Riviera Growing Communities A local food growing project in partnership with
Funded by the Big Lottery Fund’s Local Food scheme
About the project Riviera Growing Communities is a local food growing project that enables Sanctuary Housing residents to: • Grow their own fruit and vegetables • Enjoy a healthier lifestyle • Learn new skills and share knowledge • Meet other members of their community • Reduce their carbon footprint
Some benefits of raised beds: • Many different types of vegetables can be grown over a longer time as the soil warms and dries earlier in the spring. • It is a better use of space, as more vegetables can be grown closer together in the deeper soil. • Weeds are easier to manage as the space available to them is reduced.
The individually designed, purpose built raised beds are filled with a soil and compost mix. The raised beds are very attractive and enhance the community areas by creating usable spaces. They are easy to maintain and enable those less physically able to continue gardening. All the raised beds were built by the team from The Conservation Volunteers. This raised bed, installed in April, had produced an abundance of vegetables by the summer.
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Recognition for the project The Riviera Growing Communities Project has been successful in winning, or being nominated for, a number of awards in 2012. • Residents who entered the BayBlooms Competition, run by Torbay Council, received a Commendation. • Sanctuary Housing are the Regional Winners in the Green Heroes Partnership Award run by The Conservation Volunteers.
• Community Impact Award nomination. The project was shortlisted in the Improving Neighbourhoods category of the National Housing Federation Community Impact Awards 2012.
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Coleridge Court This is the largest site with 12 beds in total – a mix of raised beds and flat beds. The open-plan area now has numerous fruit trees, soft fruit bushes, picnic tables and seating for socialising. Nicola says her husband Paul thinks the raised beds are the ‘bees knees’. As he can’t bend down or stoop, the raised beds are the right height for him to work on.
Top tip
Slugs don’t like the copper wire!
Slugs can be a problem in the garden, especially for vegetable growers. Ron used copper wire tacked around the top edge of his raised beds to deter them. The copper gives the slug a small ‘electric shock’ which means they won’t cross over it. The compost bays have been used to produce fantastic compost.
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Ron reckons it reduced the amount of slugs by up to 80%.
Flemons Court
This courtyard has been transformed by the addition of raised beds.
Pete has extended the area available for vegetable growing by creating new beds in areas that were previously lawns.
Kingsland Court The raised beds have been used very successfully to grow a wide variety of herbs that enjoy the sunny, open site and are tolerant of dry conditions. Herbs are easy to grow, low maintenance and can be used in cooking. 5
Hatfield Flats Carl enjoys picking the vegetables for all the residents to enjoy, but prefers the more traditional vegetables such as potatoes and cabbage. The potato harvest was plentiful this year, but his top tip would be to ensure that the cabbages are covered with netting to stop the cabbage white butterfly from laying eggs that then hatch into caterpillars which feed on the cabbage. He also suggests not planting crops too close together as they don’t grow as well. Carl says come along to the Coffee Mornings and talk to people if you want to get involved.
Recipe for Courgette and Cheese Soup
A splendid courgette harvest
1 average courgette 2 cheese triangles Salt and pepper to season
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Boil courgette for a few minutes until soft. Drain off liquid into a jug. Mash courgettes and add cheese triangles. Add salt and pepper to taste. Return to heat until cheese is fully melted. Add saved liquid to bring soup to required consistency. Enjoy. Recipe provided by Faith.
Crops that have been grown include potatoes, spinach, beetroot, courgettes, cabbage, kale, radish, lettuce, runner beans, French beans, garden peas and strawberries. Potatoes were so popular, that two beds are to be dedicated to them next year — this is why so much manure has been added to the raised beds, to maintain the fertility of the soil, as potatoes are a ‘hungry’ crop. A quote from Mary ‘You need to feed the soil, to feed the plants, to feed us’. The Coffee Mornings enable residents to discuss the gardens and share the harvest. Yvonne likes to eat beetroot, potatoes, carrots and raspberries so this is what she would like to grow next year. Yvonne also suggests getting a BBQ for the garden for everyone to use.
