The People's Gardener

I appeared on The Alan Titchmarsh Show in the heats of The People's Gardener, it is available on ITV Player for the next month: http://www.itv.com/ITVPlayer/Video/default.html?ViewType=5&Filter=36850 It was about 17 minutes in to the programme.

Photos

We have received the official photos from the Community And City Pride Awards.

article

An article about the Community And City Pride award is on the Pudsey Today site.

http://www.pudseytoday.co.uk/news/Pudsey-community-groups-enjoy-City.4936467.jp

Community and City Pride Awards

We received the runner up prize in the Community And City Pride Awards for the seating area on Lowtown. The awards are run by Leeds City Council to recognise projects that make the city cleaner and greener. The ceremony was at Leeds Civic Hall and prizes were handed out by Look North weatherman Paul Hudson.

We were in the Green Space Creation category; first prize went to Bruntcliffe school.

Planting the library beds

The beds by the library were finally filled with soil last week so today we were able to plant them up. We used columnar yew, 2 types of winter-flowering shrub, ferns, grasses, other perennials and daffodils.

It was difficult area to plant because the beds have not much soil, lots of rubble, poor drainage and it is also in shade. But we managed to choose some tough, evergreen plants with foliage in different colours and shapes and flowers at various times of the year. There are some scented plants too. There is a vibrant purple, bronze, orange, yellow and white colour scheme.

Plants used:

trees:
taxus baccata fastigiata (columnar yew)

shrubs:
viburnum tinus
sarcococca confusa

grasses:
carex 'Coppertop'
carex 'Evergold'
luzula nivea

ferns:
polystichum polyblepharum 'Jade'
polystichum munitum
polypodium vulgare

perennials:
dianella 'Tas Red'
geum 'Cooky'
heuchera 'Crimson Curls'
heuchera 'Melting Fire'
heuchera 'Frosted Violet'
digitalis parviflora 'Milk Chocolate'

Lowtown Beds

We have made the shortlist in the Community And City Pride Awards for the seating area we planted up on Lowtown.

We have also been invited to the presentation for the Community Cash Giveaway.

Plants for the beds by the library

We have all the plants now. We've gone for a variety of plants, all of them evergreen, so the area will look interesting all year round. We even got some of the grasses free from Hampson's garden centre, the luzula nivea. We'll also be using the plants from in front of the leisure centre in this area because the beds they are currently in will be removed in winter or spring.

We still need to find a new spot for the sun-loving plants that are currently in the beds around the car park.

grant

Today we received £300 from the Pudsey Borough Charity.

Bulb planting

Today the group planted bulbs all around Pudsey. Lots of new volunteers turned up to help. Daffodils were planted in the grass by Church Lane and near the petrol station on Lowtown, as well as in containers.

The 12 barrier troughs at the traffic lights, having been emptied of summer bedding a few weeks ago, were planted with pansies and primulas for winter and spring, as well as some more bulbs such as miniature tulips, narcissus 'Tete a Tete' and crocus.

planting bulbs in the containers near the market

pruning shrubs in the container by the library

planting daffodils in the grass by Church Lane.

Pudsey In Bloom added to Pudsey Today community directory

The group and a link to this blog has been added to the Pudsey Today community directory in the environment and wildlife category - http://www.pudseytoday.co.uk/communitydirectory/Environmment-amp-Wildlife.3997726.jp

This should be a great way to let more people know about us and hopefully find new volunteers.

Planting bulbs

Today we planted 50 Allium 'Purple Sensation' bulbs in the Lowtown seating area. These will flower in early summer, then get attractive seed heads. The flowers are loved by bees.

The beds are still looking good even thought it is late October. We will go back and dead head a few plants later, however, we will leave some of the seedheads on to look decorative through the winter and feed the birds.

The rudbeckias are still covered in flowers and the grasses have grown really well. All the grasses (and several of the other perennials) are evergreen so will provide lots of interest during the winter. The stipa arundinacea (the orange-ish one) looks especially good and the stipa giganteas have lots of impressive flower spikes on at the moment.

These beds contained rose bushes before, which would have just been bare twigs during the winter, so I think we have definitely greatly improved this area. There are still lots of parts of Pudsey still containing dated rose beds (Pudsey Park, Sparrow Park, etc) so we will be able to compare the Lowtown area we planted to these.

Planting crocus and alliums

Today we planted bulbs in the barrier troughs which contain drought tolerant alpine plants and succulents. We planted about 50 alliums and 350 crocus in total in the 7 troughs and the 2 containers by the park entrance.

The crocus varieties we chose are 'Barr's Purple' and 'Snowbunting', which are purple and white respectively (as you probably guessed from the names!) These will flower in February. The alliums we chose are a small species, allium azureum, which gets pale blue flowers in early summer.

The barrier troughs were planted up with alpines and succulents as an experiment to see if we could find a greener way of planting up containers. Usually the troughs contain bedding plants, which are bad for the environment due to the amount of water they require and the fact they have to be replaced every season. It also makes them very expensive; to have just one trough planted and watered by the council for just the summer would cost £100. By using alpines they cost us just under £20 each to plant up, nothing for water, and they will last for many years.

