Leading charity Garden Organic and ‘A Better Medway’ Health Improvement Services are recruiting ‘Master Gardeners’ to help people benefit from growing food.

We’re delighted to welcome new co-ordinator Liza Scholefield to launch and support this exciting network. Read about her training weekend here

Liza takes over from interim support by our co-ordinator in Norfolk, Gabbie. Thank you Gabbie for your many moments.

And Liza joins a team of co-ordinators where each co-recruits, trains and activity supports Master Gardeners in a flexible volunteer role – and celebrates their achievements.

The details

Liza is a journalist, mum-of-three and chicken-keeper. She has worked with volunteers in schools and in the community.

She’s also an enthusiastic grower of veg. She has run an organic veg box scheme and had allotments in several different parts of the country. She has five compost bins and her eye on a sixth.

She said: “I am really keen to help bring the growing message to lots of new households in Medway. Everywhere there’s a patch of earth, there’s an opportunity.

“We want to share the message that home-grown food tastes great, is good for you and saves money.  Getting started is easier than you might think. Get in touch, and let’s get growing.”

Become a Master Gardener

We’re looking for people from the Medway area with a passion to inspire others to have a go at growing their own food. There’s full training and support.
Please click here for details of the next induction course

Get in touch with Liza

Email Liza here or phone 07971 280 985

Visit! Liza is locally based.
Postal address Garden Organic, Ryton Gardens, Coventry, CV8 3LG

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Emma Parker, from ‘A Better Medway’ says:

“It is projects like this that have a wide and lasting impact on the community and we are happy to support them. ‘The Master Gardener’ programme marks just the beginning in helping to make a positive impact on people’s health.”

The Medway Public Health Directorate manages several resident engagement programmes that promote ‘easier ways to be healthy’ under ‘A Better Medway‘. The programmes are Eating Healthily, Getting Active, Stopping Smoking, Drinking Sensibly and Managing Stress.

Medway Master Gardeners builds on the ‘Medway Grows’ initiative as part of the Eating Healthily programme. The programme also includes ‘Medway Cooks’, ‘Medway Dines’, and advice for healthy eating in the workplace, breastfeeding, oral health, infants, children, and adults.

The lively Master Gardener Programme launched in April 2010 thanks to funding from the Big Lottery Fund’s Local Food scheme and local support in urban and rural areas.

Coventry University evaluation has proven significant health, social and environmental benefits for people receiving the advice and encouragement of Garden Organic’s growing mentors in successful networks around the UK.

Over 400 Master Gardeners have given 16,000 hours supporting 4,300 people in mentored households and inspiring another 50,000 at hundreds of events and community groups.

Read more here

Back to news or read case studies

Snow. Sunshine. More snow. The 2013 growing season is stylishly late, but sowing can’t wait any longer.

Yes, now is the time to wake up your seeds from their winter snooze.

Fresh from our time with lively Master Gardeners at spring shows and latest training, here’s Garden Organic’s summary of what to plant this spring. The links open PDF files.

So go on, dust of the trowel, hook out a seed tray, and pour on some crumbly organic peat-free compost. Ooooh, lovely.

MARCH – included since our growing season is delayed by cold weather

Plant	Fruit/veg: Asparagus, Aubergine, Broad Beans, Beetroot, Brussels Sprouts, Bulb Onion, Carrot, Celery, Cauliflower, Cucumber, Globe Artichoke, Jerusalem Artichoke, Lettuce, Leek, Rocket, Pepper, Salads (Oriental), Okra, Parsnip, Pea, Radish, Salad Onion, Spinach, Shallot, Summer/Autumn Cabbage, Turnip, Tomato (Indoor). Flowers: Pot Marigold, Borage, Nasturtium. Herbs: Basil, Chives, Parsley, Fennel, Lemon Balm, Marjoram, Mint, Sage, Sorrel, Tarragon, Thyme.
Grow	Protect spring shoots from slugs. Dig in ‘green manure’ (plants grown for soil protection over-winter). Finish digging over beds, if needed, adding or spreading compost/manure for your most nutrient-hungry crops. Check structural supports of trained fruit, eg ‘cordon’ apples. Boost growth of container plants by replacing top 5cm of soil with compost. Reinvigorate crowded herbs by dividing clumps, eg chives.
Eat	Annual Spinach, Bay, Chicory, Claytonia, Corn Salad, Land Cress, Mizuna, Mustard Spinach, Leek, Rocket, Rosemary, Pak Choi, Parsnip, Sage, Seakale, Spring Cabbage, Sprouting Broccoli, Thyme.

