Chepstow Community Wildlife and Gardening Network

Hayley Gardens

Just picked these beauts from a friend's tree.

Time-saving tips for growing tomatoes

Good morning all!
There's still time to plant tomatoes. It's easy to do and you don't need lots of room, a big garden or a greenhouse - you can plant in pots and grow bags :)

gardenersworld.com The best ways to grow a speedy crop of tomatoes, below.

WWF UK

It’s World Bee Day! 🐝

Take a closer look next time you see a bee - can you identify which species it is?

Share photos of your veg patch here 🥕

It doesn't matter how big or small, an allotment or a window box, let's see your patch.

I'll start with my rather 'relaxed' veg garden🍅

First thing tomorrow. There will be tomato (Moneymaker and others?), Chilli (mixed) and Greek Basil plants outside my house on the Gloucester road, opposite the garage in Tutshill. Help yourself 😃

I have some spare tomato plants, mostly Moneymaker and a couple of trailing plants.
I'm in Tutshill.

This is great to do, especially with kids, as part of your daily exercise.

Here's some natural exploration fun for you all.
Go exploring around your garden or local park and see how many different types of leaves and flowers you can find. I think you will be surprised! Collect some examples of these so long as there are lots of them and they seem to be common in your area.
Lay them all out and have a good look at what you have got - what shape are the leaves? are they hairy or smooth? do they have jagged edges or lobes? what about the flowers, how many petals have they got? can you see the stamens inside? Have a go at naming some of them, but sometimes we just need to notice differences and things don't need names!
Once you've had a good look at them, have a go at sorting them. However you want. Here I have gone with hairy leaves with jagged edges, hairy leaves with smooth edges, smooth leaf and smooth edges, lots of leaves together making 3 or 5 lobes, and grass. You could sort by colour, size, shape, whatever you fancy.
Take a look at the next post for an idea of what to do with your collected treasures.

The Hidden Gardens

You don’t need many supplies to get growing, there’s plenty of things from your kitchen and recycling you can use to get started. Here are some ideas;

- Fruit punnets, egg boxes and toilet paper rolls for seed sowing.
- Putting holes in the lid of a water bottle for watering your delicate seeds.
- Using a large plastic bottle or old tupperware to make a mini green house.
- Cutting up milk cartons to make seed labels, you can write the plant name and decorate with permanent pens.
- Using milk cartons with lid on to carry water down from your flat to water plants in your back court.
- Cutting milk cartons in half to create a plant pot plus a scoop for your compost.
- Tin cans with holes in as plant pots which can paint and decorate.
- Empty jars for water propagation.
- Using old spoons as a soil scoop and forks for gently turning over soil on potted plants.
- Old washing up gloves

Give it a go, and share your ideas with us!

It is with regret that the planned plant swap for next weekend is cancelled.

The decision to cancel was not an easy one but I felt that that people making non-essential trips and the possibility of groups gathering on someone's drive was not something I wanted to encourage. However, Individuals can continue to use this page to offer/request plants.

Thank you all for your interest and support and special thanks to everyone who said they would host on their drives.

Who knows, if there's still interest after the lockdown has been lifted we can revisit the idea of a plant (all plants, not just veg) swap again.

Happy gardening everyone!🍅

10 Liquid Fertilizer Teas Made From Weeds and Plants

ruralsprout.com In an organic garden, one of the most important jobs is returning nutrients to the system. There are a number of different ways that you can take the nutrients stored in plants and return them

A guide to germinating seeds

lovethegarden.com A seed is defined in the dictionary as being ‘the unit of reproduction of a flowering plant, capable of developing in

Given the fantastic response we have had to the plant/seed swap on the 8/9 May we will definitely be going ahead 😁

We have confirmed venues in Tutshill, Garden City and Pwyllmeric but if there is anyone else willing to host a drop-off/pick-up on their drive please send me a message. The more venues we have the more people we can reach.

By all means use the page to advertise your swaps in the meantime, but please consider holding back some for the 'big event'. You could also start sowing some now, it's not too late - most veg seedlings will appear in 7-14 days.


🌻Chepstow Community Gardening Network working with Transition Chepstow🌱

Is anyone interested in a vegetable plants/seeds swap?

🍅Date: 8/9 May

🥒3/4 locations (tbc) around Chepstow and Tutshill (so no-one has to drive).

🥕The idea is that you bring any surplus plants/seeds to leave or swap and if you see something you like take it away with you. This is a good opportunity for those of you new to gardening to try your hand at growing vegetables or to try to grow something new. First come, first served basis.

🥦The exchange areas will be cleared to allow for appropriate social distancing measures.

🥬Please comment here if you would be interested.

🧅Watch this space in the coming weeks for advice and info on veg gardening for beginners, getting children involved, how to plant veg in pots and more...

If you have spare seeds/seedlings/plants you'd like to donate or swap please post here.

I'll have some spare yellow flag (pond) iris at the weekend, if anyone wants any?

If you can, please consider oversowing your veg plants this year so we can swap and/or donate in the community.

I'd love some strawberry runners. Anyone got some spare, please?

Welcome to the Chepstow Community Gardening Network. Post your questions, share your photos, swap plants/seeds/ideas. Go....

Chepstow Community Gardening Network

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