Keeno Grows Flowers

This is the story of a flower bed in Victoria Park, Bristol and the fun we've had along the way bringing it to life. for into on how to donate/ get involved please email me on [email protected]

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I’m not really using this anymore - you’re best following me on twitter :D  @keenogrows  many thanks <3 

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I love the way nature surprises you <3

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(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc93l5I4-ec) People ask me if I get lonely working away in the park hour after hour (no on has ever asked me that ;)  and I say no, as there’s always someone around to say hello. Today it was this chap/ chapess :D <3

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Community Gardening Well Being survey

Howdy folks, blimey, I’ve left this to go to seed a bit haven’t I? I’ve been working my bum off sdoing the gardening, adn not talking about it :D  but I’ve just been contacted regarding a study into the positive effects of gardening and was asked if I could share a survey, and I thought why not?  so here goes.  Most gardeners know the impact gardening can have on your mental well-being, especially in a community setting, but have you ever wondered why that is? Here is your chance to help us find out more, by taking 5-10 minutes to complete an online questionnaire about the experience of looking after a community garden. It’s completely anonymous and there's even a chance to find out about the results! Just follow the link:

https://westminsterpsych.az1.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_e5saNygxcOFGGX3

Emma Van Oss, University of Westminster

Cheers all, and hopefully now I have my RHS exams all done and dusted, I can update this and let you know how it’s coming along (it’s a Jungle out there!! :D )

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A Little Update

Little update for you as there's been a few bits and bobs going on in the Flower Bed-mo :D

Firstly, the path has been woodchipped and looks ACE! Cheers to Ray for sorting that, the bloke's a LEGEND!

Secondly, we have NEW LIFE!!! The sunflowers have started poking out of the soil, with the first one spotted 8th April <3

I'm really excited that the first bit of new life from this project has come to life <3

There are plenty of weeds popping up as well, so glad I bought myself a hoe to sort them out like emoticon

Also want to say Big Big thanks to Karen for the Aquilegias, they're in and settling in nicely :) (sticks are there to try and encourage the dawgs not to step on them :D )

In other news, Sunflowers, Echinacea, Rudbeckia, Zinnia, white and pink Cosmos and Sweet peas germinating and growing strong to be planted out soon <3 So Massive thanks to Mark for your donation, really appreciated!!!

Also - Sunflower seed giveaway and planting day in May with the awesome folks at Mrs Browns Cafe - WATCH THIS SPACE :D

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(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vsa1dU2rIM0)

No rest for the wicked. Or the Soggy :D  so the day started well, then after a massive clap of thunder, it got wetter and wetter then some hail stones then a bit more rain etc. etc. anyways, I got some seeds in (about 100 maybe) lets see if they grow <3 <3 

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Hi Luke i've got the like bit but i don't know how to like stuff?

give me a call :D 

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Progess

I’m always trying to find a balance between creating interesting posts and videos for all you readers/ watchers out there, and actually doing the work I’m supposed (i.e. growing the flowers)  So right now I have a mass of images and videos which need editing into the right shape/ length/ colour/ taste. Which is as it should be I guess eh? If I’m blogging more than gardening, then I should check out my priorities a little eh? haha

So here it all is, in the raw as it were.  Plants going in :D 

Up the front we have two sorry shrubs which were barely hanging on in the flowerbed before I dig it over and put some compost in (Cheers ReOrganics.co.uk it’s lovely stuff!), which was compacted down nearly as hard as concrete after a few years of dogs and kids walking all over it :D I have no idea what these shrubs are, one is some sort of a Laurel possibly? We’ll see what they grow into Then against the left wall I put in a load of purple 𝘈𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘢 𝘷𝘶𝘭𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘴 which I had taken out of my garden. They spread like wildfire, which is great, but I’ve run out of room :D

I also planted a few Allium bulbs in amongst the 𝘈𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘢, but they were a bit long in the tooth... and planted late... so I hope they come up. Bad me for planting them late. :(

Then in the middle we have a load of blue bells. They were already in the Butterfly bed and I figured someone had put them there back in the day, so I’m trying to be as respectful as I can be to the existing flowers. I’m sure someone has a memory connected to them, you know and I don’t want to waltz in a rip stuff out willy nilly. 

Here’s my memory of bluebells, can you spot Chops? :D Fills my heart with joy this <3 <3 

Then down the front we have some 𝘔𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘢 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴 (Lemon Balm), which smells gorgeous and will be nice for little kiddies to have a smell of :D 

Next I planted some 𝘐𝘳𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘢 (Bearded Iris) which I rescued from the house that I grew up in, in Dunstable. I quickly threw them in a couple of pots when my Dad moved out a few years back, as a memory of 38 odd years of knowing the place.

