Hello to you all. We are new to the forum. Iwould like to take this opportunity to say hello to you all, and also to tell you a little bit about our fabulous new project. I work for MIND the mental health charity, and we are in the early stages of setting up an allotment project in West Norfolk. The aims of our project are to get people active and improve their fitness level. Getting our servidce users to try something new, to find themselves a new and rewarding interest, to provie "gainful occupation", and, obviously, to help improve their mental health and well being. We also promote social inclusion, trying to get our service users involved in their local community, raising awareness of mental health problems, and trying to reduce stigma, ignorance and prejudice. For some reason, mental health conditions are often still considered taboo, which is totally bizarre, considering that one in four of us will suffer from some kind of mental health poblem in our lives. We are actively rying to make a positive change in our community. Our local project is part of a much larger national movement called "Moving People". their website address is movingpeople.org.uk. The web address of our charity is mind.org.uk. If this is of inerest to you, please have a look at them, or email me if you have any questions.
We are looking for volunteers in the local area, so please get intouch if you are interested.
We are also desperately in need of seed donations, pots, trays etc, (even though we are actively recycling anything we can use to plant in!!!)
Also if anyone knows of any sheds or green houses or polytunnels in the area going for a reasonable price, these things would be much appreciated, as we currently have no shelter, and nowhere to make a cuppa!!!
Your thoughts on the project would also be greatly appreciated, any advice from anybody who has run a similar project.
Many thanks for taking the timeto read this rather lengthy post!!!
Welcome to the forums :)
Can I suggest you join the local freecycle site, you will be amazed how many sheds, greenhouses etc come up looking for a good home.
Hi and welcome from me also.
Good luck with your new project.
Lauren :)
Welcome to the site... if you talk sweetly to the people running the Seed Swap "pass the parcels" they might let you have the residue!
We have community groups working on our site but I'm not very involved with that..
:-[
Welcome and good luck.Can you post an address to send seed to?
It sounds like a great project. :)I think gardening has a very positive effect on mental health.The physical effort of creating an allotment helps you to sleep well.It is fun to plan and the satisfaction you get from seeing seeds from germination to produce on your plate is wonderful............oh by the way the kettle will be your most important tool ;D
Hi and welcome ;D ;D
Its a great job you are doing in Norfolk. I hope you acquire all the things you need very soon. We have found with our project we are having a lull with volunteers. I guess its cold and not much has been growing.
Its the start of our second growing season. Our website is the link at the bottom of my post, its not a busy forum. But we have had fun and hosted some great projects last year.
If you do have an address for seeds to be sent like Betula asked, please put your details in a PM. Unless its to the MIND headquarters or offices.
Good luck :D
Sounds like a very good project you're starting up there. I can speak from personal experience that I've found lottie-ing extremely good for my mental health.
As far as garden buildings go - maybe worth having a word with the diy big shops. I was in B&Q the other day and they had a couple of sheds going very cheap because there were parts missing. No idea what the missing parts were, but I bet the staff would be happy to help an organisation like yours.
Welcome to the site and well done to you and your team for organising practical help for those less fortunate.
Might I suggest you create a wanted/needed list so people can then promise to donate and the list is kept up-to-date almost immediately and items can be 'tick-off' which will amend your list on an almost daily basis.
Seeds are the easier item in that getting them to you is a fairly easy process, but better to have a little of many varieties rather than a glut of just one, so again, if you know what you need seed wise, a list is the answer.
An address would also be handy.
Good luck, let's hope you get off to a flying start.
helo and welcome to the site, as everyione has said, if you could give us an address we could send seeds to, you'll probably get lots..we're always getting freebies on magazines..also, you should be able to get places who make tools, seeds, sheds etc to donate things , bat your eyelashes at them ;D
Thankyou SO much for your positive responses to our project - it is so refreshing to see people enthusiatic about a mental health project.
I will happily post a "needed" list in the next few days. I warn you - the list may be enormous!!!
We would be incredibly grateful for any seeds that anybody can spare - in return, I'm afraid all I can offer is a thankyou on our website (when we get it up and running!) if you wanted.
The address is "Gardening For Health", West Norfolk Mind, 3 & 4 Richmond Place, Columbia Way, King's Lynn, Norfolk, PE30 2NE.
Once again, many thanks for your overwhelming support. Once more established, I will post photo's and give regular updates on our progress.
