With the Ashes, the Hundred Series, Vitality Blast Cricket happening on our doorstep at Edgbaston Stadium, cricket fans can pay a fee to park their car at Martineau Gardens on selected dates. Each cricket season we usually run a ‘cricket car park’, as a fundraising activity for the Gardens.
A successful beekeeping course completed at Martineau Gardens this weekend, and 13 new students ready to become beekeepers! It might have been the hottest weekend of the year, but the atmosphere was wonderful, as students got ‘hands on with bees’ for an indepth introduction to the craft.
Thank you to our friendly students for all the enthusiasm and interest and our brilliant tutors, Sam Walker and Jane Nimmo
If you’d like to join a beekeeping course in the future at Martineau Gardens, keep an eye on announcements on social media or join our News and Events Mailing list
It’s World Bee Day on 20 May 2023 and here at Martineau Gardens, we do all we can to make Martineau Gardens a beefriendly garden. Much of our appreciation of ‘bees needs’ is shared though our popular beekeeping courses. * Delivered by expert volunteer beekeepers, Sam Walker (Martineau Gardens Beekeeper) and Jane Nimmo (Let it Bee), these give members of the public a chance to put on a beekeeping suit, get hands-on with bees and begin to think if they themselves could become a beekeeper.
Beekeeper Sam WalkerBeekeeping students at the Martineau Gardens Taster Beekeeping CourseThe beehives at Martineau GardensHoney bees emerging at Martineau Gardens
As a food-growing community garden, one of the things we aim to share with volunteers and visitors (including local school visits) is the importance of pollinators in the foodchain. We garden organically, and the volunteers on the therapeutic horticulture programme come to understand how by leaving a few nettles here, a pile of logs there, they’re supporting a range of pollinators from honey bees and bumblebees to hoverflies, butterflies, moths and beetles.
Insect pollinators are important for our environment and for biodiversity. Without them seed production by wild plants as well as flowers, vegetables and fruit grown in gardens would be jeopardised – pollinators allow plants to produce fruits and seeds which birds and other animals rely on. We were delighted to have our efforts in demonstrating pollinator friendly habitats and food sources to the public recognised by The Bees’ Needs Champions Awards recently.
Honey made by the bees of Martineau Gardens is currently on sale and available from the plant sales area – all profits from the sale of the honey is ploughed straight back into the charity.
Thank you to Sam and Jane for running the beekeeping courses, here at Martineau Gardens.
*Our beekeeping courses are sold out, but to go on the waiting list for any future courses, please email info@martineau-gardens.org.uk
We had a wonderful, successful event on Saturday, our Spring Celebration 2023. Thank you to everyone who got involved, whether you were helping out or visiting, it was brilliant to see everyone enjoying the gardens in all their spring glory.
Here’s a little round up of some of the fun that was to be had:
Even the weather got behind us, after a chilly beginning, the clouds vanished and the sun shone down on the gardens and all our activities. It was great to see so many visitors enjoying live music from our two incredible bands (thank you to Moseley Village Band and Rigmareel who performed for free), enjoying delicious homemade cakes and barbeque food in the outdoor kitchen and trying their skill at the fete games. Down in the woods, families took part in wildlife activities, even spotting newts whilst pond dipping with our education officer Juliette and lots of our hand-reared plants went home to new gardens!
Thank you too to the crew from Bournbrook firestation – who brought along the fire engine for everyone to find out more about fire safety.
Thank you
The Spring Celebration is a huge coming together of people donating time, love, cake (and so much more) – between you all, we raised £3,000. Thank you to all our volunteers and supporters for all your help, whether you have been potting up and growing plants, sprucing up the gardens for our visitors, making cakes, stewarding the car park, putting up gazeboes, running the tombola, handing out leaflets, washing up, playing music for us – or digging deep and donating your cash, we really appreciate all your support.
More events at Martineau Gardens in 2023
We’re so pleased to have started our events season with a roll – be sure to keep an eye on what’s planned for the rest of the year here or look out for announcements on social media or our news and events emails (sign up here) – we look forward to seeing you at the next one!