Look at the roots on them badboys! they really do send them out! I love an Iris, so blousey, so feathery, so beardy :D 

(should look like this)  When I got back to the bed the following day, they’d been a bit trampled on (probably by dogs sniffing about) so I put some sticks next to them to stop them being trod on. Lets hope that works :D Although I have a sinking feeling that I’m going to learn the hard way how to plant things in a public park (”Tough, and thorny, that’s what you want boy, Tough and Thorny so the buggers don’t mess about with them”) 

And then I put in the edging for the path, which will run down the back on the flowerbed (which apparently was the councils idea, should be fun :)  I cut small section of branch from the (now dead) hedge behind the flowerbed and found a couple of fallen branches in the little copse on the other side of the tennis courts

Dug them in, firmed them in good and proper and hey bingo, I made a start! :D

And today is Good Friday, it’s lovely and sunny and it’s time to get back out there. I hope you have a lovely day too :D <3 Big Big thanks to the folks at Mrs Browns Cafe for their lushtown lushtown coffee! It really helped make the rain seem not too bad :D  Cheers

Keeno

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I’m famous...

The smashing folks at Bristol 24/7 asked if I’d share my favourites :D 

http://www.bristol247.com/channel/news-comment/people/my_bristol_favourites/my-bristol-favourites-luke-keen

They asked me for a photo to accompany the article, so I sent them a few few. This one wasn’t picked :D

it’s a bit of fun :D 

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Keeno Grows grows!

Howdy folks,  Holy cow it’s been gorgeous eh? Spring has sprung here in the South West of England, for sure :D <3 <3 <3

and in Other News, I was asked to blog about this on someone elses blog, the lovely Kim Stoddart who I met through the Twitters :D

So today it went live, so if you fancy a read about those times when you find yourself saying “What the hell have I taken on? I’m in way over my head, am I mad?!?” and realise that being mad’s quite the right thing to do at times :D here you go: 

http://www.getbadlybehaved.com/keeno-grows-taking-on-a-mad-gardening-challenge/

So many thanks to Kim, that’s a lovely thing to happen, and check out her blogs, I really enjoy reading her blog it’s ace :D  In other other news: 

(Helianthus annuus - from the garden)

The Sunflower has decided to grow into a snake 

AND 

The sky had a few beautiful moments. here’s one of them: 

Cheers folks!

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Expanded windowsill means Time To Sow!

In my old house I was blessed with a south facing bay window in a pokey front room that virtually nobody used, so I could merrily sow seeds from February onwards :D

And whilst the new gaff does have South facing windows, it’s half the size, and on the wrong side of a hill so it’s not until now that I actually get any sun in it! 

(looking up into the garden, note houses at the top) 

So knowing that I’ve got lots and lots to grow, I decided to rig up the greenhouse kindly donated by Alison, to start some of the more tender annuals off in :D

And after some procrastinating (there’s always lots of that when I do anything) and putting the plastic over over it (to keep out the cat who loves sleeping on seedlings for some reason, I dunno maybe he was once a chicken in a past life and has an urge to hatch them out :) )

I set about getting everything ready to go:

First of all I washed the seeds trays

(MANY THANKS to Mrs Browns Cafe in the park for the donation of these :D BRILLIANT!!!) 

Then set up the work space (using an old baby changing tray thing my cousin left me when she went back to New Zealand, cheers Emily! :)

made a few paper pots using my brilliant paper pot making dibber device (seen here top right corner, they’re brilliant!) :D

Did a couple of seed trays too. (the one with Vermiculite on the top is full of Rudbeckia seeds that need light to germinate, so I hope that works :)

 And put them in the sunlight

So what have I sown? 

well:  𝘌𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘢 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘢, 𝘙𝘶𝘥𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘢 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘨𝘪𝘥𝘢, 𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘶𝘶𝘴, 𝘈𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘢 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘶𝘮, 𝘓𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘺𝘳𝘶𝘴 𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘴 and  𝘡𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘢 𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘴 

(so for those of you not familiar with Latin names we have: Echinacea, Rudbeckia “Goldsturm”, Sunflowers, Yarrow, Sweet Peas and Zinnias) To be honest, some of these (most in fact, perhaps Rudbeckia, Yarrow and Zinnias need some help) could be direct sown into the soil but I wanted to a) see if the seeds I collected from my plants were viable, and b) get a head start and have some more mature specimens to plant out, to hopefully overcome “Slug Attack” when they’re out in the big bad world :D  As this is all about learning as much as I can, I’ll do a few things wrong just to double check why, and work out what works best here.