Please keep all the advice coming - it is invaluable!
THANKYOU!!!!
Hi, :)
Try having a word with Easton College,
http://www.easton-college.ac.uk/
And Norwich City College,
http://www.ccn.ac.uk/
I`m sure that they will be be able to help with some surplus materials. I don`t know Kings Lynn but I`m sure that similar contacts can be made closer to where you are.
Best of Luck , Col
I'll keep an eye out for your wanted list..
;D
A thought - perhaps you could get Monty Don down to do the official opening. He has been quite open in interviews and his books about how he suffers from depression and gardening is his way out.
Love the Monty Don idea - One of our targets is to find a celebrity to engage with the project, and he would be ideal!!! Still working on the "most wanted" list, and will post soon. Once again, thanks for the comments, and keep them coming!!!
don't mean to hijack the thread, one of our members was approached by someone from the learning disability partnership board in Wigan..would this be similar to your group, we have an area we are turning into raised beds..would this be suitable for them ? are there any special requirements ? thanks for any advice :)
Well, mental health problems and learning difficulties are very different - ie a learning difficulty is usually something a person is born with, and a mental health problem is something that develops due to our life experiences etc. Obviously, the needs of someone suffering depression or extreme anxiety is very different from someone who has downs syndrome, or autism etc. (Sorry to spout on!) However, luckily, I have also worked with learning difficulties! It really depends on any other disabilities it wheel chairs etc. You would have to take into consideration the width of paths to accommadate a wheelchair, also you would need to ensure you have a range of raised beds, as obviously they need to be easily accessible from a chair height-wise, also the width of bed would be important, as it would need to be accessible all over from a wheelchar etc. I can give you somelinks to websites of some other organisations that will be able to give clearer guidance if you wish. Also ake into account heath and safety (ensuring you cover the ends of any canes or poles which stick out of ground) - we use plastic balls, like you'd find in a ball pit.
What you need for learning disabilities depends on the degree of disability. I spent years working with people with moderate learning disbilities, and they were well capable of handling basic jobs like gardening.
I absolutely agree Rob, I believe I said something similar, but I did want to point out that health and safety is now a huge issue. The world has gone crazy with it. I know from starting this project that it is a real pain. The learning difficulties group who run an allotment across from my project also had a complete health and safety nightmare. Not just that, but also the practicalities of caering to any group of people, regardless of their background, can be quite diffficult and daunting, without being aware of their circumstances
Thought I would let you know that Seeds of Italy do a schools pack - which I am sure you would qualify for. Its 7 packs of seeds for £1. The packs are indicated as being a little dog eared so they can't sell them - but the seeds would be okay. They send by mail order.
Both the BBC and RHS are really pushing community gardening, so it would be worth approaching both.
Welcome to A4A - we have a local mental health group who have just taken on a plot on our site, as well as one of the local special schools and the local probation service have a plot.
thanks for that, mb &s..we're arranging a meeting with them so will bring up the health and safety issues, as well as our concerns..funny you said about the plastic balls, we already use them, and tennis balls, to stop ME poking my eye out and my husband has mental health problems so we know how therapeutic gardening is :)
Yep, it's defeinitely therapeutic for me and my partner, I think I would be lost without my lottie! Good luck with your meeting. You'll have to let me know how you plan to move forward with the learning difficulties group. Would love to know how you get on.
Wow - what a fabulous idea.
My mother is bi polar - the only thing she has had an interest in throughout her life (she is now 82) is her gardening!
I have been to various mental health hospitals which all used to be situated in fabulous gardens and some of the long term residents enjoyed "being useful"! working in the gardens and pottering about.
What a terrible change in the last 15 years or so! Town centre institutions where there is no "quiet" to be found!
Hopefully they will flourish in your allotment and find something they enjoy doing!
There was a book written about two guys and a dog - starting working on an allotment - and how much it helped them - even if they didn't achieve huge success in their first year! Unfortunately I can't remember the name of the book.
Good luck with all your sheds etc. Unfortunately I am too far away to help but I am there in spirit!
Old Bird
It is called ' Allotted Time: Two Blokes, One Shed, No Idea '. - it also features a wall eyed greyhound.
A very enjoyable read
Thanks Barn Owl - Exactly right!