APRIL – time to catch up between the showers

Plant	Fruit/veg: Asparagus Pea, Aubergine, Broad Bean, Beetroot, Brussels Sprouts, Calabrese, Carrot, Cauliflower, Celery, Cucumber, French Bean, Globe Artichoke, Kale, Kohl Rabi, Leaf Beet, Leek, Lettuce, Parsnip, Pea, Melon, Radish, Rocket, Runner Bean, Salad Onion, Salad (Oriental), Salad (Spring/Summer), Salsify, Scorzonera, Seakale, Spinach, Summer/Autumn Cabbage, Sprouting Broccoli, Sweetcorn, Tomato, Turnip. Flowers: Borage, Pot Marigold, French Marigold, Nasturtium. Herbs: Basil, Chives, Coriander, Dill, Fennel, Lemon Balm, Marjoram, Parsley, Rosemary, Sage, Sorrel, Thyme, Tarragon. Plant early and maincrop potatoes after ‘chitting’ indoors in a cool frost-free and light place; rose-end up in boxes or trays. Great for early growth. Read more here.
Grow	Start thinning rows of seedlings when large enough to handle. Move seedlings into larger pots as they grow, eg tomato. Protect fruit blossom from frosts with horticultural fleece.
Eat	Bay, Mint, Rocket, Radish, Rhubarb, Rosemary, Sage, Salad (Oriental), Spring Cabbage, Sprouting Broccoli, Thyme.

MAY – nearly frost free. Full windowsills and glasshouses

Plant	Fruit/veg: Asparagus Pea, Beetroot, Carrot, Cauliflower, Chicory, Courgette/Marrow, French Bean, Globe Artichoke, Kale, Kohl Rabi, Leaf Beet, Leek, Lettuce, Parsnip, Pea, Pumpkin, Melon, Radish, Rocket, Runner Bean, Salad Onion, Salad (Oriental), Salad (Spring/Summer), Spinach, Squash, Sprouting Broccoli, Swede, Sweetcorn, Sweet Potato, Turnip, Winter/Savoy Cabbage. Flowers: Borage, Pot Marigold, French Marigold, Nasturtium. Herbs: Bay, Chives, Coriander, Chervil, Basil, Coriander, Dill, Fennel, Lemon Balm, Marjoram, Mint, Parsley, Sage, Sorrel, Thyme, Tarragon.
Grow	Pull up soil around potato shoots to increase yield and prevent tubers going green (‘earthing-up’). Conserve soil moisture by laying a 5cm thick compost ‘mulch’ around young trees.
Eat	Asparagus, Bay, Rocket, Garlic, Lettuce, Lemon Balm, Mint, Marjoram, Pea, Radish, Rhubarb, Rosemary, Rhubarb, Sage, Seakale, Spring Cabbage, Spring/Summer Salad, Salad (Oriental), Thyme, Turnip, Tarragon.

Horticultural note:

Seeds are temperamental little chaps, sulking if too cold or too hot. So please vary your timing with local weather – sowing later in spring if growing higher up the UK, or a little earlier if living further south. And earlier if growing in an inner city or sheltered coastal spot.

Garden Organic’s growing resources

• What’s new in the veg world? Click here to discover unusual crops
• Become a member of the UK leading organic growing charity, Garden Organic
• Adopt a Veg!
• Read lively growing blogs by volunteer Master Gardeners:
  Coventry & Warwickshire, North London, South London, Norfolk, Lincolnshire, and Medway

Article by Philip Turvil

Dudi, lablab, calaloo, haloon, yard long beans, chana, mouse melon, cho cho, mooli, oca, West Indian thyme…

Just some of the tender and exotic crops that over 100 Master Gardeners learned on their extra training days during February 2013.

