Latest news from Ken Orr:
We had a gloriously sunny day for the first event at the new Community Garden at Rosetta, Belfast – our plant sale at the end of April. We had pulled out the all the stops to get as ready as possible, including finishing the decking around the wood-working shed to allow a local ukulele band to perform there. Bedding plants were obtained from a local nursery on a sale or return basis, refreshments were available, and the children were able to go pond-dipping and explore the garden. A great way to introduce ourselves to the neighbourhood as an inter-church, cross-community project.
Work is on-going as we look forward to our official Grand Opening on 25 June, complete with local representatives. We hope to complete the entrance pathway by then, and of course complete the planting of all the seedlings raised in the polytunnel – courgettes, peppers, sprouts, cabbages and so on. The strawberries are just ready for harvesting, and it’s looking like a good crop in the orchard. We are set up to be a nature-friendly garden so it was very exciting to find a swarm of thousands of bees in a cherry tree last week – these are native Irish black bees, which are now resident in our fifth bee hive on-site.
All the work is carried out by enthusiastic volunteers from the local community, including representatives from all the local churches, and aided by workers from the Community Service Division of the Probation Service.
You can get more detail about our Opening Day from Ken Orr at mailto:[email protected]