Dear friend,
I hope you have all enjoyed the Bank Holiday Weekend, let’s hope the sunshine we had is here to stay!
Would you like to get involved with STAA?
We are hosting a Get Involved Fair on Saturday 11th May from 11am! This is a chance to come and visit the site, have a chat with the team and learn a little more about the different ways in which you can get involved and support the community. More details can be found on the below poster, and by visiting our Eventbrite page or Facebook Event!
With International Compost Week this week, 5th – 11th May, we share our top 5 tips for compost success at the end of this newsletter.
Best wishes,
Kayleigh
Learning Opportunities
City & Guilds – September Enrolment
Our City & Guilds Practical Horticulture qualification is well underway.
We are very proud to be the only site in Nottingham City to be delivering one of the top 5 City & Guilds courses! We will be enrolling more learners in September, so please do get in touch for more information on this course.
To see the site and meet the team, we are hosting two more open dates later in the year, prior to the September intake – Saturday 22nd June & Thursday 1st August. If you register your interest with us by clicking here, we will be in touch as soon as the event is launched.
A reminder of the two course routes available:
Pro Gardener: which focusses on fundamental practical skills in horticulture such as pruning and plant identification.
Grow Your Own: which will develop your skills in growing and maintaining growing spaces and improving soil fertility.
Upcoming Workshops
Why not purchase a gift card for our workshops, so you can share our horticultural, floristry and seasonal crafts experiences with friends and family.
Saturday 11th May
Make Your Own Summer Hanging Baskets 10.00 – 12.30 £42
Come along and create your own lovely 14-inch, moss lined Summer basket to take home. You will learn how to select a good range of trailing and semi-trailing plants, construct your arrangement for maximum impact and care for it properly to create a long lasting display.
Gather Plants for Free: Learn Propagation Techniques 13.30 -16.00 £25 – only 5 spaces left!
Join Sam and spend the afternoon touring our gardens trying out different propagation techniques. Once you have mastered this skill you will be able to easily produce all manner of herb, fruit and ornamental plants throughout the year.
Saturday 25th May
Wildlife Gardening 10.00 – 12.30 £30
Join Andy of Sherwood Garden Consultancy who will share his practical tips and advice on ways to encourage wildlife into your garden. From bug hotels, hibernaculums and dead hedges to all year-round planting for colour, pollinators and habitat, Andy will help you develop your understanding and practical skills to bring wildlife into your green spaces.
Introduction to Honey Bees & Beekeeping 13.30 – 16.00 £30 – only 3 spaces left!
Join us for an indoor session, with our enthusiastic resident Beekeeper Pete (aka the Bald Beekeeper). In this engaging and informative session, Pete will bring his ‘virtual hive’ to give an insight into the fascinating world inside a hive, and what that means for a beekeeper.
On the Orchard
The Community Orchard runs free events for all ages.
New Shoots, every Tuesday in term time, 09:30-11:00
Community Open Day, Saturday 25th May, 12:00-15:00. Click here, to book your free ticket!
Youth Sessions, every 2nd and 4th Saturday.
These sessions are for local young people of St Ann’s to spend time on the Orchard, learning and crafting. For more information and to book: contact Sarah at sarah@staa-allotments.org.uk.
Fundraising
We are incredibly grateful for all the help and support you provide throughout the year, whether by volunteering, donating, attending our events, or sharing what we do with friends and family.
Here are a few additional ways you can help us continue raising funds for our charity, and keep our community projects open year-round:
You can nominate us at: https://movementforgood.com/#nominateACharity
Volunteering & Social Gardening
A wide selection of volunteer sessions to help maintain our beautiful open spaces all year round!
Tuesdays at the Nursery, 10:00-14:00
Digging, sowing, pruning, clearing, building, watering, harvesting! All things food and flower focused for a productive garden.
Wednesdays at Oliver’s, 10:00-14:00
Help maintain a beautiful display garden for visitors to enjoy, and promote its heritage features.
Every 2nd & 4th Saturday at Urban Nature, 10.00 – 14.00
Expect a mix of woodland, wetland and grassland tasks – everything from pruning, sawing, digging, building, bramble bashing, tree felling, step building, weeding, planting, and building! There are always a mix of tasks to choose from each session.
Our Social Gardening sessions will run alongside our usual volunteer sessions, giving you the perfect opportunity to come and enjoy the the beautiful spaces, see our volunteer projects and have a go if you wish!
Volunteer inductions:
Wednesday 15th May 10.00 – 12.00
This is an introductory session for anyone interested in volunteering at STAA. Receive a tour of our projects to find out what you might be interested in, and an opportunity to meet people and ask questions.
If you have any questions about volunteering or social gardening, please contact Lucy at volunteer@staa-allotments.org.uk or visit our volunteer page.
Volunteer opportunities:
We are also looking for tour volunteers to help us with our guided tours on the last Wednesday of the month.
If you think this might be for you, please do get in touch with me at kayleigh@staa-allotments.org.uk for further information.
Talks & Tours
We offer both regular guided tours, private tours and private talks to learn more about the rich history of St Ann’s Allotments.
On the last Wednesday of every month, we lead walks around St Ann’s Allotments, 1:30-3pm. The 1.3-mile guided tour takes you to our Heritage Display Garden and Nursery, telling the 700-year story of how this 32-acre site changed from pasture and orchards, to Victorian pleasure gardens, to working-class allotments. Including stories of people who lived here and the grassroots campaign to save the site from redevelopment.
You can book on to our public tours here. If you are interested in a private tour or a talk at your venue, please enquire by emailing kayleigh@staa-allotments.org.uk
Our Top 5 Tips!
This month we share our top 5 tips for compost success for International Compost Week!