Due to the huge amount of rain the plants weren't quite as happy as they could have been! However, they have still lasted well and will look even better next year, especially now we have added some bulbs.

Leeds gardens competition

Today the members of the group who judged the Pudsey entries in the Leeds In Bloom gardens competition attended the awards ceremony to see the winners receive their prizes.

Judges' comments

From the Yorkshire in Bloom website - http://www.yorkshireinbloom.co.uk/default.aspx

PUDSEY

Pudsey are certainly progressing and things have moved on since the Spring Judging with the adoption and replanting of old rose beds and the trial of drought tolerant barrier baskets. If the business sector can be engaged, Pudsey will 'bloom' even more.


SECTION A – FLORAL DISPLAYS

The judges were particularly impressed by:
1. The hanging baskets and beds in front of the Leisure Centre.
3. The summer displays by residents on The Chase.
4. Creation of the 'sea monster' and other plants by the children of the local school.

Areas suggested for future development:
1. Involvement of business sector to provide floral displays.
1. Improved maintenance to bedding areas in Pudsey Park.
4. More involvement from youth organizations.

SECTION B – PERMANENT LANDSCAPING, INCLUDING SHRUBS

The judges were particularly impressed by:
1. The trial of perennial plants (drought resistant) in barrier baskets.
1. The upkeep of Crimbles Allotment site.
2. The adoption of two old rose beds and their subsequent planting by the group with perennials.

Areas suggested for future development:
1. Coordinated mowing of Pudsey Park to ensure follow up work is in keeping with general grass areas.
2. Speak with 'Total Garage' to see if anything can be done with shrub bed.
4. Continued adoption by group of older shrub/rose beds etc.

SECTION C – LOCAL AGENDA 21 AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

The judges were particularly impressed by:
1. Work within the school by children/volunteers on the wild area and involvement with recycling and composting.

Areas suggested for future development:
1. Future planting/management of the pond area at Spinner Chase.
2. Possible extension of mulching to more beds.

SECTION D – LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY

The judges were particularly impressed by:
1. The general cleanliness of the streets.

Areas suggested for future development:
1. Renovate the two benches at 'Low Town' recently newly adopted area.
2. A few sites noted which required graffiti removal.

SECTION E – PUBLIC AWARENESS/PUBLICITY

The judges were particularly impressed by:
1. The involvement of the judges to award prizes to the winners of various children's competitions.
2. The posters displayed by houses on Robin and Spinners Chase.

Areas suggested for future development:
1. Further publicity/press releases regarding the 'in bloom' group's work.
2. Future commercial sponsorship of areas etc.

Silver!

Pudsey has been awarded a Silver in Yorkshire In Bloom. Our chairman, Robert, attended the award ceremony in Barnsley this evening.

Barrier troughs and Lowtown beds

This is one of our barrier troughs containing drought-tolerant alpines and succulents. Obviously the rainy summer hasn't been ideal for them, but they have survived! The calandrinia in the one above is absolutely covered in bright pink flowers.

These are the beds in the seating area on Lowtown. This shows the bed on the right. As you can see in the picture below, there are a few gaps at the front, however, we are growing some agastache from cuttings and will plant these out soon. The agastache will add some scent to the beds too; their foliage smells of aniseed.

Below is the bed on the left. The stipa giganteas are starting to flower on this side. In future years they will be even more impressive; their flower spikes can be over 6 foot tall.

The plants are all doing really well. When we planted them most were very young plants in 9cm pots so they have grown a lot since spring.

We chose rich warm colours in shades of pink, orange, yellow and purple. The picture below shows rudbeckias, potentillas, knautias and achilleas.

The grasses are doing well too. We chose evergreen species that will look good all year round. The one in the picture below in stipa arundinacea which has green and orange foliage.

The bright pink achilleas and bright yellow rudbeckias look really striking together. The rudbeckias were the smallest plants when we planted them, about 5cm high, but now they are the most visible.

Another evergreen foliage plant we used were heucheras. This purple-leaved variety looks great with the rudbeckias too.

The heucheras also get tall flower spikes of tiny blooms which contrast with the big bold flowers of the other perennials.

Article about judging

There is an article on the Pudsey Times website about the summer judging and a slideshow of photographs.

http://www.pudseytoday.co.uk/news/Pudsey-in-Bloom-Judges-visit.4333969.jp

Judging

Our summer judging was today and we think it went well! They seemed impressed by Lowtown Primary School and the Crimbles allotments again, and the seating area we planted on Lowtown. They liked our alpines in the barrier troughs too and said we should suggest the idea to the council to save them money.

We will find out how we've done and if we've got a medal in late summer.

After our tour of Pudsey we went back to the library to present the competition winners with their prizes. They loved the cactus gardens.

Ready for judging

The town is looking good and we have planted up the cactus gardens ready to present to the competition winners.

Posters

Today members of the group delivered posters to houses and shops all around Pudsey ready for the judges' visit. The posters were designed by Lowtown Primary School pupils.

The art competition was also judged today. 3 winners have been chosen and they will be presented with their prizes on tuesday.