Our volunteers were introduced to vegetables from a wide range of cultures including India, East Asia, Africa, South America and the Caribbean.

More detail

The training follows research by Dr Anton Rosenfeld in the Garden Organic project ‘Sowing New Seeds‘.

The team has worked with growers in the West Midlands and London to discover how crops that we may define as ‘exotic’ are possible to grow in the UK and indeed flourishing on allotments in the more multi-cultural cities and regions.

Our thanks to Anton for so many intriguing growing tips for our Master Gardeners to pass on to the families and communities they mentor to grow food.

Get involved

Keen to grow? Find your nearest Master Gardener for free food growing support

Keen to volunteer? Become a Master Gardener in spring 2013

Read about exotic groups here

More growing tips from Garden Organic

Blogs

What’s that?! Exotic veg training for London Master Gardeners

Veg on the Edge in Norfolk

Cutting Edge Veg in Warwickshire – volunteer training

Comment

“Growing callaloo!  I’m going to improve on my previous attempts using seeds I collected today.”

“I will be raiding local Indian and Asian grocers for seed supplies and I really want my own lemongrass plant!”

“I’m inspired to experiment with chick peas, turmeric and lemongrass!”

Master Gardener, Tish:
“I love the thought that we are benefitting from the result of immigrants to this country bringing in their own vegetables, selecting those that grow best in this country and learning to grow them under British conditions, and perhaps giving us a head start in learning to adapt what we grow to different climatic conditions.”

On this karella fruit you can see the evidence of a ‘traffic light’ activity – green ‘I know it’, yellow ‘not sure’, red ‘no idea’. Well, we all knew at the end that karella is a cucurbit from the Indian subcontinent best grown under cover, salted to remove bitterness, spiced and baked, and a natural aid against diabetes.

Back to Master Gardener case studies and news

We’re delighted to welcome our new North London co-ordinator this week to recruit and support ‘Master Gardeners’.

This lively volunteer network mentors communities to benefit from growing their own food in Hackney, Islington, Haringey and Camden.

Nynke takes over from interim support by our co-ordinator in South London, Fiona. Thank you Fiona for your many moments.

And Nynke joins a team of co-ordinators with the national charity, Garden Organic. Each co-ordinator recruits, trains and activity supports Master Gardeners in a flexible volunteer role – and celebrates their achievements.

The details

Nynke is very enthusiastic!

She has designed, set up and managed volunteering and mentoring programmes for social entrepreneurs, young people, and employees of large city firms. And most recently, for a new community food kitchen in Stoke Newington.

Nynke is certified coach and loves supporting people to develop their confidence to follow new pursuits in life, whether that’s food growing or any other new passion.

In her words:

“I recently acquired my very own woodland garden in Hackney (a rare phenomenon) and am relishing the prospect of my first growing season and spending time experimenting in my new potting shed. The main dilemma though is what to try first?”

So do send her your suggestions!

What’s coming next

Well, Nynke will be out and about in North London.

1. Contacting lovely Master Gardeners trained in 2010, 2011 and 2012 for a catch up about the role and exciting spring ideas (once the snow melts). Read case studies here.
2. Recruiting 20 new lively Master Gardeners for training on the 18 and 19 May 2013. Please click here to get involved.
3. Looking for funding partnerships to sustain and expand the impact of North London Master Gardeners for 2014 and beyond. Overview here.

Get in touch with Nynke

Email her here or phone 07584 474778

Visit! Nynke is locally based.
Postal address Garden Organic, Ryton Gardens, Coventry, CV8 3LG

Read the latest news and visit our Facebook page

For Master Gardeners – log in to your website to register activities, download resources, and chat on the volunteer forum

Become a Master Gardener

We’re looking for people with a passion to inspire others to have a go at growing their own food. Full training and support. Click here for details of the next induction course on the 18 and 19 May 2013.

Some vegetables are too eager. They race for maturity, but deteriorate if not picked, leaving you to eat a season’s quota of your favourite crop in one go.

Just too many radish.

The trick is staggering harvest times by sowing seeds little and often in ‘succession’.

