This will be the last news from the gardens. Last week Dorina, Coralie and I did the final gardening session at Tay View. We picked lots of broccoli which is ready now and then planted some potatoes. We also did some weeding and tidied up the plot so that it looks tidy for handing over to the new plot holders.

On Campus I harvested lots of chard and rocket today. Then planted some more crops in the empty planters outside the Baxter Building. The planters now have onions, potatoes, chard, rocket and carrots in them. Keep an eye out for these crops becoming ready later in the year.

Outside the Kydd Building I have done a final weed of the flower bed and added a top dressing of fresh compost. In addition I had ‘fun’ picking out about 100 cigarette butts from the flower bed.

The gardens we have created over the last year will be looked after by Estates staff, with Ryan taking the lead. If you live at Lyon Street make sure to help yourself to herbs and vegetables as they become ready. If you can help out with watering at Lyon Street that would be fantastic. A watering can and gardening tools and gloves can be borrowed from Bruce, the Caretaker at Lyon Street.

Many thanks to all of you who have helped with gardening over the last year.

Best wishes, Gillian

At the start of March we got the 3 new planters delivered to Lyon Street by Estates. Next delivery was 40 bags of compost which Emma and I emptied into the planters.

The following week we got busy at Lyon Street again. Dorina, Emma, Itziar, Lisa and Gillian all helped to plant 3 apple trees and strawberries in the new planters. Then we filled 6 new railing planters with compost and planted herbs and edible flowers. After a good watering from the new water butt we went for a well-deserved cup of tea at the allotment cabin.

On 21st March Gillian, Dorina and Emma went to visit the Community Garden in Tayport, Fife. This Garden is also funded by CCF and has had 2 full growing seasons. We were shown around the garden and polytunnel and then had a useful discussion with one of their Committee members. Despite the short life of the garden in Tayport the team there have already achieved a great deal and won several awards. We were very grateful for the warm welcome from Jessie, Kaska, Jenny and others members of the Tayport team.

In the afternoon Gillian, Lisa, Alva and Coralie went to visit the Maxwell Centre Garden in the Hilltown, Dundee. We were shown round by the Gardener, Jack and were very impressed by the lovely garden. The garden has a 'homely' atmosphere and includes a polytunnel, ponds, learning cabin, fruit trees and a huge variety of raised beds, planters and pots. Many thanks to Jack for showing us around and for the cup of tea. Any students who want to volunteer at the Maxwell Centre, either gardening or with other activities would be very welcome. Check out their website.

On the 24th March Gillian and Itziar attended the Dundee Community Gardens event which took place in the Kydd Building. We went to talks on fruit growing and on bees in community gardens. The highlight for me was going outside to look for bees and finding one in a crocus we had planted last November in the bed outside the Kydd Building!

We are starting to wind down the gardening project so last chance to garden at the allotment will be on 18th April. Full details on Facebook.

More cold weather has hampered some efforts to get out gardening. Despite the icy temperatures the last apple trees have now been planted at Lyon Street. The last two were James Grieve and Worcester Pearmain. This makes a mini-orchard of 6 trees. Thanks to Emma for persevering with this – we found some interesting debris while digging the holes; a fork, glass, bricks and plenty of stones.

The new bench is now in position at Lyon Street on the south side of the road. If you live in Lyon Street and the sun is shining feel free to sit on the bench and enjoy the return of spring!

We have just had the delivery of more raised beds for the south side garden at Lyon Street. They have an alarming number of screws to put in so we will have a first attempt at construction on Campus and then get them moved to Lyon Street. After that we will order 40 bags of compost to fill them!

At Tay View Coralie, Lisa and I planted garlic in the bed set aside for members of the onion family. Garlic requires a period of cold weather to bulk up so they need to be in the ground early in the year. We also planted a blackcurrant to replace the one that was stolen and a rhubarb crown in a large pot. The last task was to finish off the line of raspberry canes along the fence at the edge of our plot. The last ones were golden raspberries and if the season is good we may get some fruit later this year.

There are two events coming up at Tay View that you may be interested in. On Sunday March 4th there will be a work day starting at 11am to plant wildflower seeds and do some maintenance jobs. On Saturday 31st March Froglife will be leading an event from 1pm-3pm to plant native species around the pond followed by a talk on amphibians and pond netting. Feel free to go along and join in either of the events.

