Well its that time of year again, dark when you go to work and dark when you get home. So I have been online and ordered some seeds for next year, 35 packs oops lol. I found a nice site www.alanromans.com very good prices if you do not mine not having a glossy packet and can look online for sowing instructions. I have had a nice blessing this week, picked a skip up from the local allotments and there was a Dave Austin Rambling Rose on top of the skip. I took it back to the gardens and Yan and I gave it a light prune and have planted it - its got two chances now. We have been clearing up leaves and fallen fruit, but there seems to be a never ending supply of leaves. I find it hard this time of year so many jobs to be done and so little time / light. The greenhouse is now fully bubble wrapped and we have been searching for a suitable heater ready for the early start next year. The good thing about this time of year is that I have plenty of time to search for bargains and freebies. We have kindly been donated a garden bench that needs restoring and lots of plastic pots for the greenhouse, also some canes and two single stage tables. I have been looking on ebay at walk behind petrol leaf vacuums, but they all seem to go for a fair amount. I am hoping to find one thats broken that we can fix, we did this with the lawnmower and made a very nice mower out of two old broken Mountfield mowers that were donated to us.I had a little dream this week and looked at new leaf vacuums. You can get a home garden sized petrol leaf vacuum that is also a shredder and has a hose for your boarders like this:
http://www.mowdirect.co.uk/acatalog/MTD-YARDMAN-060-3-in-1-SHREDDER-CHIPPER-VAC-WITH-ON-BOARD-HOSE-KIT--SPECIAL-OFFER-.html?s=2091
Although I think this is a very good price compared to what else is on the market, it is still way over what we can afford. We have tried emailing some large local companys, but not had any replys yet (still hoping) and as they say if you don't ask you don't get.
Tuesday 15 November 2011
Friday 21 October 2011
Ploughlands, Priestwood, Bracknell History.
I have been doing some research into the history of Ploughlands and Priestwood.
History
Priestwood Common was originally an area of common grazing land adjoining Ascot Heath. In times past, it was frequented by many a highwayman. The area appears to have been named after the monks of Hurley Priory who, as Lords of the Manor of Warfield, made the parish church their home in the 1320s when floods drove them from Hurley. Since the housing estate was built, there have been various reports of ghostly monks in the area.
Bracknell was oringal part of Windsor forest but as it delevoped, the forest diminished and new roads were built linking the villages and ultimately London. By 1847 Bracknell had become a small village, which was situated on the main road to the west of England. The railway came to the town in 1856.
Bracknell was declared a New Town on 17 June 1949, new towns were built to house the increasing population from London and rehome people whose houses had been bombed. Bracknell Development Corporation were given wide-ranging powers, including that of compulsory purchase and set about rebuilding Bracknell in to the town it is today.
Priestwood was the first area of development and the first occupants moved in on Christmas Eve 1951. Ploughlands was not built till much later, after 1967 I will try to find the exact date. Before Ploughlands was built it looks like there was two houses on the site and this probably explains the glass I keep finding in the garden.
In this first map below from 1872 it shows Pollardrow Copse where Ploughlands is built on now. I have also looked at the 1912 map and there is no change to the copse on that map.
The next map below is from 1932 and in the middle of this map there are two houses where Ploughlands now is. These houses are conected to the road going though the middle of Pollardrow copse, this road is called Pollardrow Avenue. The houses shown on this map must of been built between 1912 and 1932 according to the maps.
I have found this youtube video which shows old pictures of Bracknell from the 1950s
I found this picture for 1954, sorry amount size/quailty. This show the area around Ploughlands being built. The area in the red oval is where Ploughlands is now.
History
Priestwood Common was originally an area of common grazing land adjoining Ascot Heath. In times past, it was frequented by many a highwayman. The area appears to have been named after the monks of Hurley Priory who, as Lords of the Manor of Warfield, made the parish church their home in the 1320s when floods drove them from Hurley. Since the housing estate was built, there have been various reports of ghostly monks in the area.
Bracknell was oringal part of Windsor forest but as it delevoped, the forest diminished and new roads were built linking the villages and ultimately London. By 1847 Bracknell had become a small village, which was situated on the main road to the west of England. The railway came to the town in 1856.
Bracknell was declared a New Town on 17 June 1949, new towns were built to house the increasing population from London and rehome people whose houses had been bombed. Bracknell Development Corporation were given wide-ranging powers, including that of compulsory purchase and set about rebuilding Bracknell in to the town it is today.