;D
Ok Guys - here goes with a basic most wanted list:
Vegetable and fruit seeds of any and all varieties!!! (especially beans and squashes/gourds, as I want our service users to experiment a little and try new things, but we will take anything anybody can spare!)
Flower seeds again, of any variety.
Cuttings from any fruit bushes would be much appreciated.
Hmmm, most of the other obvious stuff we need is too big and heavy to post.
Although, saying that, we can offer to pay postage for anything you wonderful people are able to donate.
We are most definitely not fussy, and will gladly take any help offered.
Also if you have any contacts you think may be able to help us with promotion, or sponsorship, publicity etc, please contact us.
Hi,
Can I suggest FREECYCLE in your area for any bigger items (shed, tools, wheelbarrows, greenhouse, wood for raised beds etc).
Call your local radio station and ask if you can make a plea for items.
And there is always your local free paper, tell them about your project and I'm sure they will print an article and the help will flood in.
Good luck :)
Lauren
As well as the straightforward seeds you mention, I have quite a few spare chilli seeds but - not wanting to be patronising - I know very little about the issues you are dealing with and worry that chillis might be a bit dangerous?
one of our local schools got in touch with bulldog tools, asked for a donation, 250.00 worth of brand new tools..could also try b&q etc..good public relations :)
Quote from: MindBodyandSoil on March 12, 2008, 10:43:17
Hmmm, most of the other obvious stuff we need is too big and heavy to post.
I'm in Norwich and would be more than happy to drive over with some stuff. I've currently got a surplus of seed potatoes and a spare border fork (cheap and cheerful from Roys but it works :))
I'm sure I could manage to fill the boot with some spare pots and seed trays. what other heavy stuff is on your list?
I think B&Q will help worthy causes with up to £500 worth of goods, you have to be a registered charity. And you are, so good luck ;)
Quote from: Barnowl on March 12, 2008, 11:22:58
- I know very little about the issues you are dealing with and worry that chillis might be a bit dangerous?
Thanks Barnowl. Not patronising at all. I'd much rather people ask questions!!
Chilli seeds are fine, as is pretty much anything else. A large part of our project is about trust and respect. We trust our service users, and give them respect, so that they feel safe, respected and valued, also in the hopes that they can respect us, and trust and confide in us. Also, if, for example, one of our team is a self harmer, even if we take away all the sharp implements etc, they will still find a way to hurt themselves if they are determined. The trust we offer enables them to talk about their problems, or if they feel the impulse to cut, they can talk it through, and we teach coping strategies.
As I said in my pm Norfolklass, I am astounded by the generosity of the people here. Am planning to show my service users some of these threads, as it may offer them a greater sense of hope. I'm also hoping a few of them will want to get involved with the forum. King's Lynn is quite a closed-minded place. Although it's quite big, and full of a large number of "chavs", the mentality is quite archaic. It's a bit like something out of the 1920's, anybody slighly "different, in any way, should be immedialtely shunned and persecuted, second class citizens. It is really very sad, and shocking for our time.
Norfolklass, as for the bigger items on my list, timber of any description is somehing we are desperately short of, as is garden canes, tools of any description, seed potatoes, wheel barrows, god, the list is endless, compost, organis fertiliser (eventually we will make our own from comfrey etc), weed suppressant fabric, bubblewrap, pond liner, it goes on and on.
Thanks for the advice guys. I am keeping a close eye on he freecycle site, and have tried b&q, as we have a new store opening in our area next week. They wouldn't help us to tie in with launch, but we have applied to their grant schemes, so fingers crossed!!!
Today, I got a fantastic parcel from "John and Jean", containing seed packs and a donation. Unfortunately, I do not know your user name here, so can't pm you, but many many thanks! It was brilliant!
Also, just to update eveyone, Thompson and Morgan sent us a pack of basic seeds, with carrot, beetroot, onions etc, with a letter wishing uswell, which was great to have.
Just a quick update on the project:
Hired a brush cutter and turf cutter this week to try and get through the thick mat of grass roots - was incredibly difficult to even get my fork through the matted roots. Turf cutter was ok, but obviously not meant for uneven surfaces! But it did allow us to clear half of one plot, and start to turn it over - we need to hurry up so we can get some seed potatoes in!
Brush cutter was a godsend - allowed me to strim my way through two and a half of the plots (would've been more if not for terrible weather!!! GRRR!) Unfortunately, I soon discovered that our second plot used to be used as a builders dumping yard, and is full of house rubble, giant pieces of concrete etc, and the council won't have it cleared! I'm assuming that is the reason they so generously gave my organisation those particular plots.