More Growing Boxes have been given out in January. If you are growing some herbs in one of our boxes send us a photo of your plants. Remember to eat them too!

Over the last 2 weeks the ground has been very cold and wet again. More manure has been dug in at Tay View on Robertson Street but most of our efforts have been at Lyon Street on the north side of the road.

At the Open Garden session on 24 January Emma, Dorina and I planted two apple trees in the north side garden. These two are called Lane's Prince Albert and Discovery and should be producing their first apples within 2 or 3 years. The following week Emma, Coralie, Lisa and I planted 2 more called Scotch Dumpling and Howgate Wonder. We still have 2 more to plant. All the apple trees have been chosen because they are known to do well in the east of Scotland and some are old Scottish varieties. We also planted 3 rhubarb crowns in one of the raised beds. The rhubarb plants should last for many years.

On a cold day Emma and I put together a flat pack bench in a warm room, inside the Kydd Building. It has now been delivered to Lyon Street and will provide a nice place to sit in the garden on the south side of the street.

The next few weeks should see the delivery of more raised beds for the south side garden at Lyon Street which will increase the available space for growing in. If you want to help us construct the raised beds watch out on facebook for an Open session at Lyon Street.

The run up to the holidays was very cold and frosty until the last week before Christmas. The ground was frozen hard for the top 10cm and it was very difficult to get any digging done at Tay View. When the temperature went up again I dug in more horse manure and finished double digging the bed at Tay View where the onions and leeks will be planted next spring. Sadly just before Christmas one of our blackcurrant bushes in a big pot vanished overnight! No doubt it was wrapped up and turned into a Christmas present!

Since New Year the ground has been frozen again. I have managed to get a few jobs done, including weeding the flower bed at the Kydd Building and digging in more manure at Tay View.

In mid-December two researchers working with the James Hutton Institute came to visit me at the allotment to talk about fruit growing in Dundee. A new project, Tayberry plans to expand community fruit growing in the city and it was very interesting to talk about what we have been growing at the allotment and at Lyon Street.

At Lyon Street we have installed a water butt to collect rainwater in the garden on the south side. It is connected to a drainpipe and when it fills up we should find it much easier to water the plants.

On Campus the potatoes planted outside the Baxter Building in late August were harvested in December. They were smaller than I hoped they would be but tasted good!

Many thanks to everyone who left us a donation when they took vegetables from the Veg Trolley in the foyer. We decided to give the money collected to Butterfly Conservation Scotland who campaign and carry out conservation work to save our native butterflies and moths. Due to your generosity we have been able to send them a donation of £22.

This week EcoAbertay welcomed our new assistant gardener Emma who will be helping with all our garden projects. Emma has been volunteering at the gardens for quite a while and has written the next bit for us about her experience of gardening with EcoAbertay.

◦ At Tay View Gillian, Coralie and I planted new raspberry bushes along the edge of the allotment facing the road. We put compost in holes before putting in the raspberry bushes, in order to give them nutrition which will help them grow. We were able to cover a larger area than expected, as we realized the raspberry bushes could be split. This means that they should form a nice hedge of raspberry bushes once they grow. We also dug some trenches for the horse manure, which will make the soil more fertile. I think it’s very fascinating that gardening includes so much recycling, such as using old plants to create compost to feed new plants, or using manure as fertilizer. We also spread the seeds from some flowers that had died, so that they might grow again this spring.
◦ We started measuring the plot at Lyon Street South Side in preparation for potentially putting some big wooden raised beds with trees and berry bushes there. We also measured the railings for putting planters on them.

Although it was very cold this week we managed to get some gardening done. There are 2 more open gardening sessions before the Christmas holidays so please come and join in. Full details on Facebook.

The vegetable harvest is sadly coming to an end for this season. The last crops producing much, are carrots at the allotment and at Lyon Street and a few turnips. Some seeds sown in September are now producing late salad crops such as rocket and an oriental mix. We recently submitted all our records to our funders the Climate Challenge Fund and totalled all the veg produced so far. The potatoes did really well with around 70kg of tatties from three different varieties. Surprises included 16kg of beetroot, 12kg of cauliflower, 13kg of courgettes and 11kg of runner beans. Next term I will try and get feedback on what veg you would all like for next season.

