Fungi in the Woods

We have been appreciating the fungi in the woods today. I am told by BP our wildlife recorder, that the mild weather has extended the season for mushrooms and toadstools. Today I have just been shown wood blewit, milk cap, bell cap and a wonderful shaggy parasol nestling in piles of leaves in the wildlife area of the Gardens.

Why not come down to the Gardens this week and see if you can find any fungi? You’re welcome to borrow a field guide to help you with a fungus walk whilst you’re here. Have a look at these pages on the Woodland Trust’s website for further details.

Seasonal Greetings Cards

Robin on the Liquidambar Tree, Martineau Gardens

Sundial on a frosty morning at Martineau Gardens

Winter in the Gardens

Winter Wonderland at Martineau Gardens

 Wrap up warm, pull on your outdoor boots and enjoy a walk around a winter wonderland at Martineau Gardens this month.

We will see lots of animals coming into the Gardens, as they look for shelter and forage for food to sustain them through the winter months. We provide food for birds and have several bird feeding areas. Bring your binoculars (or borrow a pair from us) and enjoy a session in the bird hide, spotting our feathery friends. We have field guides to help you identify the different species who visit, which you can borrow from our wildlife library to use whilst you’re here.

Of course lots of animals are nocturnal or shy of human visitors, you can always keep any eye out for tracks in the mud or snow which may have been left by birds, foxes, badgers and other small mammals looking for food. Younger visitors can follow the Explorers’ Trail – a new quiz which encourages every budding nature detective to look out for wildlife clues.

As a community garden, we couldn’t survive without the help of our garden volunteers. As the temperature drops, the team will continue to care for the Gardens under the guidance of Stewart Holmes, the Therapeutic Horticulturalist. There will be plenty of chopping of logs for wood and turning of the compost heap. There will be conservation work in the wildlife area: brambles and ivy will be cleared and hedges pruned. All this thinning of vegetation lets in more light, encouraging woodland flowers next year, which attract insects which in turn attracts birds, bats and small mammals and help to maintain this area as a SLINC (a Site of Local Importance for Nature).

Entry to the Gardens is free, and whilst there’s no cafe, you can warm up with a hot drink that we will make for you. Donations are always welcomed.

Winter Work Parties

Winter Work Parties at Martineau Gardens

Great  exercise that helps our wildlife!

Come and join us for a few hours of woodland conservation work in the wildlife area of Martineau Gardens. We will be thinning out overgrown areas to let more light in to increase the plant and animal diversity in this area. The work will include coppicing trees and bushes, digging out roots, pruning hedges and clearing  brambles and ivy.

Leader: Felipe Molina    Wildlife Recorder: Brian Perry

WHEN: Sat 26 November 10.30am—3.30pm and Sat 17 December 10.30am—3.30pm  

Dates for Jan, Feb and March to be announced

If you can only do morning or afternoon—that’s fine. If you want to join us for this day of voluntary work, please book your place, in advance, by telephoning Martineau Gardens on 0121 440 7430 to book your place. In the event of severe weather, work parties will be cancelled, so we do need your telephone number to let you know any change of plan.

2011:Apple Day Sat 15 Oct

2011:Apple Day to celebrate bumper  apple harvest!

We’re delighted to be hosting Apple Day on Saturday 15 October 2011. Organised by the pioneering fruit harvesting project ‘Urban Harvest’ the event will run from 11am-3pm at Martineau Gardens.  (more…)

Earth Oven Course – date changed

New date coming soon …

New for this year – a fantastic course. Building on the popularity of last year’s course (which saw our very own Earth Oven being built in the Gardens by course participants under the instruction of tutor Lizzie Bean) we are hosting ‘Baking in an Earth Oven’.Working outdoors, course participants will be baking in the hand-built clay oven, in the beautiful setting of Martineau Gardens. You’ll be able to learn how to make a variety of breads and pizzas and try your hand at stoking the oven, creating a sourdough starter yeast to take home and find out how earth ovens around the world are used. A food-lovers paradise, you’ll be cooking and eating your freshly baked produce. Course takes place at Martineau Gardens, 27 Priory Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B5 7U. Cost is £60, book in advance with course organisers LILI (Low Impact Life Initiative) www.lowimpact.org or 01296 714184.