In this first map below from 1872 it shows Pollardrow Copse where Ploughlands is built on now. I have also looked at the 1912 map and there is no change to the copse on that map.
The next map below is from 1932 and in the middle of this map there are two houses where Ploughlands now is. These houses are conected to the road going though the middle of Pollardrow copse, this road is called Pollardrow Avenue. The houses shown on this map must of been built between 1912 and 1932 according to the maps.
The next map below is from 1967, in this we can see that Priestwood is very delveloped, but the two houses are still in the middle where Ploughlands now is. This map tells us that Ploughlands must of been built after 1967.
I have found this youtube video which shows old pictures of Bracknell from the 1950s
I found this picture for 1954, sorry amount size/quailty. This show the area around Ploughlands being built. The area in the red oval is where Ploughlands is now.
Bracknell in Bloom Thankyou and 'Your Gardens Awards' Night 2011.
On 17th October 2011 this year 'Its your Gardens' awards was held at South Hill Park Wild Theatre. Yan, Edna, Stan and myself went along on the behalf of Ploughlands. We were all very pleased to receive our RHS 'Outstanding' award and to win the 'Best Community Garden' category. It was a good evening out and the Town Council have done a wonderful Job at running the Bracknell in Bloom for the first time. A big thank you to all involved and a special thanks to Anne Mckay who worked very hard in making Bracknell in Bloom such a success this year. Please see below for our 'Your Gardens Award 2011', we also received some garden centre vouchers which we will enjoy putting to good use in the spring.
News Article about the evening:
Bracknell Says a Blooming Big Thank You
On Monday evening the Your Gardens Awards and Bracknell in Bloom Thank You Evening took place at South Hill Park’s Wilde Theatre.
The evening was hosted by Helen Barnett, marketing manager for Bracknell Regeneration Partnership and Mary Harris, Town Clerk and Chair of the Bracknell in Bloom committee.
Helen Barnett commented: “It was fantastic to be able to say thank you to everybody for all their hard work and commitment and to show them our Gold award. All of the participants should feel extremely proud of what we have achieved and the award would not have been possible without their dedication.
“In addition, the Your Gardens awards are a great way to celebrate all of the fabulous gardens and allotments we see across Bracknell.”
Mary Harris said: “It was great to see so many people at the evening and to share the Gold award with them, without shared pride in maintaining the quality of Bracknell’s environment this success would not have been achievable.
A big thank you must go out to Gavin Jones the landscape contractors working to restore the historic park at South Hill Park and Ringway Bracknell Forest’s landscape contractors who jointly sponsored the evening.”
Helen Barnett gave the first award of the night to Mary Harris. Mary accepted Bracknell’s Gold award in the small city category in the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Thames and Chiltern in Bloom competition on behalf of the town.
Special awards were also given to Angela Huntingdon, who received the Thames and Chiltern Regional Award for Floral Input on behalf of Bracknell Forest Council’s landscaping team. Angela is responsible for choosing and arranging the town centre’s colourful flower displays.
Ploughlands Community Garden and Warfield Environment Group were also awarded as part of the Royal Horticultural Society’s ‘It’s Your Neighbourhood’ campaign. The campaign provides an opportunity for smaller voluntary community groups to get involved in the wider Britain in Bloom initiative.
The audience then enjoyed a presentation entitled ‘A walk in the Parks, South Hill to London 2012’ delivered by Andy Smith, Contracts Director for Gavin Jones. Andy gave the audience their first glimpse of how spectacular the completed Olympic Park will look when it opens to members of the public in 2012.
The Your Garden competition awards were presented on the night on behalf of Bracknell Forest Council. The local gardening competition is now in its 18th year, and has a wide range of categories for entrants.
The first category was for the Best Front Garden. Fighting off tough competition, Christina Francis was judged as the overall winner for her stunning floral front garden.
The Best Community/Neighbourhood Gardens category was won by Ploughlands Community Garden. Their garden was awarded for its excellent use of colour and the clever environmental provisions that can be seen in the garden.
The Best Commercial Premises award was picked up by The New Leathern Bottle Public House in Jealott's Hill. With an abundance of colourful hanging baskets and troughs, the pub was awarded for its eye-catching presentation.
Bracknell’s Best Young Gardner was given, for the third year in a row, to Jack Shelley, who created a very inventive miniature show garden.