At Lyon Street with the help of Emma we planted a blackcurrant bush which should be producing currants next summer. After a trip to Dobbie’s Garden Centre I now have another blackcurrant, 2 redcurrants and 2 gooseberry bushes ready to plant. The plan is to use one of the large beds on the north side of the street for the fruit bushes. Unless we get a very dry summer next year the fruit bushes should not need much watering which will be useful as water has to be carried from the kitchen at 7A. Plans to plant fruit trees are still being discussed with Estates and Dorina and I will be having a site meeting with Estates next week to work out a strategy.

At Tay View with the help of Emma, Coralie and Itziar (the best dressed gardener in town!) we sorted out the strawberry bed and potted up small strawberry plants for use next year at Lyon Street. This is a really good way to get free plants as the strawberry plants naturally produce lots of tiny new plants each autumn. We also dug another bean trench to provide a good crop of beans next year. We now have a blackcurrant, a blackberry and a gooseberry bush potted up in large pots on the allotment. This week I have been dropping off sacks of horse manure at the allotment so that we can dig it into our plot over the next few weeks. The manure is really good for building up soil fertility and improving soil structure.

On Campus outside the Kydd Building, Coralie and I planted crocus corms and muscari bulbs in the flower bed. This bed is aimed at pollinators like bees and butterflies. Crocus and muscari are early flowering and should provide some pollen early next spring. The crops in the five new planters outside the Baxter Building are doing well. The winter potatoes in the end two planters are growing well and should be ready before Christmas. The other planters have been producing rocket and mixed oriental salad leaves to go on the Vegetable Trolley on Wednesdays. Take a look if you are passing the Baxter Building entrance.

On 2nd November Dorina and I attended the Climate Challenge Fund Gathering in Edinburgh. I found it very inspiring to hear about other community Garden projects going on around Scotland. I came back with some new ideas for the EcoAbertay Gardens.

Garden helpers are still welcome to any of our open sessions. No experience necessary so why not come along and see if you like it!

The gardens are now definitely past the peak harvest week. The runner beans, which have been producing beans for months, have reached the end of their life. Some beans will be saved for seed next year and the roots of the plants will be left in the ground to return nitrogen and other nutrients to the soil. The last of the potatoes have been dug up. Some of them have been huge. The record potato was over 650g in weight! Big enough to feed at least two hungry students. Still going strong are the carrots and turnip. New crops planted in August are starting to grow well and we will be harvesting rocket this week. So far over 125kg of vegetables have been harvested and distributed to students and staff at Abertay. Many thanks to all those who have left feedback for EcoAbertay on our vegetable table.

At Lyon Street with the help of Emma we took down the bean plants that were finished producing. Emma found a collection of Harlequin ladybirds looking for a place to hibernate in the bean plants and the sticks supporting them. Harlequin ladybirds are a non-native species and can cause problems for our native ladybirds. Early advice was to destroy any Harlequins but recent instructions suggest it is not worth the effort as we will never manage to get rid of them all. We also dug in extra grit to improve the soil structure and drainage in the big beds in the Garden on the North (7a) side of Lyon Street. Then we planted a new blackcurrant bush and we plan to plant more fruit bushes and rhubarb. The new planters on the south side Garden at Lyon Street are showing new growth where the rocket and chard seedlings are coming up.

At Tay View we have some winter crops sown under our little cloche tunnel which are doing well and we can harvest some this week. The cloche survived the big winds of storm Brian which was a relief. Itziar and Emma helped tie all the broccoli plants to stakes so they are not blown over during the winter. The variety of broccoli ‘Early Purple Sprouting’ stays in the ground all winter and will produce broccoli in the spring. Dorina and I managed to put a tree guard around one of the apple trees in the communal orchard at the allotment. The tree guards were kindly made for the orchard by the Men’s Shed group nearby. It was hard work digging down through the stones and rubble under the surface. The site used to be an old folks home and there are a lot of stones under the earth. After some tough work with a spade, a pinch bar and a sledge hammer we got it into place! The new allotment is providing a fantastic new habitat for urban wildlife. The new pond will be a wonderful habitat for amphibians and aquatic invertebrates. I have seen 5 species of butterfly on site this summer and we also have honey and solitary bees and wasps on the allotment. As the allotment develops more wildlife will move in. Over the winter I hope to put in some more wildlife friendly features on our plot.

