All for the love of Pudsey...

We were asked by the Pudsey business community group if they could hijack one of the planters at the top of the market steps to plant Pudsey`s very own Christmas tree...we were more than happy to oblige, so for a short while it`s out with the plants and in with the festive cheer...lights to follow before the switch on this week:

A bit of TLC for the tripe baths.

The Civic Society have kindly offered to do some restoration work on our famous tripe bath planters in Lowtown garden. Over the years their condition has deteriorated and cracks have appeared in them which without attention will only get worse. So as we have been busy this last week emptying all the troughs and planters in readiness for autumn/winter planting, we took the opportunity to empty the tripe baths and hopefully over the next couple of weeks they will be given a spruce up and can then be replanted, and will then last for many more years to come.:

Featured in the October issue of Yorkshire Life!

A great article has been published in the Yorkshire life all about our group and the work we do, along with some colourful pictures. Grab a copy if you can to read for yourself.

Time to take stock...

We had a site meeting today to walk around all the areas we maintain and to plan for the year ahead...lots of lovely colour along the way, and friendly faces too!

New sponsor on board:

Thank you to Thorpe Service Station for sponsoring 4 of the barrier troughs:

The Squeaker features article on our latest projects.

The following article has appeared in the July edition of the Pudsey Squeaker:

Brilliant day with the YIB judges.

What a lovely day we had for the summer round of the Yorkshire In Bloom competition. Everyone has been working so hard to get things looking good and Pudsey did us proud today!
Here are a few photos of the day, and many thanks to Minister Ann Hayward and to Jenny from the Baptist Church for allowing us to use the church for lunch at the end of the tour, it made the day!

A big tidy up at Sparrow Park.

The central bed at Sparrow Park that is maintained by our volunteers has been given a good clear out, the lavender has been moved and other plants cut back to allow more space, here is Sharon doing a grand job:

Ready for the Race!

Our tribute flower bed to the Grand Depart is now complete, along with bunting and flower baskets on the bike. There are still lots of plants to grow up behind the bike, but already we are getting lots of complimentary comments. Take a look for yourself:

We are also celebrating 50 years of RHS Britain in Bloom with a flower bed representing a typical English garden, there has been lots of discussion over the small patch of lawn- is it astro turf or the real thing??

Make Over for `Maureen`s coffins`.

The flower boxes (aka `Maureen`s coffins`) were in need of a make over so have now been painted black, once planted up with colourful summer bedding they should look very smart:

Today, we also started to plant up the troughs with summer bedding, a mixture of verbena, begonia, petunia, lobelia and geranium - should give a colourful display in a few weeks, have a look when you are next in Pudsey.
We had a quick discussion on the best way of planting them up:

 

Update on library beds

The yellow cycle has been added to the library bed, just the yellow flowers to be added...in profusion.

The whole bed is beginning to take shape.

The other half of this bed is to be devoted to a celebration of 50 years of RHS Britain in bloom, we have made a start:

 

 

 

 

 

Update on the leisure Centre Bed:

Alliums are adding some lovely colour and structure to this area, everything is looking good:

And, although we have now emptied the majority of the troughs in readiness for summer planting, the newer troughs around the bus station are still providing a splash of colour:

Update on `Tour de France` project:

We have started to put some structure into the bed now, a large post has been positioned as this will provide an anchor for the cycle and will also have a sign attached saying `to the dales`. A fence is edging the back of the display and areas have been cleared in readiness for the yellow plants to go in.

More Publicity.

This time a great article appeared in the Yorkshire Evening Post, see attached:
It`s headed `Volunteers going for Gold in summer flower contest `

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B14yanaQecQGcWtRTzBwYkFta3c/edit?usp=sharing

YIB...Spring comments now availale to read.

Click on the link below to read our comments:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DwkO-CQIBPlLInrxhWymYDWLUn3GuEwvyTQ_u5TIPlY/edit?usp=sharing

If you would like to view comments for other areas go to:

http://www.yorkshireinbloom.co.uk/page83/Results-For-2013-And-Previous-Years

Great day at the Carnival!

What a lovely sunny day for the carnival, and a great success for the group too. There was lots of interest in our plant stall and we managed to raise just over £170. We will also get our share of the money collected in the parade once it has been counted.
It`s great that we now also have our display boards as they allow us to share our news about our projects with everyone. We also managed to recruit a new member!

Lynda also made some fantastic flower displays for the stage and a beautiful bouquet and posies for the carnival queen and attendants, which sadly were not given out until after the parade, so any photos you see of the parade will show the girls with rather tired artificial posies...what a shame !

 

 

 

Here are a few pictures from the day:

 

Joining in with the fun of `tour de France`

We are planning a `tour de France` themed flower bed, using one of the library beds. We are in the process of revamping both of these beds but thought we would have a bit of fun with a seasonal project. We have put a request out on face book for an unwanted bicycle, any condition, preferably not working, this will form the main focus of the project. Keep checking for updates, but here`s what we are starting with:

NEWS UPDATES.

I have added a section to the left of the blog entitled NEWS UPDATES. Please will all group members check this weekly as I will keep it updated with the latest news on what will happen on Tidy Tuesdays and any other planned meetings.



Lovely Spring photos

Sparrow Park is looking great at the moment, with plenty of colour provided by the tulips:

 

 

 

Update on Gerty`s seat.

Our project is now complete with the addition of a smart plaque on the seat, the group have named this `Gerty`s seat` in recognition of all the hard work this lady gives to Pudsey House, people are already enjoying sitting here in the sunshine.

Yorkshire In Bloom-Spring Judging

Spent a couple of hours this afternoon showing Yorkshire In Bloom assessors around Pudsey and letting them see our projects and displays. Thanks to everyone who helped along the way. Not the best weather we have had especially with the very heavy downpour, but all in all an interesting afternoon. Let`s hope we have impressed!!

Display boards to show off our work.

The group have now purchased some fold away display boards that we can use at various events to show case our work and let the wider community see what we get up to. We used these for the first time on Saturday 29th March at the Pudsey Allotment spring flower show and had a lot of interest and encouraging entries in our comments book. The boards fold away and are relatively easy to transport, we will be using them again to display our work to the Yorkshire in Bloom judges when they visit on the 7th April and then again when we have our plant sale on the 17th May at the Pudsey Carnival:

We have a logo.

Thanks to one of our members, Margaret, who has put in a lot of work, we have now adopted a logo for the group, here it is in two forms, look out for both in our future posts and leaflets:

Off to a good start.

The `In Bloom` year is off to a good start, meetings resumed in January and we have one new member which is great. Projects are going well with good development on the Green Leeds project,  where we have been developing a lovely garden area in the leisure centre . Also the funding we received from Community development foundation has enabled us to provide seating in the way of a smart new bench outside Pudsey House with two accompanying flower barrels. Alongside this we have add additional flower troughs around the bus station area. We have other funding applications in the pipeline and will keep the blog updated when we hear more. Here`s to another blooming good year!

 

Why the destruction?!

I wonder why some people just can`t leave well alone, especially when things are looking so nice. Unfortunately over the last few days we have had a spate of vandalism with tubs being overturned completely and plants pulled out and thrown around. We have put things back as they were and the police have promised to investigate but it can be soul destroying and no fun having to put everything back in this freezing cold weather, so please have a heart and respect what others do instead of trying to destroy it!