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!

Community stalls and local creators

Over on the Tai Chi lawn, it was great to have community groups and Creator Makers, sharing their passions, demonstrating their skills and selling their wares. Thank you to all of you : www.thegoblinspocket.com *    www.instagram.com/ronniediggins  * Handmade Creative Crafts by Jane xx * Birmingham Friends of the Earth * ‘South Birmingham Tools for Africa *  Kings Heath Shed * The Compost Connection CIC *The Eden Project * Caroline Percivale Watercolours * Nicholas Sims Portraits * and to The Storytellers Studio for their tales.

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!

Garden Party charity auction event (Sat 1 July). 

The Merry Wives of Windsor Tues 18 July 

 The Ugly Duckling  Sun 23 July) 

 Sandwell and Westside Jazz Festival Sat 22 July – host venue

Autumn Event Sat 9 September

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

Plan your visit, how to find us, where to park, stalls and music list – all the details on our main event page here.

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.

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.