The Market Garden is starting to take shape with the contractors preparing the land for the SUDs system and terracing.  This means that our ILM participants can head up to the site in the next few weeks to erect the fencing, which keeps us on course to have the site ready for the summer.

Work is continuing on Caerau & Brynglas Market Garden this week with our ILM team cutting back the long grass and bracken on site. They have been working hard on site in this miserable weather to prepare the land ready for the engineers to come in on Monday the 19th of March, to begin the installation of the Sustainable Urban Drainage System (SUDS).

The SUDS will be

•  A drainage system that will connect with 8 containers, each storing 200 litres of water which are linked to an underground system to irrigate raised beds. The scheme will also collect water off the roofs off polytunnels.

Excess water will be trapped in a drainage ditch (swale) which will then connect to a series of water butts which will collect the water until it reaches a specific level, or is released into the raised bed through the irrigation system.

 The system will avoid using the main drainage system and will only use it during times of extreme rainfall.

This system should take around 4-6 weeks to complete and will be a great asset to the garden and the local residents.

 Also don’t forget that we have our YOU NAME IT CAMPAIGN is up and running for the Caerau and Brynglas Market Garden, so be sure to write your ideas on Twitter @groundworkbnpt or Facebook on facebook.com/groundworkbnpt

The launch event on the 14th for the market garden was a great success and we would like to thank everyone who made it possible, and all those who attended.

A number of local councillors and community members attended the event, and it gave us a chance to let them know our plans for the site. We took a number of individuals up to the site to give brief talk on our plans for phase 1 and then went back to Noddfa Chapel for light refreshments. The Chapel allowed us to set up a number of information stalls to inform residents about the site and we provided activities, such as building mini herb gardens, for children.

The launch day turned out to be a superb occasion and we cannot wait for construction to go ahead, with the likely date being February 20^th. This will see the beginning of phase 1, which will see the installation of a sustainable drainage scheme, construction of raised beds, placement of polytunnels and on-site car parking.

We are just getting the ball rolling with Caerau and Brynglas Market Garden and next Tuesday will see the launch event in Noddfa Chapel. This event will give us the chance to tell the local residents what’s going on and let them put forward their own suggestions, on what they want for the site.

The Market Garden is going to be an extremely exciting project and we hope to get as many members of the local community involved as possible, but there is a long way to go until this can happen. The launch is just going to let the community know what the plan is, but hopefully in the next few weeks work will commence at the site and we can begin to create something special for community to use.

Keep an eye on this blog for all the updates and news on the construction of Caerau & Brynglas Market Garden