This year, there was a category especially for School Gardens, which welcomed a great number of entrants. Only one winner could be chosen, however, and the deserved winners were Holly Spring Junior School Gardening Club.
The hugely competitive Tallest Sunflower competition was also a very popular category. The winner, with a sunflower measuring an impressive 12.8ft (3.89m), was Mr Robert Petford.
A Special Environment Award was this year presented to Mrs Barbara Bowyer for her amazing garden.
The Best Newcomer in the Community Garden category was awarded to Dennis Pilcher House. Their garden hosts a variety of planting areas as well as a number of environmental provisions.
Best Newcomer in the School Garden category was given to Wooden Hill Primary and Nursery school. Their newly created garden included a formal area and a wildlife habitat.
Next came the Best Allotment Competition, which is a hugely popular award despite its infancy.
The most environmentally friendly allotment went to Ted Love, noting in particular his water harvesting.
The award for the Most Attractive and Well Designed allotment was given to two sets of allotment holders. The first award went to Linda Tizard and Allan Miles and the second was presented to Mr J Rainey.
A Highly Commended certificate was also given to Robert Petford for his allotment which is filled with fruit and vegetables.
The winner of Best Allotment went to Richard and Linda Bennett for their allotment at South Road.
After the presentations, the evening was rounded off with a buffet for all the evening’s attendees.
Sponsorship:
Your Gardens Awards Presentation and Bracknell in Bloom Thank You Evening 2011: Gavin Jones Ltd and Ringway
Bracknell in Bloom 2011: Bracknell Town Council, Bracknell Forest Council, Bracknell Forest Homes, Bracknell Regeneration Partnership, Bracknell Market, Bracknell Forest Standard, Courtney Coaches, South Hill Park Arts Centre and ReOrsa.
Your Gardens part of Take Pride: Longacres, The New Leathern Bottle, Bracknell Town Council, The Look Out Discovery Centre, Coral Reef Waterworld, Ringway
Media support by Bracknell Forest Standard
The evening was hosted by Helen Barnett, marketing manager for Bracknell Regeneration Partnership and Mary Harris, Town Clerk and Chair of the Bracknell in Bloom committee.
Helen Barnett commented: “It was fantastic to be able to say thank you to everybody for all their hard work and commitment and to show them our Gold award. All of the participants should feel extremely proud of what we have achieved and the award would not have been possible without their dedication.
“In addition, the Your Gardens awards are a great way to celebrate all of the fabulous gardens and allotments we see across Bracknell.”
Mary Harris said: “It was great to see so many people at the evening and to share the Gold award with them, without shared pride in maintaining the quality of Bracknell’s environment this success would not have been achievable.
A big thank you must go out to Gavin Jones the landscape contractors working to restore the historic park at South Hill Park and Ringway Bracknell Forest’s landscape contractors who jointly sponsored the evening.”
Helen Barnett gave the first award of the night to Mary Harris. Mary accepted Bracknell’s Gold award in the small city category in the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Thames and Chiltern in Bloom competition on behalf of the town.
Special awards were also given to Angela Huntingdon, who received the Thames and Chiltern Regional Award for Floral Input on behalf of Bracknell Forest Council’s landscaping team. Angela is responsible for choosing and arranging the town centre’s colourful flower displays.
Ploughlands Community Garden and Warfield Environment Group were also awarded as part of the Royal Horticultural Society’s ‘It’s Your Neighbourhood’ campaign. The campaign provides an opportunity for smaller voluntary community groups to get involved in the wider Britain in Bloom initiative.
The audience then enjoyed a presentation entitled ‘A walk in the Parks, South Hill to London 2012’ delivered by Andy Smith, Contracts Director for Gavin Jones. Andy gave the audience their first glimpse of how spectacular the completed Olympic Park will look when it opens to members of the public in 2012.
The Your Garden competition awards were presented on the night on behalf of Bracknell Forest Council. The local gardening competition is now in its 18th year, and has a wide range of categories for entrants.
The first category was for the Best Front Garden. Fighting off tough competition, Christina Francis was judged as the overall winner for her stunning floral front garden.
The Best Community/Neighbourhood Gardens category was won by Ploughlands Community Garden. Their garden was awarded for its excellent use of colour and the clever environmental provisions that can be seen in the garden.
The Best Commercial Premises award was picked up by The New Leathern Bottle Public House in Jealott's Hill. With an abundance of colourful hanging baskets and troughs, the pub was awarded for its eye-catching presentation.
