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Please help us spread woodchip at Mycenae Gardens this Sat (2 March) 2-4pm

Help needed urgently to spread (and save) the woodchip – emergency session Saturday 2 March 2-4pm

Image credit: https://pixabay.com/photos/timber-woodchip-warped-timber-1846825/

After a long wait (since October 2017!) the council has finally delivered a substantial quantity of woodchip to Mycenae Gardens.

The woodchip is currently in piles, which is already heating up and deteriorating, and will be useless unless it is soon spread.

WE NEED YOUR HELP to spread it!

Please come on Saturday afternoon. Bring rakes, spades and a wheelbarrow if you can.

(If you can spread even a little woodchip sooner than Saturday, please do so: it all helps).

Mark Barnes
For the Friends of Mycenae Gardens


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Next “planting day” at Mycenae Gardens: Sat 26 Jan 2019, from 2-4pm

Come and see our lovely gardens and meet some of the volunteers. It’s not a planting day as such but more of a ‘fixing the fixtures’ afternoon. [Weather permitting]

We have a range of activities suitable for all energy levels including a bit of heavy lifting (moving our rather migratory tables to a dedicated spot and securing them) and some much lighter lifting (bringing of tea, taking of photographs), with some middle of the range energy levels needed for fence-mending. Or you can just come and chat (and please bring any spare secateurs and mallets).

Jo

Pic credit: Broken fence / Picnic table

Logo for Friends of Mycenae Gardens

We shall not actually be doing any planting on this planting day (Saturday 26 January 2019  2-4pm), but there is serious work to be done, some of which needs some serious muscle: 

  • Moving the tables further up the gardens and securing them in place to deter vandalism.  The tables tend to migrate towards the lower end of the garden, where they are out of sight and where they and the surrounding trees, walls etc are often vandalised.  We need several strong helpers to bring each of them back into the light and to anchor them securely
  • Building temporary willow barriers to protect the bulbs that we planted last time.  Last year’s barriers were too flimsy.  We have a new design to try out, but it will take some patience and dexterity.

In addition, there are the perennial tasks:

  • Restoring the rope and post barriers around the shrub beds, and
  • Trimming and ‘weaving’ the beech hedge.  The hedge needs a regular haircut to stop it getting too tall, and the sideways growing branches need to be bent back into the main hedge and secured by ‘weaving’ them together with other branches.  This thickens the hedge and makes it less affected by the loss of individual plants.

Please come to help, or just to support.

Bring scissors and secateurs (for the willow barriers), secateurs or a longer trimmer (for the beech hedge), and/or a mallet (to reposition the posts of the rope and post barriers), biscuits and muffins (for support).

Mark Barnes
for the Friends

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Next planting day at Mycenae Gardens: Sat 6 Oct 2018, from 2pm

If you’d like to see the gardens ‘in action’ come along on the afternoon of Sat 6th October from 2pm where there will be some Friends of Mycenae Gardens working in the gardens to keep them tidy. You can still join in if you don’t feel energetic – Mark’s listed a few options below but I’d also add ‘bringing the workers some tea’. All abilities welcome 🙂

Jo

Pic credit: Digging / Watering can

 

 

To all Friends …
The next ‘planting day’ is Saturday 6 October. It does not last all day – just a couple of hours from 2pm.

The plan is to repair some ‘post and rope’ fences, replace some plants that expired in the recent heat, spread fertiliser on what is left of the lawn, plant hundreds of bulbs in hope for the spring and to carry out some weeding of the shrub beds. We also need to clear some ivy from the Dell.

This is quite a list. We may not get through all of it, but to have a chance we need your help. Please come along. Bring gloves, trowels and secateurs if you can. If you are not keen on any of these jobs, just come along to chat, and perhaps take the odd picture for the website or newsletter.

Incidentally, the committee has for some time been short of gardening expertise. We are putting out a call for knowledgeable gardeners to help identify work that needs doing as and when the need arises (i.e. not just in the planting days), and to help us describe the work on the website or social media along with any instructions that might be needed, so as to allow members of the Friends group to carry out such work in whatever time they can spare, at a time of their choosing. If you think you could be that knowledgeable gardener, please get in touch. We shall plant a bulb in your honour.

Mark Barnes
for the Friends of Mycenae Gardens

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Saturday 24 March, 2pm – 4 pm: Come and help with some planting and tidying

Our delayed planting day!

