The Big Dig in Birmingham

Big Dig Brum is calling on individuals and groups with an interest in community food growing to attend a meeting at Birmingham Botanical Gardens on Wednesday 16 January, 2013, at 7pm and become involved with planning one of the largest ever food growing volunteer action days.

Green-fingered enthusiasts will be able to find out more about Urban Food Growing in Birmingham and meet and network with like-minded groups and individuals. There will be presentations by local author and gardening journalist Alys Fowler and Mike Hardman (Researcher, Birmingham City University) on the need, importance and context of growing food in Birmingham.

Chris Blythe, the Inner City Garden said:

“If you are a member of an allotment, a friends of parks group, a community grow site, or an individual wanting to get involved, then this is the meeting you can’t miss.”

Attending the meeting is free. For more information contact theinnercitygarden@gmail.com or c.savage@bham.ac.uk 0121 414 5382.

The Big Dig Meeting takes place on Wednesday 16 January, 7pm, Birmingham Botanical Gardens, Westbourne Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 3TR.

BIG DIG BRUM

Big Dig Brum is supported by Growing Birmingham, Birmingham Botanical Gardens, Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens, Martineau Gardens, Horticulture Hub, Urban Veg @ University of Birmingham, InnerCityGarden, Birmingham Open Spaces Forum and Birmingham Parks and Open Spaces.

 Photocredit: J Fletcher

If you fancy a bit of exercise that helps our wildlife, why not join this Saturday’s Winter Work Party, (Sat 9 February 2013) led by Jean Fletcher with Brian Perry our wildlife recorder. The work parties take place once a month in the woodland area of the Gardens. The conservation work includes coppicing trees and bushes, digging out roots, pruning hedges and clearing brambles and ivy.  The activity runs from 10.30am until 3.30pm, but if you can only do a morning or afternoon, that’s fine. In the event of severe weather, work parties will be cancelled. If you’d like to join us, please book in advance on 0121 440 7430 – we need your contact details in case the party gets cancelled.

Dates for the diary:

Winter Work Party. Sat 9 February and Sat 9 March  10.30am until 3.30pm. Free, but book in advance.

Little Pottery Haven is running two new pottery courses in the Pottery Studio at Martineau Gardens on Mondays (10am – 12noon or 1.15pm – 3.45 pm) from 21 January 2013.

You’ll be able to learn basic pottery skills including slab rolling, coiling, thumb pots and glazing under the tuition of a BITA Pathways qualified pottery tutor. The course costs £60 for six weeks, includes the costs of all materials and tea and homemade cake. Advance booking is essential via the course organizers.

Contact:

For more information or to book a place:

Call BITA Pathways on 0121 359 2020 or e-mail: info@littlepotteryhaven.com

Website: www.littlepotteryhaven.com

Twitter:   @pottery_haven

Garden Answers, the monthly gardening magazine, has selected Martineau Gardens as their community garden of the month, for its December issue. Here’s a copy of it in all its glory. GardenAnswersMagazineDec2012

Martineau Gardens produced four newsletters a year. Click here to view our newsletters.

With the woodland looking so beautiful at this time of year, November and December are a great time for groups to participate in Forest School activities at Martineau Gardens. We now have a second Forest School Area to compliment the original outdoor classroom in the woods: A den constructed from hazel branches, a storytelling space and log seating all feature here, close by is our earth oven, which can be used for outdoor cooking and a bonfire area.  These area are available for groups to hire as an outdoor learning space. To find out more about booking this area for your group, for outdoor learning, download our leaflet.

Join us at this free event, to celebrate this season’s harvest of apples grown here in the Martineau Gardens’ orchard, with Local Food Global Food on Saturday 13 October, 2012, from 11am until 3pm.

You can find out more about the event here.

Apples, about to be turned into juice, by hand, on the traditional press

Cooking outdoors, using the earth oven

Live music from local musicians, wildlife  activities for children, apple pressing  and earth oven baking, are some of the treats in store for visitors to Martineau Gardens’ annual Autumn Event on Sunday 23 September from 11am – 3pm. Our family friendly ‘green’ fete will celebrate the Autumn harvest and provide an  afternoon of family fun.

For full details, including admission charge, please click here.

Carlo Mahalo and the G Strings Ukulele Band

 We’re delighted to announce that the Birmingham Honey Show is returning to Martineau Gardens, a fantastic event, organised by the Birmingham and District Beekeeping Association and is a Heritage Open Day event. The event will take place on Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 September, 2012,  from 10am – 4pm.  To find out more about the Honey Show, click here.

Like Bees Around a Honey pot … a bee keeper gets ready for the Honey Show at Martineau Gardens

We’re delighted to announce we’ve been awarded the prestigious Green Flag Community Award today (Tuesday 17 July),  for the third year running.

Green Flag Community Awards (part of the Green Flag Award scheme) recognise and reward the best community run green parks in the country andMartineau Gardens stood out after impressing the inspector. The Gardens were judged against eight criteria: a welcoming place; healthy safe and secure; clean and well maintained; sustainability; biodiversity and heritage; community involvement; management and achievements.

Caroline Hutton, Director,Martineau Gardens said:

“Martineau Gardens are a community-run garden that’s open for free to the public. This award is a tribute to the dedication of our volunteers who work hard to keep the gardens a beautiful and tranquil spot for Birmingham people to come and relax in.”

For more information about the awards visit: www.greenflagaward.org.uk