On Campus the five new planters outside the Baxter Building are continuing to do well. Salad lettuce and rocket are ready to harvest this week. Take a look if you are passing the Baxter Building entrance. Outside the Kydd Building the flower bed for pollinators is scheduled for a tidy up on the 8th November. We will also be planting bulbs for early spring flowering. They will provide an early source of pollen for bees and other pollinators next year.

Garden helpers are still welcome to any of our open sessions. No experience necessary so why not come along and see if you like it!

The gardens are still producing lots of vegetables but things are starting to die back now and some crops are now finished for this year. We have now harvested all the onions, peas and most of the beetroot and I plan to plant more of them next season. We have leeks, carrots, turnips and some runner beans still to ripen.

At Lyon Street with the help of Itziar all the potatoes were harvested last Wednesday (11th October). The potatoes at Lyon Street have not done as well as those at Tay View and some of them have suffered from potato blight. Potato blight is an airborne disease that is associated with warm, wet weather in August and September. Fortunately it has not affected the crop at Tay View. Next week I hope to dig in extra grit to improve the soil structure and drainage in the big beds in the Garden on the 7a side of Lyon Street. Other plans for Lyon Street over the next 2 months include planting rhubarb and fruit trees. The new planters on the south side Garden at Lyon Street have now been planted up with winter crops including rocket and chard.

At Tay View with the help of Robb we dug a ‘bean trench’ for next season. Basically a big trench in which you bury left over leaves, stalks etc from crops that have been harvested. So we put in the onion stalks, outer leaves of the cabbages, turnip leaves etc. and covered them with soil. This helps add nutrients to the soil and traps a source of moisture for the beans we will plant there next spring. Itziar and I also sowed a crop of green manure on one of the beds to protect the soil over the winter and to add extra nutrients. The green manure will be chopped up and dug into the soil next spring. We have some winter crops sown under our little cloche tunnel which should be ready before Christmas.

On Campus the five new planters outside the Baxter Building are doing well. Winter potatoes in 2 of the planters should be ready before Christmas. The other planters have got rocket, chard, turnip and winter cabbage in them. Take a look if you are passing the Baxter Building entrance.

Garden helpers are still welcome to any of our open sessions. No experience necessary so why not come along and see if you like it!

The crops are continuing to grow like crazy. I have picked lots of runner beans and courgettes in the last 2 weeks. Also ready now are lots of potatoes both red and white varieties. Add in onions, beetroot and some peas and you get a really nice mix of vegetables. The vegetable table in the Kydd Building foyer has been really popular and all the veg has been taken. I hope you are all enjoying cooking and eating the Abertay produce. So far over 120kg of vegetables have been harvested and given away since the start of August. This is a huge amount in our first year of growing. Lots more still to be harvested.

Also new in the last 2 weeks has been our Soup Bags. The Soup Bags have all the veg you need with a stock cube and a recipe to make a tasty soup at home. We have used a mix of our own veg and shop bought veg to make up the bags. If you have taken one home and made some delicious soup please send us some feedback. We are planning to introduce more Soup Bags with different recipes in the near future.

In other news, some of you collected Growing Boxes from our Give Away to take home and grow herbs and chillis in your flats. More Growing Boxes will be ordered soon. If you would like one get in touch with EcoAbertay to reserve one. Sadly only students living in private accommodation can take one home at the moment. Hope all those seeds are sprouting now!

Over the summer the crops that we planted earlier in the spring have grown really well. Vegetables that have done particularly well include cauliflower, early and maincrop potatoes, onions, runner beans and courgettes. We have been helped by the weather which has been neither too hot and dry nor too cold and wet. Lots of other vegetables are due to be harvested over the next few weeks. Things to look out for will be beetroot, cabbages, carrots and leeks. Free vegetables for students will be available on the table in the foyer of the Kydd building on Wednesdays. Please help yourselves and enjoy!