You can keep your plate evenly full by growing young plants to replace those that have just vanished into the kitchen.

Crops suited to succession sowing:

Busy sowing

Impatient crops that have an ideal maturity and don’t store well. These chaps will sulk if not harvested, usually producing seeds or losing tenderness, so are best sown regularly.

For example (links open Garden Organic PDFs): Annual Spinach, Broad Bean, Leaf Beet, Calabrese, Carrot, Cabbage, Kohl Rabi, Lettuce, Pea, Radish, Rocket, Salad Onion, Turnip, Swede, Summer Salads, and Seed Sprouts.

Crops less is need of succession sowing:

Generous crops that can’t resist yielding for long periods, such as tomatoes and runner beans. These crops are best sown once. Likewise crops that like to culminate their season at about the same time every year, such as pumpkins and squashes.

Weather can ruin the best laid horticultural plans

A hot or cold spell can excite or depress crops sown at different times, letting them catch up with one another. So, a couple of useful tips to help buffer the effects of surprise weather:

• Rather than follow a rigid sowing schedule – with new carrots every third Sunday, wait for the earlier sowing to grow merrily before sowing again.
• Pick crops early, munching young plants as ‘thinnings’, leaving alternate plants to grow larger.
• Speed up slower specimens by covering with a cloche or horticultural fleece for a couple of weeks. This will get them growing!

Going further

Succession sowing can continue for several months depending on the crop and, more and more, clever new varieties. Have a look at the Organic Gardening Catalogue.

Don’t feel obliged to grow young plants next to old so they compete in rows, or entertain large bare spaces with the promise of late season sowings…  So long as there are crops of different age around your growing space, then local tableware will be pleased.

Just after the thrill of eating own-grown produce, is experimenting with different veg at different harvest times. I find succession sowing, with the many caveats, one of most exciting of all horticultural delights.

Did you know that Garden Organic publishes a wondrous array of growing tips?

Click here to discover unusual crops (opens ‘Sowing New Seed’ project website)

Step by step growing activities…

Become a Garden Organic member…

What to do in the garden in June and July

Lively growing blogs by volunteer Master Gardeners:
Warwickshire, North London, South London, Norfolk, and Lincolnshire

Article by Philip Turvil

Working with leading on-line course providers Love to Learn, Garden Organic is excited to present a new way to learn the joys of growing your own Veg.

What’s more, every booking made through the Garden Organic web link ensures a 10% donation of the course fee goes to supporting the charities projects.

Recommended for householders mentored by Master Gardeners.

What is the course about?

Want to pick your own fresh peas and taste home-grown organic tomatoes? Start from the basics on growing your own vegetables in your own garden or allotment. Learn the important stages and cycles of growing veg, and acquire new skills for sowing and reaping a harvest of fresh, seasonal, organic veg.

Take the course now

Is this the right course for me?

You value the idea of healthy, seasonal, self-sufficient eating and want to start making a difference in an enjoyable, organic way.

Why should I choose this course?

· Learn to grow your own vegetables with this beginner’s course.
· From planning your plot to harvesting your results, Grow your Own Veg will teach you the basics of growing the most popular vegetables, with lots of practical advice and tips.
· Follow the easy step-by-step process featuring How-to videos with Bob Sherman, your expert tutor and Garden Organic’s Chief Horticultural Officer.

How will I learn?

· Start the course at any time of the year as there is always something to do or to plan.
· Get advice and tips from your tutor, Bob Sherman, Garden Organic’s Chief Horticultural Officer, and former presenter of Channel 4′s gardening programme ‘All Muck and Magic’.
· Work at your own pace to suit your gardening needs.
· Enjoy an estimated of 10 to 12 hours of online learning plus your gardening activities.
· Make your own notes in your personal workbook.
· Learn from the comfort of your own home, or out on your patch with a mobile device.

What will I study?

· Course Introduction
· Unit 1: Grow It Yourself
· Unit 2: Planning and Preparing
· Unit 3: Know Your Veg
· Unit 4: Late Winter/Early Spring
· Unit 5: Late Spring/Early Summer
· Unit 6: Late Summer/Early Autumn
· Unit 7: Late Autumn/Early Winter

Take the course now

About Love to Learn

Love to Learn is part of Pearson, the world’s leading learning company. Pearson provides learning materials and services to people in over 70 countries and is home to Penguin, Dorling Kindersley and the Financial Times.