Bracknell’s Best Young Gardner was given, for the third year in a row, to Jack Shelley, who created a very inventive miniature show garden.
This year, there was a category especially for School Gardens, which welcomed a great number of entrants. Only one winner could be chosen, however, and the deserved winners were Holly Spring Junior School Gardening Club.
The hugely competitive Tallest Sunflower competition was also a very popular category. The winner, with a sunflower measuring an impressive 12.8ft (3.89m), was Mr Robert Petford.
A Special Environment Award was this year presented to Mrs Barbara Bowyer for her amazing garden.
The Best Newcomer in the Community Garden category was awarded to Dennis Pilcher House. Their garden hosts a variety of planting areas as well as a number of environmental provisions.
Best Newcomer in the School Garden category was given to Wooden Hill Primary and Nursery school. Their newly created garden included a formal area and a wildlife habitat.
Next came the Best Allotment Competition, which is a hugely popular award despite its infancy.
The most environmentally friendly allotment went to Ted Love, noting in particular his water harvesting.
The award for the Most Attractive and Well Designed allotment was given to two sets of allotment holders. The first award went to Linda Tizard and Allan Miles and the second was presented to Mr J Rainey.
A Highly Commended certificate was also given to Robert Petford for his allotment which is filled with fruit and vegetables.
The winner of Best Allotment went to Richard and Linda Bennett for their allotment at South Road.
After the presentations, the evening was rounded off with a buffet for all the evening’s attendees.
Sponsorship:
Your Gardens Awards Presentation and Bracknell in Bloom Thank You Evening 2011: Gavin Jones Ltd and Ringway
Bracknell in Bloom 2011: Bracknell Town Council, Bracknell Forest Council, Bracknell Forest Homes, Bracknell Regeneration Partnership, Bracknell Market, Bracknell Forest Standard, Courtney Coaches, South Hill Park Arts Centre and ReOrsa.
Your Gardens part of Take Pride: Longacres, The New Leathern Bottle, Bracknell Town Council, The Look Out Discovery Centre, Coral Reef Waterworld, Ringway
Media support by Bracknell Forest Standard
News Article Text from Bracknell.com, Love Bracknell.
Thursday 20 October 2011
Royal Horticultural Society 'Its your neighbourhood' Assessment and Award
Royal Horticultural Society Award
We are all very happy to have been awarded the RHS top award in the first year we have entered the 'Its your Neighbourhood'
Royal Horticultural Society Assessment
Ploughlands - It's Your Neighbourhood Assessment Form 27 Jul 2011 _1_ -
About the Royal Horticultural Society. Its your Neighbourhood campaing.
A community campaign with lasting rewards
RHS It’s Your Neighbourhood is a grassroots community gardening campaign helping people to make lasting improvements to their local areas.
Groups are supported in their activities with advice and guidance, and receive annual feedback from expert IYN assessors, who provide tips on how further improvements can be made.
Joining the campaign is free and brings many benefits. (Text and image used from www.rhs.org.uk)
For more information about and how to join the campaing please visit;
Click>>>www.rhs.org.uk<<<Click
Monday 17 October 2011
Sunday 16 October 2011
Hi All,
Welcome to our corner of this world. I am new to this blogging, so hopefully it will make interesting reading and records some of the fun & activity we have & do in our gardens. Well I better introduce myself. I am Lee and I am part of the Ploughlands Community Gardens Team. I'm a lorry driver with no gardening experience, so I have been learning things as I go, also no one else in the team has any formal gardening training. The other main team members are Yan and Edna.
If you have a look at our website, linked in the first blog, you will get a idea of what we have been doing up till now. I'm sure you're all eager to hear what we have been up to today. Today, we have been collecting seeds ready next season, it's amazing how many seeds there are on marigolds. We are hoping to grow lots of marigolds next year to be able to do some block planting. This is our first year with a greenhouse (Donated by Easthampstead Baptist Church), so we have been lining bubble wrap inside to help protect from the cold & frost. We have looked at heaters for extra heating, but paraffin is £6.99 a gallon now & electric heaters are meant to be much more economical, however, that would mean needing to get power to the greenhouse.
It all starts looking quite sad this time of year, so we have been tiding up and removing old bedding plants which have now finished. The tomatoes have also finished now, so I have picked the last of them and composted the old vines, also I removed the old plants from the veg patch and sowed some green manure seeds from johnsons, hopefully this will make the soil good for next year. We also picked lots of apples to give to the neighbours.