We’ve been out for coffee! Members of the Visitor Welcome Volunteer Team with Jenni and Sarah got together earlier in the month, with the good folk at Chapter Restaurant, Edgbaston to share our experiences of welcoming people and to hear about life behind the scenes in a busy restaurant over delicious elevenses. A big thank you to Anne, Karina, Nathan and Thomas for making us so welcome.
It was a glorious morning to celebrate the start of our new relationship with the restaurant. Chapter have selected Martineau Gardens to be Charity of the Year and we’re absolutely thrilled about it.
Our visitor welcome team are the friendly face of Martineau Gardens, the people who meet all our visitors, offer them tea and make them welcome. The contribution the team makes to Martineau Gardens is immense and this was a really lovely way to take a bit of time out, spend time together and appreciate all their hard work.
Pictured here, some of our wonderful Visitor Welcome Volunteers busy in the gardens
It’s the Spring Celebration Event this Saturday, and we’ve been really busy all month getting ready – our plant sales area is heaving with new plants for you to peruse. Pictured here, volunteers are potting up meadowsweet (left) and since it’s wild garlic time, we’ve potted up a few for you to pick up and take home (right).
Come and join us on Saturday, our family-friendly green fete has something for everyone. Enjoy live music, delicious food and lots of activities, all in the grounds of our beautiful community garden. Wander around local stalls, the creators’ market, find out about gardening, hear our latest news. Stock up on plants and produce. There will be delicious homemade food and cakes for sale. Join in with traditional fete games, drop into the Storytellers Tent for a a tale or two and have fun with the family. All funds raised contribute to Martineau Gardens. £4 Adults, £1 Children
Here’s a few highlights from this week. It was a windy day on Wednesday, with lots of April showers but the challenge was on to get the asparagus bed weeded before the next downpour.
The rain sent us diving for cover, but a good opportunity to get on with sowing more seeds In the comfort of the keder greenhouse – broccoli, peas, parsnips,beetroot, black-eyed susans, nastutriums and sweet peas all sown.
Our enthusiasm for hot composting continues. After emptying it recently, we’re starting anew. Former colleague Caroline Starr dropped in to share her passion and knowledge with the Friday group. We’d all brought in compost contributions from home – pictured here, everyone hard at work, snipping the compost down to the bite size pieces required. One tray, a work of art! Caroline showed us how to layer up the compost, beginning with the starter layer of twigs, enabling the air to circulate.
Volunteer Recruitment Session, Sat 22 April, 2pm -3pm (free but let us know you are coming!)
Are you interested in volunteering at Martineau Gardens? We’re on the look out for volunteers. We are recruiting for two voluntary roles – Visitor Welcome Team volunteers and Therapeutic Horticulture Support Volunteers. We will be having an information session about these roles straight after the Martineau Gardens Jumble Sale, 2pm – 3pm. It’s free to attend the info session, but we’d like you to drop us a line so we know you are coming.
About the roles:
Find out more about the roles here – read the role description and download an application form
Please send an email to Sarah Hill-Daniel to let us know you are coming – sarah@martineau-gardens.org.uk It would be helpful if you can let us know which role you’re interested in.
Interested, but can’t attend?
If you can’t make the information session, do get in touch to register your interest and we will get back to you, via:
Martineau Gardens is open until 4pm on Thursday 6 April, closed Good Friday (7 April), closed Easter Sunday (9 April) and Easter Monday (10 April). We’re open Easter Saturday, 10am until 4pm
Though we’re closed until Tuesday 4 April whilst our building works are in progress, here’s an update on some of the activity the garden team have been doing, earlier in the month.
Buoyed up by all the inspiration and tips we got from the The Compost Connection CIC workshops recently, it was great for us to get some hands-on experience in emptying the hot composter.
Though the day wasn’t as cold as it has been, one of the things that’s really nice about hot composting is lifting the lid and feeling the warmth – even on a relatively cool spring day – hot composting works by trapping the heat that is produced – micro organisms in the garden waste break down the organic material and this release water, carbon dioxide and heat. It’s the heat which speeds up the composting process – our hot composter produces compost several months quicker than our compost bins.