We’ve had to re-arrange the course date  – new details coming soon (call LILI on 01296 714184 for latest details).

New Nature Trail

As you know, Martineau Gardens is a haven for wildlife. And as custodians of this precious oasis, we’re delighted to announce that a Nature Trail Guide is now available.

(more…)

2011: Easter Egg Hunt

The Easter Egg Hunt returns to Martineau Gardens on (more…)

2011: Spring Event Update

Come and enjoy a great event in the Gardens. (more…)

Bee Keeping Course

Martineau Gardens is hosting a beekeeping course on Saturday 4 June. The course is a taster and aimed at people who would like to find out more about beekeeping to decide if it’s for them.  Some of the things that would-be beekeepers will be able to find out include the difference in lifestyles between bees and wasps; how the hive is affected by human input and what happens inside; what a bee colony is and even sample some honey in a tasting session. The course takes place in the beautiful surroundings of the organically maintained Martineau Gardens and is led by John Gale, Martineau Garden’s Beekeeper.

 The Beekeeping Course runs on Sat 4 June, from 10am until 5pm, cost is £60 and must be booked in advance. Call course organisers LILI (the Low Impact Living Initiative) on 01296 714184 or log onto www.lowimpact.org. The Beekeeping course is just one in a series of environmental courses organised by LILI, taking place at Martineau. To view the full list (which includes Forest Gardening, Keeping Chickens and Baking on an Earth Oven), see www.lowimpact.org

2011: July – What’s On

Martineau Gardens has a whole host of events, activities and courses programmed for July 2011. (more…)

We’ve Won a Green Flag Community Award

We’re delighted to announce that Martineau Gardens has been awarded a Green Flag Community Award for a second consecutive year.

The Green Flag Award Scheme has given Martineau Gardens  a ‘thumbs-up’ ,  in recognition that the site is a well-managed and welcoming place, central to the local community. We celebrated the good news on the official announcement day (Monday 25 July 2011) by unfurling the flag and inviting visitors to join us for a cuppa and home-made scones. Martineau Gardens is a community-run garden that’s open for free to the public. This award is a tribute to the dedication of our volunteers who work hard to keep the gardens a beautiful and tranquil spot for Birmingham people to come and relax in. If you haven’t been to the Gardens recently, come down  and enjoy them in all their summer glory. In the orchard, pears, apples, mulberries and figs are ripening; there’s shade and tranquillity on the sundial lawn and the glimpses of darting dragonflies really lifts the spirits. And, if you’ve enjoyed yourself, why not go to www.greenflagaward.org.uk and vote for us in the People’s Choice Award to win a further award.

2011: The Birmingham Honey Show

We’re delighted to announce that The Birmingham and District Beekeeping Association has chosen Martineau Gardens to be the new venue for the Birmingham Honey Show. (more…)

2011: Wizard School

Wizard School at Martineau Gardens

Schools out, the school bags are slung to the back of the cupboard, but Wizard school is in! Martineau Gardens is hosting a new event,‘Wizard School’ for all budding potions makers (more…)

2011: Heritage Open Day

2011:Heritage Open Day Event: Sat 10 September 

Heritage Open Day is an opportunity to discover a secret Birmingham. Over 40 venues in the area, from museums to community gardens, temples and churches to art galleries and town halls will be opening their doors from 8 – 11 September 2011. Martineau Gardens is one of the participating venues. (more…)

The Gardens on BBC 1

Martineau Gardens will be on national TV this Saturday!

