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.

Community Herb Planter

Thanks to all for the lovely and positive feedback we have received regarding the community herb planter we put out at the Pavilion in early May. If you haven’t yet seen it, pop along and help yourself to some herbs. We’ve planted them to share with the community. The planter currently contains: Oregano Thyme, Sage, Mint, Salad Burnet, Chives and Parsley. The idea is for people to take a pinch or a snip, only as much as they need for free. More details including some culinary usage can be found here.

We are currently planning an exciting community event for Saturday 21st July. This will involve more planters and an opportunity for families to get involved. You can keep up to date by signing up to our newsletter or check out our Facebook page @greeningchinnor.

Seed & Plant Swap

We would like to thank the good people of Chinnor for their amazing support that they gave us at our recent Seed & Plant Swap. It seems that the whole village was queuing up to donate plants and seeds whilst choosing what they wanted to plant in return. We are delighted to say that we are already starting to plan next year’s event.

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

Incredible Edible Chinnor

Announcement of our new project.

Greening Chinnor wish to help increase local food production by encouraging as many people as possible to grow their own fruit, vegetables and herbs. The aim is to encourage our community to grow ‘food for free’ to be picked by everyone by making use of unloved/unused pieces of land.

The initiative has already started with the Seed and Plant swaps and we would like to introduce community herb beds around the village and encourage sponsorship and community ownership.

The intention is to start small but to scale up the project by looking for small pockets of land where ‘community food’ can be grown and shared and where we will have a sizeable output of crops. We would include elements of learning, growing and sharing. The plan is to eventually have a community orchard and allotment or garden.

This project is open to everyone in the community and we would encourage the collaboration of local groups, churches, schools and businesses in this exciting venture. We are in the early stages of the planning and more details will be announced shortly.

If you know of any small 'unloved' areas or would like to get involved in this exciting project, please contact us at greeningchinnor@gmail.com.

Plant & Seed Swap

A huge thank you to everyone that supported our 3rd Seed & Plant Swap that we held at the FoE Giant Swap Shop and Green Event on the 6 May.

We had lots of plant donations with over 600 items coming (and going) - many lettuce, tomatoes and beans.  We are pleased to say that we received £77.50 in donations which was 50% more than last year. This will be put to supporting next years swap.

Any plants that remained at the end of the event were donated to Christian Aid.  

We gave away 32 sunflower plants as part of the Children's Sunflower Growing Competition and look forward to seeing how they have grown at the end of August. Any competition entrants must send a photo of their sunflower together with the measurements of height and sunflower size along with name and age of entrant. 

Plant and Seed Swap Shop 6th May 10:00-14:00 Mill Lane School

Once more Greening Chinnor will be running a plant and seed swap at the Friends of the Earth Giant Swap Shop & Green Living Event at Mill Lane School on 6th May.

It could not be easier – bring a plant, some seeds or garden sundries and swap with something else. Or if you do not have any plants or seeds to swap a small contribution towards the cost of the plants we grow for this event would be appreciated.

After last year’s children’s Giant Bean growing competition, this year we are offering sunflowers plants to children to enable them to take part in this year’s free growing competition.

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

Seed & Plant Swap - This Saturday

Following on from last year's successful Seed & Plant Swap, we are pleased to let you know we will be having a stall at the FoE Green Fayre on Saturday 14th May at the Village Hall, Church Lane, Chinnor, Oxon, OX39 4PQ (view map) from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm.

Do you have packets of seeds you don’t want, half a packet left over or sown too much? This is where you can exchange seeds and plants, Bring your excess seeds and seedlings to our swap stall and swap with someone else. Herbs, vegetables, flowers, anything goes. Please label any plants and seeds clearly. It doesn't matter if you don't have anything to swap, everyone is welcome to take a plant (maximum of 3, whilst stocks last). Alan has been busy growing some of the seeds that were left over from last year as part of this year’s Swap.

We are pleased to say that we have received 30 packets of wild flower seeds from The Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew as part of the 'Grow Wild' campaign they are running to inspire people across the UK to come together to transform local spaces by sowing, growing and enjoying native wild flowers.

As last year, there will be a children's competition and giving away free plants to the first 30 children. This year we're giving away beans and come the end of August we will want to see who has grown the tallest and who has grown the longest bean. We will also be having a children's draw for DIY Bee houses.

This is a chance for newbies to have a go at growing some vegetables or flowers, or for 'older' hands to exchange seeds and plants that you have too many of, or just to pick up a plant for free to have a go at “GROW YOUR OWN”.

This year we will also have a plant pot swap as well and will accept all pots that are in good order. Please ensure that all plant brought for swapping are clearly labeled. So bring along seeds, plants or pots to swap or just take a plant to try.

Seed & Seedling Swap

Come along to our seed & seedling swap stall at the FoE Swap Shop in the Village Hall on Saturday 9th May. You don't have to bring anything to swap you can take a plant or seeds to try. We are also giving away sunflower plants to the first 30 children. I can see a competition coming!