User reviews

“Bob is excellent, like a favourite uncle; good tips, I’d feel confident to start.”
Dennis
“Very good starting point, it gives you confidence to get out and try it, very good instructions and record-keeping tips.”
Lee
“I like the bits you can’t do by using a book, the activities and immediate feedback.”
Fiona
“It’s very clear, easy to follow, and the overall feeling is one of support �“ there’s not a ‘right or wrong’ tone to the course.”
Charlotte

Visit Garden Organic’s website

Back to Master Gardeners

Local food charity, [1] Somerset Community Food are pleased to announce that they will be partnering with national charity [2] Garden Organic to support volunteers in Somerset to become Master Gardeners to help get their communities growing their own food.

“Around the country, thousands of people have been supported to grow their own with the help of 400 Master Gardeners, and now is the time to get Somerset skilled up to grow their own!”, says Linda Hull who is co-ordinating the project.

“The programme works by offering individuals and communities free advice and mentoring. The idea is to enthuse people about food growing whilst offering the support that they need along the journey.”

Get involved

The charity is looking for volunteers with at least two years food growing experience that can help other families and households to start growing their own as well as promote food growing to their community at events, talks, via projects and more.

Volunteers offer half a day per month or 30 hours over the year and get additional training in growing techniques. The induction training begins in March and applications are welcome as soon as possible.

Now is the time to get Somerset skilled up to grow their own. Read about the proven benefits for volunteers and the people they mentor.

Now recruiting Somerset Master Gardeners for induction training in March 2013

Please click here to get in touch with co-ordinators, Linda & Nicole to discuss the volunteer role and application.

Or email info@somersetcommunityfood.org.uk or visit http://www.incredible-edible-somerset.ning.com/page/master-gardeners

Notes for editors

1. Somerset Community Food are a local charity founded in 2004, which aims to re-connect people with the social, health and environmental effects of growing, buying, preparing and eating local food.
2. Garden Organic, the UK’s leading organic growing charity, has been at the forefront of the organic horticulture movement for 50 years. Dedicated to promoting organic gardening in homes, communities and schools, it uses innovation and inspiration to get more people growing in the most sustainable way. 
Garden Organic’s charitable work delivers the organic growing message through renowned projects such as the Food For Life Partnership, the Master Composter and Master Gardener schemes and the work of The Heritage Seed Library. To find out more visit http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk
3. For a high-quality photographs to accompany this article, please email nicole.vosper@somersetcommunityfood.org.uk with your request and deadline.

Back to Master Gardener news

Become a Master Gardener in spring 2013 with Garden Organic

Master Gardener Joe swapping top tips with food growers

Now is the time to celebrate the spud with Garden Organic’s National Potato day on the 26 and 27 January 2013 and other themed events this month around the UK.

Wake up your new seed-potatoes by ‘chitting’. This gives the keenest start.

• Pop your seed-potatoes in a clean egg box ‘rose’ end up – the end with most buds.
• Label the variety. Most spuds look similar to start with!
• Put the egg box in a cool light place for four to six weeks.
• The potatoes will grow sturdy green shoots ready to offer an earlier harvest.

Keen growers choosing choosing their seed potatoes at Ryton Gardens

Chitting tips

• Keep your young spuds out of very bright sunlight – although not too dark, otherwise pale brittle shoots develop that easily break.
• Chit potatoes that are already sprouting straight away. Otherwise leave in a cool, dark place until you are ready to chit them.
• Plant your chitted spuds 15cm deep. Space ‘early’ varieties 30-50cm apart from mid-March for a June-July harvest. Space ‘maincrop’ varieties 35-70cm apart from April for a September-October harvest.