Following earlier postponement, Saturday 24 March will now be our first volunteer day of 2018. We invite you to come and meet with other helpers in the gardens and to join in with any of the following planned activities:

  • Coming to meet and talk with others who share a love of Mycenae Gardens.
  • Planting a new array of shrubs and flowers in the bed in front of Mycenae House, which we began preparing in the last volunteer day. We will dig and prepare the holes and then plant and water in the new arrivals based on a planting scheme recently agreed  by the Friends of Mycenae Gardens Committee members.
  • Roping off a small area of shrubs identified by teachers from the Greenwich Steiner School where footfall has been causing to damage, so allowing the area to recover.
  • Replacing protective stakes and ropes which had been removed/ pulled out from around the refurbished shrub beds
  • Helping with general tidying and maintenance in the gardens.

No knowledge of gardening is required – only a willingness to help and to meet with other volunteers.

What to do if you are coming

Please bring any of the following, depending on how you plan to help:

  • gardening gloves
  • a fork
  • a spade
  • a garden trowel
  • secateurs
  • clothes which you would be prepared to get a little muddy
  • willingness to share or organise tea and coffee.

Where and when to meet?

We will meet in the gardens just in front of Mycenae House from 2pm. The volunteer work will be happening until 4pm but you can drop in and stay for just part of this time if you prefer – even if you just come to say hello.

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Volunteers sought for work in the gardens Saturday 14 October 10.00 – 12.00

On Saturday 14 October there is a chance to come and join volunteers in the gardens. Why not come along and meet others who share an interest in the gardens and to lend a hand with any of the following planned activities:

  • Helping to prepare and plant a bed in front of Mycenae House. The current bed has become dominated with some large shrubs and we are planning to re-plant and refurbish the area.
  • Help planting bulbs for display in Spring 2018
  • Help with other maintenance around the gardens
  • Coming to meet and talk with others who share a love of the gardens.

No knowledge of gardening is required – only a willingness to help and to meet with other volunteers.

What to do if you are coming

Please bring any of the following, depending on how you plan to help:

  • gardening gloves
  • a fork
  • a spade
  • a garden trowel
  • secateurs
  • clothes which you would be prepared to get a little muddy
  • willingness to share or organise tea and coffee.

Although not required, it would be useful if you were to send us an email to let us know if you plan to attend this volunteer session, so we know roughly how many may attend.

Where and when to meet?

We will meet in the gardens just in front of Mycenae House from 10am. The volunteer work will be happen until midday but you can drop in and stay for just part of this time if you prefer – even if you just come to say hello.

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Annual General Meeting 2017

7.00pm, Wednesday 22 March

AT GREENWICH STEINER SCHOOL, WOODLANDS, 90 MYCENAE ROAD, BLACKHEATH, LONDON, SE3 7SE

The Friends of Mycenae Gardens will hold our 2017 Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 22 March. All welcome to attend – it is a great opportunity to meet others who share an interest in the Gardens.
During the meeting you can find out what has been happening in the Gardens and the Woodland Dell over the last year, as well information about future plans.
A reminder that if you would like to become a member of the Friends group you can do so in the Membership section.

Draft agenda

  1. Minutes of the 2016 AGM (to be approved at the meeting)
  2. Chairman’s report
  3. Treasurer’s statement
  4. Elections to Committee
  5. Any Other Business
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Committee members sought

Our 2017 Annual General Meeting will be held at 7.00pm on Wednesday 22 March. At that meeting 3 current members of the committee will retire and we are actively looking for new people to join the committee to replace them.

About joining the committee

The gardens currently belong to, and are managed by, Greenwich Council. There are currently 30 parks or gardens with Friends groups in the Royal Borough of Greenwich, and the council works with each group to manage and develop ‘their’ park or gardens.  The Friends of Mycenae Gardens was formed to work with the council to protect and promote these gardens as a park that fosters the natural environment, wildlife, woodland and open space for the benefit of the whole community.

Those of the community who use the gardens value it for a variety of reasons, and often have different views on how the gardens should be used or improved. An important part of the group’s role is to balance gather and reconcile the views of all users of the gardens so that we can present a consensus to the council in relation to the way the gardens are managed and developed.  Committee members play an important role in ensuring that this is achieved.

Further information

Important information about the committee is available here.

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Autumn planting in Mycenae Gardens: Saturday 12 November and Saturday 26 November

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UPDATE: Thank you to all who helped on these work days

Volunteers sought

If you are able to help us we would love to see you in the gardens on 12 and 26 November when some late Autumn planting will be taking place. If you have any queries about this work please contact us.

When is this happening?

Saturday 12 November (12.30pm – 2.00pm)
and Saturday 26 November (11.00am – 1.00pm)

What is happening?

Following consultation with the Royal Borough of Greenwich we will be rejuvenating the shrub beds on the South East side of the gardens with shrubs that will add colour and interest through the year.

What will the work entail?

Volunteers are invited to help to loosen the soil, dig holes, mix compost, plant and then water in a choice selection of shrubs and bulbs.

What do I need to bring?

– A garden fork and spade if you have them
– Gardening gloves if you prefer