordshire to tackle the growing issue of waste and change the way we view normal household items like toasters and radios. Repair Cafes are a social event where people with broken items are matched with skilled people who like fixing things. The focus being on skill-sharing where rather than throwing items in the bin, attendees will be invited to learn how to fix their item alongside the volunteer fixers. April saw the launch of Chinnor's first Repair cafe. We all had a great afternoon and huge thanks go to our team of “experts” and fixers who worked wonders on the stream of varied items placed in front of them. Also to our team of facilitators who made sure everyone was looked after as well as serving a steady stream of tea and homemade cakes. In addition one of our fixers gave a couple of excellent sessions where he demonstrated how householders can make simple inexpensive fixes to some common plumbing problems.

Our expert team of volunteer fixers were able to mend or offer progressive advice to everything that was brought in with the exception of a single broken iron.

24 items examined
61.6 kilos weighed

Fixed 20 (40 kilos)
Advice given 3 (20 kilos)
Unfixable 1 (1.5 kilos)

The cornucopia of items received were:

a bike, 2 cd players, a ceramic bowl and tray, a waxed jacket, an iron, an extension lead, a printer, a lamp, a padlock, taps, a small watering can, a spider catcher, tent poles, a tyre gauge, a drill charger, chicken bone cutters, secateurs, a hobby horse, small action toys, a small wooden dolls chair, a small Victorian chair and a small leather mystery. If the owner ever finds out what it is, please let us know.

Look out for details of our next Repair Cafe coming up in the autumn. In the meantime, if you would like to get involved either as a fixer or facilitator please email Linda at greeningchinnor@gmail.com.

Spring Community Litter Pick

We had our belated Community Litter Pick on Sunday 29th April. Despite winter not wanting to finally depart we had an excellent turnout. We were particularly pleased to see some children from the Beavers group turning up to lend a hand. For the first time we made sure that Old Kiln Lakes was included on our clean up. As always, unfortunately, there is still much too much rubbish discarded by the thoughtless.

Incredible Edibles

As part of Chinnor’s contribution to the Incredible Edible Network started in Todmordon, we have planted up our first Community Herb Planter in half an oak barrel outside the Pavilion. There is a good selection of some common and not so common culinary herbs and are there for community use. So go along an take a pinch or have a snip of chives and use them in cooking or in salads. Please just take a what you need and leave some for your fellow residents.




We will be inviting you to join us in placing our next community planters soon so watch this space!

Seed & Plant Swap

Nearly there (phew). We had an excellent turnout of plant donations and garden 'stuff' (as well as customers) at our Seed and Plant swap at the Green Living Event/Giant Swap Shop Event on Saturday 12 May. We even had some garden tools donated which soon found a good home. Last year we swapped or gave, for a small donation, almost 1000 plants - well this year we did even better and totally lost count of what came in or went out. Thanks to your generosity we made enough in donations to help fund next years event. Any plants that were leftover after the event were split and given to Open Gardens and Christian Aid Week.

Sweet Pea - Gardening Advice with an Environmental Slant

Well we are past the shortest day but some of the coldest weather is yet to come. Sweet Pea is about to give you some contradictory advice. Both to tidy up and to leave untidy.

The cold weather is a gardeners friend it helps reduce pests and disease so get out in your garden and tidy away old pots, slabs, ornaments and general rubbish. Cut back all of the woody stems of perennials like phlox. This will prevent a lot of our garden enemies such as slugs and earwigs having somewhere cosy to pass the winter before coming out to renew the onslaught on our planting. Wash all of your old flower pots and make sure the greenhouse and cold frame are clean. Their time is coming up fast. Put some fleece over treasures that may not be fully winter hardy and trim back items that can be damaged by wind and weather.

Our friends and allies in the form of birds (I’m not sure about pigeons though) need all of the assistance we can give them. So leave a few fallen leaves in odd corners. You will see blackbirds constantly raking through them. Do not be hasty to remove anything with berries, even Ivy. They are invaluable food sources and can be left to stand for a month or two yet.

Make sure that the bird tables and feeders are well supplied and don’t forget some fresh water.

Go through your seed collections and be ruthless and throw out anything that is really out of date. Remember you can always get fresh discounted seeds from the Chinnor allotment and Garden Society on Sunday mornings.

Finally, get planning for 2018. What worked, what didn't and what new wonderful things to try this year.

Happy New Year and Good Gardening
Sweet Pea

Latest update from Sweet Pea

Exciting times for allotment growing

If you think that the season is all over then you are wrong. We are just getting started. The mild autumn means that we can really get an early start for improved crops for the early start of next year.

Jobs

Clear as much of your ground as possible. Don’t leave any hidey holes for slugs and pests to overwinter. Old beans can be kept for drying to give you some free seed or used in the kitchen. It is a good time to dig or rotavate whilst there is not too much moisture in the soil and it is still very friable. That’s the hard bit done, now for the pleasure.

Planting – It is getting to a perfect time for planting the following.

• Broad Beans – buy from the Chinnor Allotments and Garden Association (CAGA) shed
• Onions, garlic and shallots as sets (nearest for sale is Haddenham)
• Chard and Perpetual Beet – buy from the shed
• Last sowings of lettuce such as Winter Density – buy from the shed 

Some of the sowings will benefit from a covering of fleece and you know where you can get it cheaply

Finally the seed catalogues are dropping through the door. These are best perused with a glass of wine or beer. Suttons are selling an exciting dwarf mulberry.

Happy Gardening

Sweet Pea

Seasonal Garden Tips with an Environmental Slant - by Sweet Pea

Some environmental seasonal growing tips
Spring is well on the way but it is not too late to do those last winter jobs. Finish your pruning before the sap really starts to rise and buds start to swell. When you prune your perennial plants you are depriving bugs and pests of their safe shelter in hollow stems. Before we lose the last of the frosts make sure that the digging is finished and rubbish is cleared from your borders.

• Cover rhubarb to force some nice sweet early shoots.
• Buy your seeds so you are ready to go. Remember that you can get a good selection at amazing discounts at the Chinnor Allottment Shop, Sunday mornings from 10:00am onwards.
• Check out early plantings of onions, shallots and garlic to make sure that nothing has been dug up or blown out of the soil
• Put down some cloches and fleece to start to warm the soil ready for early planting
• Check over your seed potatoes, they should be starting to chit nicely. Old egg boxes are a good way to keep them safe.
• Pigeons are starting to get hungry so keep your tender brassicas covered

Now is a good time to think about leaving a little area clear for wildlife. This means not being too keen to mow it and particularly don't dig up those early dandelions flowers. They are invaluable food for bees at a time when they are most vulnerable. It may also be a good idea to put up a couple of 'bug hotels' which could just be a few short lengths of bamboo tied together.

Good Growing - Sweet Pea