So, there is even more work in store for us than there would normally be on an allotment.
But I'm not complaining too much, as I'd much rather be outside than stuck in an office!
We have also been holding more planting sessions in our day centre, which our service users love. As well as growing fruit and veg, they wanted to grow some bedding plants and bulbs for us to raise and sell to make a bit more cash for our project.
Will try to post some photos in the coming weeks - if I can figure out how, of course.
Thanks for the interest, and I wish you all good mental health!!!
I cleared all sorts of rubbish off my plot when i first got it, including steel partitions and lumps of concrete. I had a pile twenty feet across and six feet high, and that was only the stuff I couldn't burn. Just keep at it, and you will get there in the end.
Update: After hiring some heavy duty machinery for a week and a half, it was starting to take shape (apart from the asbestos mountain, the giant rubble heap, and the mountainous third and fourth plots) but you could see we had got some where. It has been decided that we should move! we had done a back breaking week of work, then told to move! So, we have to start all over again - although on the plus side, we were able to chose the new plots our selves, which was excellent.
Our new plots were, until last year, the compost heap and the manure heap, which have now been flattened ( I believe last August), so they have had very little time to grow too many nasties!
Also, the soil is dark and rich, and is springy beneath your feet.
Am I assuming correctly that I may not be able to grow carrots and parsnips there? Was thinking of using some big drums, or perhaps raised beds instead
hiya,
Have you tried contacting Baytree near Spalding. Dont think its too far from where you are, but they might help you out with equipment and plants etc.
They are a huge nursery!! They might have a charity budget or something... worth a try :)
This is the link to their site:
http://www.baytreeweston.plus.com/ (http://www.baytreeweston.plus.com/)
Cheers Springbok - hadn't actually thought of them. Will have to try them next week. It's most definitely worth a try!
For your carrots and parsnips its not a bad idea to grow them in barrels anyway, it helps if the containers are over 2' tall so you dont have to worry about protecting against carrot fly :D
Hi all. Just thought you'd like a quick update.
We ave now officially moved plots, and have managed to spend only ne solid day on the site since I came back from leave on monday, as I had a humungous pile of paperwork!
Am hoping to post some photographs over the next week, so you can all see our progress!
A massive thankyou to all of you who have donated seeds etc to our cause!!!
Watch this space.
Just a quick one to say I think your project is a great idea. I manage a day programme in substance misuse in North London. We have thought of the idea ourselves. They are well into my progress with my digging in the group as I have had loads of leave but have been popping in for the odd day. What a great idea. I have used examples of clearing the land and planting seeds and nuturing alongside examples of recovery. Good luck to you and I hope they get a lot of enjoyment out of the plot.
Just a quick update for you guys.
Once again, many, many thanks for all your help and best wishes.
I apoplogise for not being around much, but have been unwell, and when I came back, there was soooo much to do - not enough hours in the day for evn the basic stuff!
Our project is slowly starting to take shape.
Will post some piccies in the near future.
After having to move sites, we have ended up on some plots which were previously used as the manure and compost heaps, which means the top 4 inches or so are beautiful, rich fertile soil. Unfortunately, beneath is nasty nasty clay! Yikes! We have been digging very hard, and have cleared ourselves a nice little area, in which I have planted several rhubarb crowns, some strawberries which we scavenged from a compost heap, radishes, onions and carrots. I have tonnes of plants growing in pots and troughs at our day centre, desperately needing to go out, but, unfortunately, I can't dig quick enough!!! lol.
We are slowly getting more and more service users interested, even if they can't immediately manage the heavy digging. There is plenty of weeding etc to be undertaken, as we have a rather serious bind weed problem, and it's strangling my d**n onions and my carrots! lol.
While it has been very slow progress up to this point, fraught with all kinds of problems, I am thrilled to announce, we are starting to make good progress, and am hoping things will only get better.
PS - We have so far unearthed the bones of approximately half a cow, complete with jaw and teeth, a small portion of pig (mostly teeth), and what I think is roughly a quarter of a sheep (although I guess this could also be pig). We are thinking of wiring them together and naming them as project pets!!!
Good to hear from you!
I am pleased to hear that you are making progress! Onward and upward!!
Keep us posted
Old Bird