Monday

W E L C O M E

Our Story

Grow Mayow Community garden 
Once a old park keepers depot, is now an award winning not for profit community garden. Its run and maintained by volunteers.
We run weekly activities for which we charge a small fee to help us pay for the garden's up-keep.

See the what's on page here  

 It's the perfect place to both learn and relax, and is a great place for kids .
A favorite place to visit for local families, gardeners and wildlife watchers from further afield. 
There are plenty of families who are not so fortunate to have a garden and those rely on the park and a community garden for their well being and a place where all can learn, play and grow together. 
We are  a resource for community outdoor education and recreation for all to give visitors and volunteers the opportunity to improve well-being and knowledge and to encourage and promote ecological diversity.

A community garden is an important part of urban living, its not just about growing plants but for a community to come together and enjoy a green oasis and wildlife in the city.
There is  a demonstration wildlife garden with a range of inspiring mini habitats, lots of wild flowers , polly-tunnels , nature signs , ponds ,and some very well-used raised beds  bee hives and plenty of seating. 
Next to us is the great Brown & Green cafe  for great fair trade treats and drinks.
We hope you will have the chance to visit us in person, to wander around, to sit, relax and enjoy the garden.
 you can contact us if you like more information
@ Growmayow@gmail.com

Grow Mayow community garden consists of 2 sites

The front garden access is through the park,

This part of the community garden is open 7 days a week  during park opening hours.

The back garden is open Mondays to Friday and at weekend events.
Look on the what's on page here.

The back Garden

Sunday

THE GARDEN

SUMMER IN OUR GARDEN

We get a lot of questions about low maintenance gardening with interest and plants for pollinators.

Below you will find some come and come again annual seeds we sow in October. Most of these plants we have sown only once and they come back year after year with not having to do anything.

Now, how easy can that bee?

Ami Majus

Cerinthe Mayor

Cosmos

Crimson red clover

Foxgloves

Phacelia

Honesty Lunaria

Poppies

Alliums ( Bulb )

Crocus

A P R I L 2018

S U M M E R

For those that follow Grow Mayow on Instagram,

you will have already seen some of these photos.

Still, I have added some new ones too.

We had this little fellow on the Cardoon all summer long, loving it.

Don't blame it, really! What a dream!!

The Cardoons also called artichoke thistle have now gone

from the bright admired purple heads, into faded light brown, still gorgeous and full of seeds, great as winter food for birds.

Quick peek inside

Bees just love the Echinops

Talking about bees,

They had a fantastic summer, working hard bringing great harvest of pollen and nectar to our hives.

SEE YOU ALL SOON

Monday

OUR BEES

At Grow Mayow Community Garden we have been keeping honeybees for years.

Every volunteer can have a hands on experience into beekeeping.

I taught many people beekeeping and some went on to have their own hives and some like Paul made a life changing decision to change his career into becoming a professional beekeeper.

Here he is back at the garden and now teaching Caroline, one of our volunteers

( and me holding the camera ) Thank you for watching

For part 2 click here

In the back of our garden we are keeping bees for over 10 years

and they are thriving well.

KIDS AND BEES

The mission of the Kids and Bees program is to educate the next generation of citizens on the importance of bees and inspire them to take part in the bees' preservation.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

Our bees provide one out of every three bites of food that we eat.

No bees, no food, no us

It's also a commonly known fact that our bees are in trouble.

Annual losses of honey bee colonies are in the tens of thousands.

We are losing our bees at unsustainable rates.

It will be up to the next generation to not only understand their importance, but to take action in their conservation.

HONEY BEES ARE THE MOST PERFECT POLLINATORS

They pollinate the fruit trees and the orchard in Mayow park the vegetables and plants in our garden and many gardens and other green spaces around us.

We invite schools to come and learn the importance of bees and the local Philip and st Neri school even sponsored a hive. Schools are now extremely keen and many already have nature gardens/mini allotments and are sympathetic to the cause of the bee.We have protective clothing for classroom kids and they will learn the importance of a honey bee.

We are on the 'The Bees needs Award' goverment page and you can read it here:

Celebrating the nation's Bees' Needs pollinator heroes

Should I keep bees?

Honeybees play a vital role in our eco system, pollinating flowering plants, trees and crops.
Bees can do well in an urban environment where there is a rich diversity of plants, flowers and trees in our gardens, railway sidings, roads and disused pieces of land.
They are also a good way to reconnect urban dwellers with nature. Many of us are suffering from what has been termed "nature-deficit disorder" and one remedy is to come home after a hard day in the office and watch your honeybees bringing nectar and pollen into their hive.
We need more green spaces in our cities and becoming a beekeeper is part of a growing movement to green our cities. If you love honey, then you'll be glad to hear that honey from cities is thought to be more flavoursome than honey from the countryside because of the diversity of nectar on offer.

Although not scientifically proven, local honey is also said to cure hay fever.

The neighbours?
We told all our immediate neighbours and sent leaflets out and in our case it was even on the local radio, but that was 10 years ago. Most neighbours know we have bees and that they benefit their gardens too.
If you are going to be keeping bees I advise you to tell your neighbours too,
but there are no laws that say you have to.
Bees are only interested in nectar and pollen from flowers, unlike wasps which are carnivorous, so the bees should not bother your neighbours. Once people know this they usually have no problem.
However bees can become defensive and are more likely to sting when the beekeeper opens up and inspects the hive. But what will you do if you get intruders entering your house?

Click on Photo