Events

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
SustFest23 Open Day: June 11th

Put Sunday June 11th into your diary to come along to the Community Garden on Berners Drive for Grow’s SustFest Open Day. Between 10.30am and 12.30pm to take part in seeds and seedling swaps, planting, children’s activities, cake and more! Come and celebrate local food growing with us.
Visit one of our Growing sites
Wonderful community projects taking place in Sopwell

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.
Berners Drive Community Garden working party: Thurs 15th March. 10-11am

We will be going ahead on Thurs 15th March unless it’s very very wet!

We will sow rainbow chard and other salad leaves, check on our weekend sowings, update our signage and check in on the wildlife.

Everyone is welcome to join us. Bring gloves and hand tools if you have them, otherwise we can provide.

Hope to see you there!
This month at Berners Drive Community Garden

Join us next Saturday for our first working party of the season.

Find out more about what we do and how to get involved.

Learn about crop rotation.

Help up sow seeds, weed and cut the grass!
Come help develop the Martyr Close wildflower area Sunday 5th March

Community planting session

Come along from 10 am onwards ’til 2 pm on Sunday 5th March 2023 to Martyr Close, AL1 2LL. Help us plant wildflowers and make bug hotels. Bring along bug hotel ingredients such as twigs, small branches, toilet rolls, bamboo canes, palettes, broken terracotta tiles or pots if you have them or help us build one with the bits we have. Donate wildflower seeds or help spread the seeds we have. Let’s make this patch of land a local wildlife haven!
Join our working parties in 2023

Everyone is welcome to help out in the Community Garden!

We welcome experienced gardeners through to absolute novices, as we are all learning together. Jobs include sowing, watering, weeding, digging, pruning and harvesting. Bring along tools if you have them but we can provide if not. Just turn up at the dates and times shown below.
Winter Wreaths 2022

Our Winter Wreath making session is back for December 2022!

Image credit: Kate Swindells and other Grow Members

Join us from 4-6 pm on Sunday 4th December at St Julian’s Church Hall, Abbots Avenue, AL1 2HY, using locally foraged foliage to make a beautiful festive wreath. No experience necessary, you can learn as you go.

More details coming soon.

Suggested donation £7 for members, £10 non-members. (Concessions available, contact us).
Autumn Festival

Celebrate the changing of the seasons with us!

Lots of free activities to do at Sopwell’s Autumn Festival: songs, competitions, hearty soup made with local ingredients (and big thanks to St Albans’ Waitrose for their pumpkin donation) and more. Join us on Sunday 30th October from 1.30 to 3.30 pm at the Cottonmill Community and Cycling Centre, off Cottonmill Lane.

Download more information and rules for the competitions here.
Seasonal cooking

Free seasonal cooking session in October

Are you a Sopwell resident interested in having a go at cooking seasonal produce, learning something new or just want to get involved in a fun community project? Come along and join in with Grow’s free cooking session from 2 until 4 pm on Saturday 1st October at the Cottonmill Community and Cycling Centre, off Cottonmill Lane. Contact Kate or Gail to find out more and book your place.
AGM

Join us for our Annual General Meeting and Communi-tea!

Come along to St Julian’s Church Hall from 7 until 8.30 pm on Tuesday 27th September 2022 to find out what we’ve been up to and what we have planned for the coming year. Refreshments will be provided.
Join us at Larks in the Parks!

We are pleased to be a part of Sopwell’s fabulous community event – Larks in the Parks.

Find our stall, find out how you can get involved and join in with our food-growing activities, suitable for all the family!

#growtogether
Working Parties

Join us for our next working parties

Every Thursday, and look out for longer sessions on Saturdays and Sundays. Just come along and bring yourself. We have gloves, gardening equipment, and there is always someone there to provide guidance and support. We love to see new friends and old. Come and help us at our wonderful Community Garden!