The changing of the gardeners

The First six Months

Last week marked six months since the Acorn centres Future Jobs Fund environmental team began working with incredible edible to help realise the vision of a greener more sustainable Todmorden. Unfortunately it also meant the end of the original members time on the team

With new members joining the team a few weeks ago to continue the good work already started It seemed fitting to have a look back at the first six months and identify the projects and growing spaces completed during this time.
In February the team spent much of the time up at Ferney lee residential care home continuing the work that incredible edible had already begun. One of the big jobs that was started and to some extent is still continuing today was the clearing of the banking on the east side of the home, which was full of brambles, dead branches and scrubby trees as well as lots of litter and rubbish.

Today the bank has been planted with fruit trees all around the edge and there is a small potato patch, which is almost ready to harvest. The team also filled up some of the raised beds around the back of the home with soil ready for planting in the spring. February also saw the creation of a series of nine beds outside Todmorden community college. The team prepared the ground, digging the turf over and placed the beds before creating pathways in between with weed proof membrane and woodchips. These beds were then painted and filled with soil ready to be adopted and planted up.

In March the team went up to longfield to put in some more raised beds. This was a trickier job than at the college as they were going on a slope and had to be dug in and levelled. The team persevered and soon the residents of longfield had four new beds as well as another two over at the community centre.

March also saw the placing of beds at the police station and a cold frame at Ferney Lee.
The next job to be taken on was the building of a flight of stairs up the rear banking at Ferney lee. Mike, John and Jack spent a whole day constructing and installing the stairs to allow easy access to the beds and trees planted at the back of the building for team members and residents alike.

March was a busy time for planting fruit trees with planting going on extensively at longfield as well as at a site owned by Peter Rigg given to the use of incredible edible. To date there are over 500 trees planted by IET in the local area of which the environmental team have planted 250.

Other projects in march included beginning the digging of a potato patch up near Gorpley reservoir, a visit to the offshoots permaculture garden at Townley hall and building a fence at Ferney lee using cleared branches and vegetation.

In April the team began some work at Todmorden high school clearing out old brick beds and building new beds and clearing space to put them in. this was the start of the teams involvement at a site that will eventually be the IET food hub and many other projects at this site will follow.

April also saw the finishing, filling and the start of planting at the police station beds, the college beds as well as the construction and clearing of growing space at shade school, Walsden.

During the month, more trees were planted at Riggs field as well as at Todmorden high school and a potato patch was dug over at Walsden primary school for the children to plant and look after.

In May the two main sites the team worked on were Gorpley reservoir and Todmorden health centre. At the reservoir the potato patch that had been originally dug over was extended and planted with potatoes. At the same site a small walled garden was cleared and two smaller potato patches were put in. the aim of these patches is to show that a worthwhile crop can be grown on land that is thought to be not economically viable for arable land use. The team also put a fence up around the compound to keep out sheep and Jeff and Rick rebuilt a fallen section of dry stonewall using materials found at the site.

At the health centre a lot of work had already been done to try and transform the grounds into a productive and useful area for fruit and medicinal herbs.

During the month the team planted strawberries, rhubarb, blueberries, raspberries, blackcurrants, gooseberries, redcurrants and apple trees as well as lavender, thyme and sunflowers removing much of the prickly vegetation that was there before.

During the month the team visited the offshoots garden again as well as farm producing meat and dairy locally to help give us a greater understanding of the ethos of IET. Beds at the police station, at the college and the railway station were planted up with seeds and vegetables and the national school on Burnley road had a bed put in for the children.

In June more work was done at Todmorden high school, with more old beds being cleared out and new wooden ones been put in ready for soil. Work also continued up at Gorpley with the potatoes being covered up with TEG compost to promote growth.

With much of the construction work already completed the team started doing more maintenance, visiting sites and doing any weed removal work that needed doing as well as replacing missing posts and rabbit guards as needed. Mike and I put in lavender and sunflower beds at the health centre apothecary garden.

In July more planting was done at the health centre with gooseberry and Goji berry bushes being planted. The trees at Riggs field were tidied up with membrane and woodchips being put down to deter weeds. The team also started on a new site at meadow bottom, clearing out some old overgrown allotments and putting in two new raised beds. The allotments were full of rubbish which all had to be cleared out and now the allotments can be used by the community! Across the road at Meadow bottom care home two raised beds were put in, one for vegetables and one for herbs as well as a hand rail which will allow residents to access and maintain it more easily.

Work continued a pace at all these sites with more beds built at the High school
Allotments cleared and more raised beds built at Ferney Lee Care Home.

A good crop of potatoes was harvested along with the regular vegetables

All checked by the quality controller.

Six months of very productive work