Happy Meadow Community Garden Update

Now that the community garden is very much up and running, we wanted to share an update on how people can be involved for those that are interested.

The infrastructure of the garden is more or less done - we have beds, paths, deer & rabbit proof fencing, a polytunnel, compost bins and water supply all set up, and we have planted the garden up with fruit, vegetables and flowers. We received a generous donation of vegetable plug plants from Quantil and lots of organic vegetable and flower seeds from Vital Seeds. We plan to save seeds from this year's crops so that next year we can try and grow everything from seed. We can also announce that the gardens official name is 'Happy Meadow Community Garden'. Not many people know that the football ground is called Happy Meadow, so we feel it is only right that the garden has this included.

How you can get involved

1. Stay up to date

We would like to encourage anyone who is interested in using the garden to join our Whatsapp group (click this link to join right now!). This will be our main way of communicating what we are doing down there (whenever anyone pops down to do some gardening, plan social events and bigger work days etc). We have been using the garden for BBQing over the recent hot weeks so even if you don't want to do manual work in the garden it's still a good idea to join the group if you would still like to use the garden socially.

2. Become a core member

We currently have 3 core members who are responsible for sourcing and growing the fruit, vegetables and flowers in the garden. We have completed the majority of the set up on our own and we will continue to do the bulk of the work so that the garden is successful. We also split the garden rent of £200 per year between us (this money goes towards the maintenance of the football ground). We have really enjoyed our time creating the garden and we are excited to reap the rewards of our crops over the summer. Hopefully we will have surplus food which we plan to sell in the village and the money will go towards tools that we need for the garden. If anyone is interested in becoming a core member please email us (bickleighcommunitygarden@gmail.com) this month as it would be great to take on any new members before the rent is due again in July. You do not have to dedicate a certain amount of time, it would just be great to be able to spread the rent costs and to have other people to help with more regular jobs. We are happy to chat to anyone that is interested in becoming a core member, or who would like more info on this.

3. Help us on a work day

We will hold community work days throughout the year. These are great as with a bigger group we get a lot done, and it's also a good opportunity to get people to visit the garden and encourage more people to use it. We will aim to notify people of these via the village message group and Parish Council email list.

4. Get involved in the Kids gardening club

We have been trialling a kids gardening club over the last few weeks. This has been good fun and if anyone in the village has a child who would be interested in coming to the garden please get in touch. We hope to offer this club out through the school in some format, although this may be a parent and child club, as the logistics of looking after large groups of children there is tricky. If anyone would like to help with this idea we would love to hear from you!

5. Visit the garden

And finally, the garden is open for anyone to visit at any point! It's a lovely and peaceful space down there, and there are tables, benches and a firepit that can be used if you want to eat there. Please ensure that you keep the gate closed once you have looked around and if you have small children with you please ensure that they are careful around the polytunnel area and that they keep out of the beds whilst things are growing.

We hope to see lots of you there over the coming months!