Taskforce Day Weds 19th October

Friends of Herne Bay in Bloom - how can you help?

Volunteers preparing to re-plant three tier planter in Mortimer Street in the summer 

We are looking to form a network of “Friends” who can offer help or get involved in a variety of ways to extend our "In Bloom" campaign for next year. 

PRACTICAL HELP

The various practical tasks that we are involved in can vary from regular watering and maintenance of troughs and planters throughout the area to the clearing and re-planting of town planters on a seasonal basis and tidying and weeding of specific areas.

We also help support various litter picking campaigns during the course of the year as well as help with events such as Plant Sales, Compost and Bark Re-cycling and Plant Give-away Days. 

IT'S YOUR NEIGHBOURHOOD

This is a section of the RHS In Bloom campaign that we would really like to encourage this year. It is a unique scheme for volunteers/community gardening projects/groups/resident's associations which are focused on clearing up and greening their local area.

Whether it's the estate where you live or the back alley or street that you share or the community centre's outdoor space or your local churchyard or village green, Its Your Neighbourhood is an inclusive non-competitive scheme which welcomes projects/groups of all kinds no matter how small.

All you need to start is a GROUP and an idea for a PROJECT.

The Woodland Trust have been assisting groups across the country offering free native trees for planting in wild life areas and the Herne Bay in Bloom team can offer help and advice in getting started. Click HERE to find out more.

If you have any ideas please contact us - you could be our first IT'S YOUR NEIGHBOURHOOD PROJECT and really make a difference to your community. 

COME AND JOIN US

 Our next practical Taskforce Day which involves clearing the town centre planters and replanting for the winter season is on WEDNESDAY 19th OCTOBER 10 o'clock meeting in William Street at Greenstead's Corner. Please bring gardening gloves and a hand trowel and wear suitable clothing.

We would be very pleased to see you if you can help us on this day.

If you would like to help in any other way or have any ideas for any community projects please contact us by email herne_bayinbloom@live.co.uk OR telephone Colleen on 07540 392916.

FRIENDS OF HERNE BAY IN BLOOM     -    HOW CAN YOU HELP?                    

Some gardening news...

If you're one of the tens of thousands of would-be veg gardeners waiting for the keys to an allotment, take heart: the National Trust handed over its 1000th plot this week.

The other 999 allotments, available via Landshare, have helped blow a hole in endless council waiting lists. But, the Trust warns, allotment land could be among casualties of the government's new planning proposals. It's joined the CPRE, RSPB and several other conservation groups in fighting the plans.

Plant conservation charity Plantlife is worried the shifting sands of the south Wales coast aren't shifting nearly enough. Artificial dune stabilisation and over-exuberant undergrowth has meant disaster for delicate coastal wildflowers, so they're stripping back the vegetation to get the sand moving again. At stake is the future of the super-rare fen orchid, now down to just 400 individuals.

Finally, more large and unlikely animals in the garden: this week's most bizarre photograph was the Swedish elk who got so drunk on fermenting apples it decided to climb the tree. The apple tree lost almost all its branches during the rescue: now that's what I call a garden pest.

Gallery: Autumn flowers on the Downs

This area seeded with our urban flower mix was a late starter but has come into its own encouraged by some summer rain in September and October and now greatly enhances the area around the Barnes Wallis statue.

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