A free workshop by Local Greens and Garden Organic

Thursday 8th March
7.30-9pm
Upstairs at the Crown and Greyhound pub, Dulwich Village, SE21 7BJ

Whether you have an allotment, small garden or just a windowsill, everyone can grow their own salad, herbs or veg.
Growing your own food can be fun, it tastes great and you will have a ready supply of really fresh food. This hands on, informal workshop run by a Garden Organic Master Gardener will help you get started, plan your planting for the year and you can sow some seeds in a pot to take away.

All welcome – just turn up on the evening.

The Master Gardener programme is a volunteer led scheme managed by Garden Organic, the UK’s leading organic growing charity.
http://www.mastergardeners.org.uk

Local Greens is a not for profit weekly veg bag scheme run by Herne Hill and Dulwich residents. We provide great tasting, seasonal veg from small organic or spray-free farms which are as near to SE London as possible.
Your Local Greens veg bag can be collected weekly from the Crown and Greyhound pub. http://www.localgreens.org.uk

Listen to a short talk explaining the basics of growing in small spaces and then enjoy sowing some seeds in the paper pots you’ve made on Wednesday 28th March at 7pm at South Lambeth library, 180 South Lambeth Road SW8.

The day begins with tea, biscuits and swapping growing stories.

Then exciting tips from the award winning Mark Ridsdill Smith from Vertical Veg about container growing. What crops, where and for how long… ? With best ways to mentor South London residents…

For the first time, we’re inviting all the individuals, couples and families mentored by South London Master Gardeners to join us for free lunch and food growing chats.

Followed by:

• Growing activities with freebies! Families welcome
• Question time and seasonal tips with Master Gardeners
• Award winning Mark Ridsdill Smith (Vertical Veg). Pictured.
• National growing author Philip Turvil (BBC, London 2012, GYO)
• Share your stories and photos… craft stall…. and more…

Get involved

Master Gardeners
Please contact co-ordinator Fiona Law here to register your places for the 10th March

Households mentored by Master Gardeners
We’re posting out your invite letters this week…
Please contact Philip here if you haven’t received your invite

Would you like food growing advice?
Please click here to find your local Master Gardener

There’s similar excitement in our other Master Gardener networks…
Islington (11 March), and Warwickshire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk (details coming soon)

Lewisham Council was very supportive of this event. But long-term success of this orchard will rely on local people to look after the trees.

There’s a cafe using ingredients sourced in-house or locally, including eggs from chickens on the roof in season. Sandwiches, soup and lemon poppy seed cake, for example, reward the dizzying journey out of the south. You can also meet the incredibly knowledgeable MG Courtney  – formerly of south London, moved north to join our colleagues – on some days.  She volunteers there, also running growing workshops in the polytunnel on Sundays. There’s a mirrored globe – parties are held here too.

See here the year round nasturtiums in indoor planters, benefiting from red and blue light LED to pump up the photosynthesis.  Which brings me to Claire B’s nasturtium pesto recipe which she recently shared with me,

http://clairesculinaryadventures.blogspot.com/2011/10/nasturtium-pesto.html

What growing experiments are you up to? And how are you eating the produce? Let us know.

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

This spreadsheet (below) represents all the food I didn’t buy in 2011!

I was inspired to start this spreadsheet by Mark Ridsdell Smith’s study of the financial value of produce he grows in a small space on his roof garden http://www.verticalveg.org.uk/ It made me wonder what do I save in a year?

All the food detailed on the spreadsheet is food I haven’t paid for and mainly includes produce from my back garden http://clairescrops.blogspot.com/p/garden.html but also included gifts for doing volunteer gardening at various community gardens across London and a little bit of foraging.  I think the most generous garden was Capital Growth’s Regents Park Allotment which I volunteered at on 3 occasions in late summer, see this link. I was also given a gift of windfall apples in the Autumn which were available in abundance if you knew anyone with an over productive apple tree!

This has been a completely enlightening exeperience.  It not only shows what I saved, but what I harvested from month to month.  I plan to do another one this year and have started recording the weights of foods from my garden in the last few weeks – it consisted of a few winter salads, kale and chard.

The spreadsheet has not just been an exercise to see what I eat and save through growing food but has also helped bolster my arguments for growing my own.  At an event in late summer a man told me “people are too bone idol to grow their own food” my reply? “Not if you tell them they can save £15 off their weekly food bill in the summer months!”

GYO Food Savings Calculator

Click to see Claire’s crops and savings

Do you have at least two years’ experience growing fruit and veg?  Can you share your knowledge and enthusiasm with beginner growers? We are looking for another 20 volunteers with growing experience to help local people and communities grow their own food organically.

We offer free training (two-day course with follow-up sessions) and full ongoing support from me, your local co-ordinator. We ask you to give about half a day a month at a time and place to suit you, focused around supporting households and the wider community. We operate in three core boroughs – Wandsworth, Lambeth, and Southwark – and neighbouring fringes of Lewisham, Croydon, Bromley, Merton and Kingston upon Thames.

Foundation Training course for new Master Gardeners  Sat & Sun April 21 & 22 2012

• extend your knowledge of organic growing with Garden Organic’s experts
• network and find out how you can contribute to growing in your area
• share your experience and expertise
• develop skills interacting with the public
• enjoy some good food and good company, free to talk about fruit and veg with other enthusiasts!

Click here for more details on the role

If you’re keen to apply, please check out the programme and have a good read of previous blogs, case studies, news. Also keep an eye on events, where you could chat to current Master Gardeners. 

Contact Master Gardener Volunteer Coordinator to register your interest

Please note that Master Gardener volunteers are individuals who already have experience and expertise growing fruit and vegetables, and the enthusiasm and skills to pass on their knowledge.  The foundation training is NOT in basic horticulture (link coming soon with opportunities for training in horticulture ).

Venue: we have run training in Wandsworth, Southwark and Lambeth so far. We will confirm the location of this April’s training once you are accepted on the programme.  Looking forward to hearing from you!

Fiona, South London Master Gardener Coordinator