Community Garden, Bedminster Bristol

[Moon_Mother]

For our family one of the most important issues to tackle the ‘peak oil’ is local food- we live opposite a huge Asda- but are committed to shopping local! So we avoid Asda and buy from our local shops- the fruit and veg shop, the health food shop for things such as milk, veggie sausages, loo roll etc and the local bakery for bread and such, we also have an organic box delivery. People always ask if its more expensive and to be honest I’ve found I spend less (I’ve been ‘non-supermarket shopping’ for 5 years now) as I don’t buy ‘special offer’ extras and I’m not tempted by rows and rows of stuff that I don’t need!

We are now taking our commitment to local food up a level, by starting a community food garden. We approached the council about a piece of ‘wasteland’ next door to our home, which was being used as a dumping ground for old mattresses, bike bits, bags of rubbish etc. and found out the land was owned by a local Housing Association, and after putting forward a proposal and design, the Housing Association granted us permission to use the land for a community garden.

Its better than an allotment, as its near by, there are no waiting lists and we are all (neighbours and Transition group friends) working together, so lessening the work load.
for photos see http://www.transitionbs3.co.uk/?cat=1

we set to work with some funding requests, and were awarded a start-up grant of £250 from the Housing Association which was used to clear the site, buy tools and a new gate. We have also received £50 from the Action Earth Fund which paid for some yummy food for the BBQ at the recent garden ‘action day’ (where volunteers cleared up the site and began planting).

Our community garden has also received confirmation of a £750 grant from the Quartet Foundation which will be used to buy water butts, compost bins, a shed, fencing, plants and seeds.

Sunday 22nd , following the Bristol Big Bike Ride, The Transition BS3 group met at the St Paul’s Road Community Garden to help get some of the bigger jobs done.

We made a huge raised bed and planted it up with various things, salads, tomatoes, herbs, carrots and marigolds! Some more tires got planted up with courgettes and squashes and the shed got assembled- yeah! Tom stated categorically that he didn’t believe in using instructions, so there was no tedious organising delay to the project - the floor battens were screwed in place and then the panels, and in no time at all (with only one dismantling to stop the window being in the side up against the wall!) it was finished and moved into place.

[Bluemoon]

I once spent three days in Bedminster (a student project, long story) so I have a rough idea of the area you mean - I remember the ASDA. I was in a fairly (OK then, very) cheap and depressing hotel, but the river across had huge numbers of swans, which I remember being most impressed with and which I spent my evenings watching. I wish you all the best of luck. Keep us informed, love BM.

[snapdragon]

Well Done -
having just googled satelite pics of where I live I see the largest green space (bar actual farmer's fields) is the grass around the BT telephone exchange whixch is behind a tall hedge - I wonder if we'd be allowed to grow veggies in there ?