Lee Court This raised bed was used as a seed bed to start off the vegetables. They grew so well that the bed soon became over-crowded. Top tip: Eddie says it is better to just grow one row of each vegetable and thin the plants out early. Also, don’t plant them too close together as this allows air to circulate and it is easier to pick the crop when it is ready. Another top tip: when sowing seeds in the raised beds, make a seed ‘drill’ (or small furrow), sprinkle seeds along it evenly and water in before covering up with fine, crumbly soil. This will get your seeds off to a good start. The raised beds have been used to grow lots of vegetables this year. This means that the soil will be getting ‘tired’ and need revitalising. In order to keep the soil healthy, a good quantity of manure is added in the autumn to help improve the soil condition. Also, a cover crop or ‘green manure’ is sown to prevent nutrients being washed out by winter rains and to suppress weed growth. Bill is lucky enough to have a lovely greenhouse for growing cucumbers and tomatoes, but says that the secret to success is to feed the plants regularly and to use plenty of manure to keep the soil healthy. Other crops grown included runner beans, French beans, radish, cabbage, onions, carrots and a range of herbs. John and Ann’s Top tip: grow vegetables advice is to get out that are too expensive to buy in the garden and enjoy in the shops, such as the fresh air. tomatoes and courgettes. Don’t overcrowd the beds as it makes it difficult to harvest them.
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Malvernleigh Brenda’s top tip for green tomatoes – wrap them up individually in newspaper, place in a drawer and check them every couple of weeks. This way, they will last until Christmas. This year’s crops have included: potatoes, onions, cabbages, lettuce, cauliflowers, beetroot, radish, broad beans, green beans, garden peas, spinach, beetroot and tomatoes. Annie says that the potatoes and cabbage were full of flavour and better than anything that is in the shops.
Hedi’s raised bed is full of vegetables.
This is the first time that Brenda and Annie have ever grown anything. They say that they will definitely continue to grow more vegetables in the future. They both say that it has been very therapeutic and that it has helped ease the arthritis in their hands by providing gentle exercise.
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Prince Charles Court In April, Judith randomly sowed peas in the raised beds, using up the whole packet. They grew quickly supported by pea sticks and tied up with garden string. Unfortunately, the plants were crowded together and those on the inside never flowered, so the crop harvest was small. Judith’s top tip would be to plant rows of seeds so that they all get light and space to grow. Rose says, ‘if we love anything, it’s a freebie. We can just go and pick what we need from the garden. It’s fresher and more economical than the corner shop.’ Marie says that the food growing project has made a great difference to the lives of all those Top tip involved as they now Don’t plant on know more people. leeks and sh ions, allots The residents of Prince too close together, but do plan t them Charles Court have between ro ws of ca rr ot s as this even formed a help deter ca will rrot fly. Residents Committee with the help of Sanctuary Housing staff.
Ray built the plant support structures using 2"x1" posts screwed to the raised beds and stretched chicken wire across.
Ray made good use of the cold frames for starting off young plants such as these fabulous Chinese Cabbage.
Rose and Graham have two raised beds growing lots of healthy vegetables.
Tom’s raised bed is doing well in its first season and he says it has been a great opportunity to learn about plants.
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Watermill Court These raised beds have been used to grow a wide variety of flowers and vegetables. This is all due to the hard work of Jenny who has been a gardener all her life. Jenny is on the Scrutiny Panel for Sanctuary Housing, so a useful contact to have for all the residents. Top tips: Start seeds off early indoors to get a longer growing season. Herbs grow well in the raised beds as does Swiss chard, spinach and salads. Also, potatoes are best grown in tubs as they take up a lot of space. Bob is not so keen on vegetable growing anymore, but loves to see the hanging baskets overflowing with flowers. Top tips for a long life – try not to worry too much about anything and stay out of trouble!!! Artwork by Jenny
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A gloomy courtyard has been cheered up by the addition of raised beds.
Workshops
Residents enjoying the Introduction to Soil Management workshop held at Prince Charles Court in September 2012. The workshops are delivered by Suzie Kraike, Horticultural Training Officer for The Conservation Volunteers.
Workshops delivered by The Conservation Volunteers include: • Introduction to Growing Food Organically • Introduction to Soil Management
Ten residents involved in the Riviera Growing Communities project have signed up to be members of the Torbay Organic Society to learn more about organic gardening. There are regular meetings once a month and a guest speaker will give a talk. Details can be found on: www.torbayorganics.co.uk or phone Patricia Hill on 01803 328055 11
www.tcv.org.uk
The Conservation Volunteers help hundreds of thousands of people each year to reclaim local green places. Through our own environmental projects and through our network of 2,000 community groups, we see people – every day, and all across the UK – joining in, feeling good.
Produced by Carole Stocker Horticultural Project Officer The Conservation Volunteers Blacklers, Park Road Dartington Hall Totnes TQ9 6EQ T 01803 868926
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