Tune in to a short piece on ‘The National Lottery: Secret Fortune’ which starts at 8pm on BBC1, on Saturday 10^th September. OPAL (the Open Air Laboratories Project) selected Martineau Gardens to be the venue for the promotional film to support its bid for the finals of the National Lottery Good Causes in the Best Environment project category. The film is short – just over two minutes long, but it’s a chance for you to see scientists and children exploring the environment, together, in our beautiful gardens. A great example of the educational work that goes on here.

Rare Plant Spotted

A rare non-native plant found last year, at Martineau Gardens, that has kept the experts guessing, has finally been confirmed as the tooth-pick plant (Ammi visnaga (L.) Lam). A garden volunteer was weeding an area around the sundial lawn and spotted a plant that she didn’t recognise. Our wildlife advisor, Brian Perry (pictured here) , called in Mike Poulton (Botanist for the Birmingham and Black Country Wildlife Trust) who took a sample which was sent to the Botanical Society for the British Isles (BSBI) referee for alien plants Dr J. L. Mason who confirmed our find. Mike says: “The Martineau Gardens tooth- pick plant find is a first for Birmingham.” The plant is an annual, so we will have to see if it returns.

Easter Egg Hunt Sat 7 April

Easter Egg Hunt, Saturday 7 April 2012, 11am – 1pm.

Calling all intrepid Egg Hunters! Follow a Trail around the Gardens, answering a nature quiz along the way and at the end, you’ll receive a chocolatey prize for your efforts.

Plants, preserves, Martineau Gardens’ t-shirts, produce and compost will all be available for purchase, plus hot and cold drinks. Enjoy the Gardens in all their spring glory.

Cost: £1 per child, Adults free.

Information: 0121 440 7430 www.martineau-gardens.org.uk  info@martineau-gardens.org.uk

Martineau Gardens, 27 Priory Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham B5 7UG

Seed Event Sat 3 March

Sat 3 March, Seed Event, Martineau Gardens, 1pm – 4pm.

 Grow something new this year! Join us for an afternoon in the company of Garden Organic, the organic growing charity, to find out more about non-traditional crops like shark fin melon, chickpeas, haloon, mustard and many more.  Experts from Garden Organic will be running a growing workshop and a talk on seed saving  - telling you everything  need to know to try out these crops. There’s even a seed giveaway laid on, so you can get free seeds and information to take home.

It will be a chance to refresh your plans for the gardening year ahead, all in the  surroundings of a beautiful organic community garden. Tea and cake available, picnics welcome.

Dudi Fruit

Jamaican Pumpkin

sharkfin melon

Kodu Seeds

Photo credit: Garden Organic – for more photographs and information about these non-traditional crops, visit Flickr and for mouthwatering recipe ideas, Garden Organic has lots of ideas.

Seed Event : 1pm – 4pm       Free entry.  Martineau Gardens, 27 Priory Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham B5 7UG

0121 440 7430 www.martineau-gardens.org.uk

This event is part of the Sowing New Seeds project, funded by the Big Lottery Fund Local Food Scheme  and ensures that the skills for growing non-traditional crops is preserved for the future.To find out more about the people that have been involved visit www.sowingnewseeds.org.uk.

2011:Stories for Halloween

2011: Stories for Halloween Event

Flickering firelight in the woods is the setting for a Halloween event coming to Martineau Gardens. We’ve teamed up with the Traditional Arts Team for an exciting night of ‘Stories for Halloween’ which takes place on Monday 31 October, with walks starting every ten minutes from 6.30pm –8.15pm. (more…)

2011: Autumn Event 25 Sept

2011: Martineau Gardens’ Autumn Event

Apple tasting and earth oven baking, pottery and storytelling are some of the treats in store for visitors to Martineau Gardens annual Autumn Event on Sunday 25 September 2011 from 11am – 3pm. Our ‘green’ fete will celebrate the Autumn harvest and provide an  afternoon of family fun. (more…)