Potato growing advice

	See below for potato growing instructions (scrolling PDF)
	Click here for advice choosing varieties from Master Gardeners (opens webpage)
	Click here to read about growing potatoes in containers (opens PDF)
	Click here to read about growing potatoes no-dig (opens PDF)

Find out about Garden Organic’s National Potato day

Growing instructions for potato

Written by Philip Turvil, Project Manager for Master Gardener Programme

More growing advice

More about Master Gardener programme

We’re looking for gardening enthusiasts to become volunteer Master Gardeners during spring 2013 in lively areas around the UK.

• Master Gardeners mentor and inspire individuals, couples and families to grow and share food. Over 4,000 people supported in 1,900 households since May 2010.
• Master Gardeners promote food growing through events, talks, schools, and other innovations to bring people together. Nearly 50,000 conversations since May 2010

Changing lives through food growing: ‘Grow your own food’ a boost for health and sense of community, says Coventry University research

Get involved today

Join a 338 strong network of lively volunteers that support local people and communities to benefit from growing their own food at home and on communal land. Read case studies and click here for latest stats.

• We’re looking for volunteers with at least two years food growing experience and a passion to encouraging others to have a go.
• We ask for about a half a day a month or 30 hours a year in a role tailored to complement your lifestyle and interests. You may already be doing quite a bit towards this!
• Receive active support from your locally based co-ordinator with one-to-one guidance and resources following induction training by the UK’s leading organic growing charity, Garden Organic.

Please click the links below for local details about the volunteer role and application.
Dates for weekend induction training subject to change. Please check locally

• Lincolnshire: 1-2 June 2013
  

Meet new people & share your growing knowledge.
Read about spring 2012 induction for 86 lovely new volunteers

Your area not listed?

We’re looking to start new volunteer networks tailored to meet local needs with new partners and funding. Please click here to see our future areas page

Click for more ways to get involved, including growing tips

Visit Garden Organic’s website

Heritage Seed Library’s Seed Officer, Vicki Cooke, delivered a series of engaging and thought-provoking day-long training courses for Master Gardeners during November 2012.

Local venues played host to the dissection of flowers from brassicas, identification of pollination methods, and practical seed preparation. This was all towards learning techniques for helping the households and shared growing spaces supported by Master Gardeners to save their own seeds.

Feedback from volunteer Master Gardeners

“The training was amazing, well presented and interactive. Also it was great to see familiar faces and hear their stories. Lunch was deliciousssssss… the packets of seeds and the garlic, most appreciated. Thank you.”

“Vicki was tremendous, a brilliant tutor. I am really inspired to spread the message about seed saving for sustainable London crops!”

Read top growing tips

• Lincolnshire – why & how of seed saving uncovered
• Norfolk inbreeders, outbreeders & rogues!
• Warwickshire – Seed saving success!
• North London – Seed saving spreads
• South London – Seed saving spreads

Saving seed is an exciting and money-saving way to complete the growing cycle. It lets you preserve your favourite fruit or vegetable varieties to grow again next year or swap with friends – a great way to get others growing.

Anybody can save seed and for beginners, the best crops to start with are peas, French beans and tomatoes. Read guidelines here.

Some of the highlights of learning for those who came along:

“As many seeds have good longevity, if you want to grow for seed, you don’t need to do it every year.  You can concentrate on a particular crop one year and a different one the next.”

“Finding out a lot more about veg that cross pollinate was fascinating and with limited space, I’ll take greater care over the variety(ies) grown of those plants where I intend to collect seed.”

“Leave your tomato seeds on the paper towel when you are drying them – just plant the seeds still attached to the paper in spring”

“Most commercial seeds are produced abroad”

“I’m going to introduce a seed swap”

“I spent my sunny morning reading the handout and my notes about why and how of seed saving. I’m feeling more confident about it now, I already have the tomatillo seeds in water to remove the gel.”

For more information on seed saving, go to the Heritage Seed Library.

Connect with your local Master Gardener.

Read the latest case studies of food-growing across the Master Gardener Programme.

Enthusiastic Vicki with seeds from Heritage Seed Library

All in – dry seed processing

Annuals, inbreeders, exceptions – Master Gardener work out what’s what

Vicki’s feet took part in the training!

How Terry saves seeds!

From MG Carole Wright – sorting out what’s what of seed saving – how many can you guess…?

See more photos on Flickr