Tuesday 3 April 2012

Allotment - Joining GIY

I registered to become a member of GIY Ireland late in March and received my membership pack on the 2nd April. 


For those who are unfamiliar with GIY it stands for Grow It Yourself. It is an online resource for anyone and everyone who wants to or already does grow something themselves to eat. It's members range from those with little or no experience to master gardeners. It is a registered charity that was established in 2009, I have been dipping in and out of the website since early 2011 and have noticed in that time the website has gone from strength to strength and has nearly 6,000 members online alone. 


They champion the idea of local GIY groups all over the country, essentially all you have to do is find your nearest group and go along for a meeting or two, learn from the other members and maybe contribute a little something yourself and if you like it stick around. 


Feeling a little more settled and established this year I decided I would like to become more active within the organisation, I noticed they have a membership option which for €35 I chose to take up. We are playing catch up with the UK which has an abundance of magazines, websites and resources dedicated to allotments, kitchen gardens and generally growing your own fruit and vegetable but I think we are starting to row in behind the idea. I was pleasantly surprised when the pack arrived yesterday to find the following inside:
  • GIY Magazine which is packed with information.
  • 7 packets of organic seeds, Carrots, Beetroot, Lettuce, Tomatoes, Peas, Courgette and Parsley. Also incl. were growing guides for the above seeds.
  • GIY Wallchart which included a month x month list of tasks and a growing calendar for the mainstay crops.
  • GIY members card which I believe gets me a 10% discount with participating retailers (I know Woodie's participate so that's all I really - best customer 2011 award goes to me). Additionally the card gets me a 5% discount on the GIY website on goods and also some of the courses they run.
Overall I was fairly pleased with the package, the website is very well run and each day there is a tip of the day to keep me logging back in (a good idea for any website). I have yet to go to a GIY Group meeting but there is one scheduled for the 21st of April so looking forward to that. 

For more info visit http://www.giyireland.com/


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