I hope your sowing goes well and here’s hoping for some Spring weather soon, it’s a bit parky here :D (but not as parky as when this was taken thankfully) 

Cheers

Keeno

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(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xo8MdrD34GE) So whilst making a video about the making of the parks noticeboard, I filmed this and it made me laugh. so I hope it makes you laugh too :D 

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Time to start sowing?

Ok, so now I’ve got a list of my half hardy annuals, the ones which I’ll start sowing first, as the actual flower bed isn’t in any state to receive any seeds yet. There’s a bit more digging required :D

BUT, I have only one small windowsill suitable to grow seedlings on, so I ask you dear reader this question...

Could a plastic mini greenhouse in a sheltered spot next to a wall in a south facing spot in Bristol City, UK effectively germinate the following seeds, or should I wait another 2 weeks or month for it to warm up some more? 

Would I just have to ensure the greenhouse was covered in a fleece if there were to be a frost one evening?  Should I leave out a couple of these flowers until it’s warmer later? I’m thinking the Petunias, maybe Zinnia, Cosmos? Could I fashion some sort of a heater for the greenhouse on a frosty night, say a warm brick or something that would release heat slowly over a night?  I’m not sure and any input would be gratefully received :D Cheers!

And in way of thanks, here’s a picture of my cat who got some dirt on her nose, looking pretty peeved about being photographed. and being asked if she had a mouse tache?

**EDIT UPDATE**

so the General consensus was that it’s too early still to be growing Half Hardy Annuals in minigreenhouses (too cold) so I just upped my windowsill space :D 

I just have to hope that Chops doesn’t think it’s some sort of Multi-Storey bed for her :D 

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From this to THIS!

So amidst the chaos that is this project (I lie, my whole life is based on this theory :) I finally got down and dirty and did some work on the flower bed.  So after 2 hours of gruelling, back breaking work (with a couple of nice breaks whlst people stopped and chatted to me, which was lovely) the (former) Butterfly Bed went from this:

to THIS!

Such a change! You’d hardly recognise it. It’s like a different park etc. etc. :D Now I know it’s going to take a while to dig over, pull out the weeds, move a couple of perennials (some Geraniums in there needed moving a bit) and get it all ready for the new plants to go in, but my initial estimate of a week might have to be extended... I just hope the rain keeps off :D ***added edit*** not worth it’s own post but I thought Id’ add for a Friday “spot the difference” post :D  Thursday as the light was fading, I dug some more. This is the result:

on 93% of the bed left to do :D

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The Keenogrows Park Noticeboard

So now that my RHS exams are over until June (phewww!!!! it was tough, but I hope I’ve passed, I managed to get an answer for every question. Whether they were the right answers or not, I’m not sure... we shall soon see #dontwanttoretakeificanhelpit ) it’s time to get back on with the park project :D This week I’ll be mainly planning (vlog to come) and constructing a nice noticeboard to put up in the bed to let people know what’s going on in the bed, upcoming plant sales and the like, and thanking the lovely people who have gotten involved :D So if you’d like to be mentioned on there, I’m looking for seed trays and old minigreenhouses to start the tender annuals off in (Zinnia elegans - Zinnias, Cosmos bipinnatus - Cosmos, Antirrhium majus - Snapdragons to name but a few :D) It’ll go here (if the ground is deep enough and I don’t find any concrete footings)

and if dreams can come true, will look like this:

So firstly a big thanks to the Bristol Wood project, who have offered me some wood for free!! 

http://www.bwrp.org.uk/

That’s Fantastic!!!

I’ve just got to hope some of my old man’s excellent wood cafting skills have rubbed off onto me, and the thing will last more than a week :D  Yaay sunshine!!!  also, I saw this on the park the other day, and my heart sang a little <3

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Well the good vibes are coming in Thick and Fast now and the last pick up for a while (I have so many amazing seeds now, I really have to stop taking any more in and concentrate on the growing them part) Sara Venn from the brilliant Bristol Incredible Edible very kindly allowed me to help myself to a few choice specimens for the Flower Bedmo :D

Some colour themes seem to be coming through, with quite a lot of yellows and purples (or as gardeners call them, ‘blue’) and then more mixed up pastel colours... Starting to get really excited about planning out the bed and get an idea of what to put with what. I’ve just been reading a book called “Treasury of Garden Writing” and theres a passage from Vita Sackville-West from 1953 where she says “Every good garden, large or small, must have some architectural quality about it: and, apart from the all-important question of the general lay-out, including hedges, the bets way to achieve this imperative effect is by massive lumps of planting, such as I have suggested” So I very much look forward to doing some massive planting :D