Springtime in Stockfield Play Your Part in Brightening Up the Area!

Springtime in Stockfield
Play Your Part in Brightening Up the Area!
Free Nasturtium Seeds from Stockfield Community Association
working with Acocks Green Village in Bloom.
Stockfield Garden Competition re-launching today
Spring is in the air and here is a chance to add some beautiful colours to your garden, with these FREE nasturtium
seeds. And now is the ideal time to plant them!
Encourage your neighbours and children to sow the seeds and hopefully we will see Stockfield filled with a blaze
of yellow, orange and red flowers this summer. These easy-to-grow flowers like to sprawl along walls and can be
trained to grow upwards too, so use your imagination. Photos of your plants could appear in a gallery on the
Stockfield Facebook page and Stockfield Newsletter later in the year.
Nasturtiums grow well outdoors in a sunny spot, where the ground is well drained. You can scatter them directly
on the ground where you want them to grow, just cover them with some soil or compost and water them. They
also grow well in containers to brighten up a corner. You could also start them in pots and put them in the final
flowering position when they have grown into small plants.
Last summer a local gardener trained
nasturtium to grow upwards, covering
a water butt.
You can eat them too! Nasturtiums are
related to watercress and the leaves,
flowers and seeds are all edible, with a
peppery taste that will liven up your
salads.
We are very grateful to Jeffries Hardware
& Sainsburys in Acocks Green for their
generous donation of seeds for this
project.
We hope that these seeds Will encourage everyone to get out outdoors,
and maybe get involved
Stockfield Gardening Competition
Would you love to extend your home but don’t want the expense? You can easily increase your living
space by putting a bit of effort into your garden, or any outdoor space, and make it another ‘room’ of
your home.
You can show us the fruits of your labour by entering the: Stockfield Gardening Competition. In
July Acocks Green Village in Bloom team will be judging all of the entries for gardening activities in
the Stockfield area. There will be Jeffries Hardware Vouchers for the winner in each category,
Prizes for
Best New Gardener
Best Vegetable Garden
Best Gardener (under 16)
Best Nasturtium display
Best Overall Garden
Thanks to Jeffries Hardware for their support with this project – Don’t forget our local hardware store has a
wide array of gardening equipment and plants as well as offering free advice.
Fran Lee from Acocks Green Village in Bloom has some suggestions to inspire you:
•
Giving your garden a makeover creates an extra room for your house. You can look out of your window
and enjoy the results of your work.
•
You could create a lawn with exquisite edging and shrubs, perennials or annuals for extra colour. Or,
if you want the beauty without the high maintenance, lay gravel and some display pots. Or just sprinkle
with wild flower seeds for many months of colour.
•
The local libraries have lots of gardening books to inspire and help you with garden projects. Also you
could watch gardening programmes such as Gardeners World which can tell you the right time to do
different jobs in the garden.
•
Put in an attractive shed for potting on and storing tools. You could use it as a Summer House or just
to get away from the usual four walls or even your other half!
•
•
•
In Spring watch the birds building nests or nesting in the boxes you have fixed on your fence or trees.
•
Use another hidden spot for a compost heap or bin to create your own mulch and compost for next
season.
•
•
Place some garden seating in a sunny spot and then invite family and friends round for a cream tea.
You can run a pipe from your drainpipe to a water butt to make a water supply for summer watering.
Look for an unused corner to lay log piles to encourage beetles (and, if you are lucky, hedgehogs) –
your own slug killers – forget about pellets which are harmful to wildlife.
Put in a small pond to encourage frogs - another predator of slugs!
So we hope that you are inspired to get outside and sow seeds and think about other ways you might enhance
your outdoor space in Stockfield. The Entry Form will appear in the next Stockfield Village News.
**Stop Press** Acocks Green Village in Bloom Launch on Saturday 16th April
Mallard Community Orchard, 11am Mallard Close. Bargain Plants, Refreshments and much more!
Fran Lee – Co-ordinator – Acocks Green Village in Bloom
email: fran.lee47@yahoo.co.uk. Telephone: 0121 706 0076