Spring Bank Holiday Pop-Up Seedling Stalls

Grow Community – Sopwell’s annual pop-up seedling stalls are here again this Bank Holiday weekend, May 26-29.

Fruit and veggie seedlings will be available for you to pick up and #HaveAGrow with.

Help yourself to what you need and consider leaving some for others.

Use the map (click here) to find your nearest stall or why not host one yourself?

Simply pop any spare fruit or veggie plants in a box outside your house with a sign, and let the neighbours know!

Let’s #GetGrowing and #GrowTogether

Online donations welcome but not essential.

Here’s what you might find in our boxes.

Herbs & Salads

Basil (green / purple)

Chives – Mild onion flavour. Harvest leaves from spring to autumn. Comes back every year.

Dill – Feathery leaves, which have a mild aniseed-like flavour, similar to fennel. Good for pollinators.

Korean Liquorice Mint (Agastache rugosa) – Not a mint! Use as a herb or a really tasty tea. Flavour between mint and basil and a bit of aniseed. Has a place in your beds and borders. Gorgeous flowers and bees love it!

Parsley – Nutritious tasty leaves through summer and autumn. Use in salads, sauces and to garnish. Comes back the year after and sets seed that you can save.

Sorrel ‘Belleville‘ – Easy to grow. Lemon-flavoured leaves great to add to salads or use in soups and sauces. Comes back every year.

Brassicas

Brussels sprouts ‘Evesham Special’ – Classic winter vegetable, providing fresh, nutritious harvests in even the coldest weather. Needs protection from garden wildlife.

Purple Sprouting Broccoli –  Produces repeated harvests of tasty purple or white florets for up to two months., in winter/early spring. Needs protection from garden wildlife.

Legumes (Peas & Beans)

Runner beans ‘Emergo’- – Ideal for beginners. Need support to climb. Protect young plants from slugs and snails.

Climbing French Beans – Ideal for beginners. Need support to climb. Protect young plants from slugs and snails.

Dwarf French Beans– Ideal for beginners. Protect young plants from slugs and snails.

Borlotti beans – grown for drying, to eat the beans later in soups and stews etc. Grow as for climbing French beans.

Broad Beans ‘ The Sutton’ – Easy. Early harvests. Also known as fava beans

Peas – Easy and delicious crop.

Alliums

Leeks – Delicious, sweet onion flavour. Easy to grow.

Spring onion – Fast-growing. Great for salads.

Squash and Others

Butternut squash ‘Harrier’ and various other – Need plenty of space. Good for winter storage.

Chilli ‘Cottonmill’ – Grows well in pots. Spicy! Original plant donated to us from someone from the local Bengali community. We save seeds and have named it ‘Cottonmill’ until we identify it’s true name!

Cucumber ‘Bush Champion’

Tomato ‘House‘- Dwarf tomato plant that has been bred for growing in pots on a windowsill. Grown from saved seeds.

Tomato ‘Tumbling Tom‘ – Cherry tomato, suitable for containers.

Fruit

Strawberry – Various varieties.

Flowers (Herbal, wildlife-friendly or companion plants)

Chamomile (German) – Great for herbal teas.

Cornflower – Cornflowers are easy to grow wild flowers.

Marigold (calendula) – Easy-to-grow, with edible petals.

Comfrey ‘Bocking 14’ – Soak the leaves in water for a few weeks to make an excellent (but stink!) plant feed. The flowers are great for pollinators. This variety does not self-seed.

Afternoon sessions at Martyr Close mini-meadow start today. All welcome!

This will be a regular weekly session. Just turn up.

This week we will be looking at how the meadow has grown so far, looking at paths of desire that have formed and planning how to move forward now we can see what is happening. We will be smartening up the edges and filling the bug hotel. So if you have any edging tools or things suitable for the bug hotels such as twigs, bamboo, anything natural really then bring it along, don’t worry if you don’t there’s plenty of pine cones and bits at the meadow we can use.

Everyone welcome including children of all ages but please be aware garden tools will be being used at each session and may be left unattended so all children must have a supervising adult at all times.

Email us for more details

Find a pop-up seedling stall near you, or host one yourself!

Grow Community – Sopwell’s annual pop-up seedling stalls will pop up over the Spring Bank Holiday weekend, May 26-29.

Fruit and veggie seedlings will be available for you to pick up and #HaveAGrow with.

Help yourself to what you need and consider leaving some for others.

Use the map (click here) to find your nearest stall or why not host one yourself.

Simply pop any spare fruit or veggie plants in a box outside your house with a sign, and let the neighbours know!

Let’s #GetGrowing and #GrowTogether

Visit one of our Growing sites

Wonderful community projects taking place in Sopwell

Map of Sopwell showing plant growing sites
Image credit: Michelle Mackenzie

Thanks to Michelle Mackenzie for our amazing updated map showing our four growing sites:

  • Berners Drive Community Garden. Seasonal fruit and veg grown by the community and free to harvest, alongside bug hotel and wildflower area. We have plans to bring in a bench for people to rest and enjoy the garden, as well as to provide seating for our outdoor workshops and talks.
  • Martyr Close wildflower meadow. We’re building a wildlife rich area with longer grass and native wildflower species, along with two bug hotels to encourage small mammals and insects. There is some seating for visiting school groups or people who just want to enjoy nature.
  • Abbots Avenue Planters. Free to pick herbs in one bed and free to enjoy flowering bulbs and bushes in the other.
  • Cottonmill Community and Cycling Centre. To expand on the fruit trees and wildflower area at the Centre, we are looking at further tree planting for shaded seating and some raised beds for more veg planting.

Keep an eye out on our website posts or on our Facebook page for more information and upcoming events.