On 21st Sep 2011, we were awarded a 'outstanding' award from the 'RHS - It's Your Neighbourhood' scheme. This is their highest award & we will receive the certificate tomorrow evening, when we are going to South Hill Park for the Bracknell in Bloom 'Its Your Garden' awards, in which we entered in the community gardens category. We have high hopes as we were part of the tour of Bracknell, when Bracknell Town Council were awarded the Gold award, and everyone seemed to be very impressed with what we had been doing & achieved this year in the gardens. Well, fingers crossed, I will let you know how we do as soon as I can, so stay posted.
Lee
He Who Plants A Garden,
Plants Happiness.
Welcome to our corner of this world. I am new to this blogging, so hopefully it will make interesting reading and records some of the fun & activity we have & do in our gardens. Well I better introduce myself. I am Lee and I am part of the Ploughlands Community Gardens Team. I'm a lorry driver with no gardening experience, so I have been learning things as I go, also no one else in the team has any formal gardening training. The other main team members are Yan and Edna.
If you have a look at our website, linked in the first blog, you will get a idea of what we have been doing up till now. I'm sure you're all eager to hear what we have been up to today. Today, we have been collecting seeds ready next season, it's amazing how many seeds there are on marigolds. We are hoping to grow lots of marigolds next year to be able to do some block planting. This is our first year with a greenhouse (Donated by Easthampstead Baptist Church), so we have been lining bubble wrap inside to help protect from the cold & frost. We have looked at heaters for extra heating, but paraffin is £6.99 a gallon now & electric heaters are meant to be much more economical, however, that would mean needing to get power to the greenhouse.
It all starts looking quite sad this time of year, so we have been tiding up and removing old bedding plants which have now finished. The tomatoes have also finished now, so I have picked the last of them and composted the old vines, also I removed the old plants from the veg patch and sowed some green manure seeds from johnsons, hopefully this will make the soil good for next year. We also picked lots of apples to give to the neighbours.
On 21st Sep 2011, we were awarded a 'outstanding' award from the 'RHS - It's Your Neighbourhood' scheme. This is their highest award & we will receive the certificate tomorrow evening, when we are going to South Hill Park for the Bracknell in Bloom 'Its Your Garden' awards, in which we entered in the community gardens category. We have high hopes as we were part of the tour of Bracknell, when Bracknell Town Council were awarded the Gold award, and everyone seemed to be very impressed with what we had been doing & achieved this year in the gardens. Well, fingers crossed, I will let you know how we do as soon as I can, so stay posted.
Lee
He Who Plants A Garden,
Plants Happiness.
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| Stephanie Eynon of RHS presents Wendy Smith of Bracknell Forest Homes and Anne McKay of Bracknell Town Council. |
Thursday 13 October 2011
How it all started
Ploughlands Community Gardens Project was started in June 2009 by Yan Cofield, Lee Hatfield and Edna Grant. It's started in many way's because we were all feeling very sad & depressed, Lee and Yan's business had to stop trading due to lack of trade, mounting debts & illness, and Edna 'n' Stan had lost a close friend and neighbour who lived above them who's name was "Joan". The project was started on the green space communal area in front of our homes, which was no more than a grass land with some old fruit and holly trees. (see 2009 google earth picure below).
 
The first thing we started was the reclaimed brick pathway, which we started outside Edna's window view were Joan also use to lived in the maisonette above Edan & Stan, before Joan had sadly passed away. Knowing that Edna & Stan were very saddened about their dear friend & neighbour (Joan) passing away, we (Yan & Lee) felt it woud be a good idea to make a brick pathway in memory of Joan. We therefore, put the idea to Edna and Stan if we (Yan & Lee) would make the pathway but we suggested that Edna lay the first righthand brick. Hence, Edna & Stan, Yan & Lee laid the first brick in memory of Joan. By the time we had finished the pathway, we had lost another longterm neighbour Vic Champion aged 97yrs old, the plaque of stone which reads "The kiss of the sun for pardon, The song of the birds for mirth, One is nearer God's (heart) in a garden, Than anywhere else on earth". We laid this plaque under white wooden acheway by the front gate way, hence, this was laid in memory of Vic Champion as it came from his little front garden patch by his front door were he use to live next door to us (Yan & Lee).
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