Cardboard conundrum

Last week I removed some of the plastic and put cardboard in its place, then covered it with compost. The cardboard came out of the recycling bin, and was pre-wetted before being laid down on the dead grass and weeds. I also found some rolls of wallpaper and copies of the Mature Times and Metro, so all of that was used too. It looks quite weird and I will find out tomorrow if it has been effective. The plastic was moved to kill off another area.

If I can get my hands on enough cardboard (and copies of the 'Mature Times' :-)) I will try some further experiments with this technique, including in the compost bin. I figure if the cardboard is soggy enough you could put several layers between compost etc. Emma Cooper has tried composting cardboard on its own. There is not much more old compost left, about two bags of John Innes and three of ericaceous, so I will be on the look out for more. Suggestions welcome!

But where is the cheese? - John Innes & Ericaceous compost, grass clippings, cardboard, wallpaper

The new bed staying remarkably clear of weeds (just a few seedlings and a bit of bindweed/avens)

More on roses. I managed, in the limpid light of yesterday, to capture on camera the colour of the lovely coppery pink rambling rose 'Albertine' in my garden. It flowers only once but over several weeks. The buds remind me of very expensive coral lipstick but it is beautiful at every stage. I also took a photo of 'New Dawn' which is scrambling over a rose arch and trellis and is about the most shapely flower I know.

Yesterday - Rosa 'Albertine' - wichuriana rambler (1921, Barbier Freres et Cie, Orleans, France)

Rosa The New Dawn,  wichuriana rambler (1930, Dreer, USA)

'New Dawn' is a sport (mutation) of 'Dr. Van Fleet' and was introduced by Henry Dreer of Riverton, New Jersey in 1930. It holds the first plant patent ever granted in the USA.

'Dorothy Perkins', a favourite of my grandmother and my sister, was bred by Jackson & Perkins in the USA and introduced in 1901. It was named after Charles Perkins' granddaughter - I always thought it was named after the shop, but it's the other way round!

Community Garden news

I was delighted to receive notification of a £350 grant from Lewisham Council for a project at the community garden yesterday. Great news! I'm waiting to hear from the Payback Team when they are able to start digging the garden, hopefully next or the following week.

With the grant we can purchase a wall sundial for the garden, it looks like slate but is made from recycled coffee cups. Now for some sun...

Recycled sundial - very eco-friendly!

We can also build a bug hotel and I've been saving bits of wood and broken pots, bamboo canes and other stuff. There are some pallets at the community centre to give it a head start. What is a bug hotel? If you look it up on Google there are horror stories of hotels and bed bugs, but this is different; a home for bugs to shelter, live and reproduce in. Here are two examples. 

Example of a bug 'hotel' from Earthworks St Albans

A bug 'mansion' from the Scottish Wildlife Trust

I have set aside a little budget for materials but I would rather use it for something else - see 'Fundraising ' below - so if you have old tiles, smallish logs or fir cones to spare I'd be grateful for any donations!

There will be a workshop to design and build the bug hotel at Goldsmiths Community Garden, please let me know if you are interested in attending - date to be confirmed but it will be sometime in August. We'll be doing some design work, drawing and building so it should be fun for everyone.

Permaculture

As part of the project we are offering a one day Permaculture ‘taster’ workshop for a maximum of 15 local people, by Ruth and Suriya who host the Permaculture Kids Club at Grow Mayow Community Garden, Sydenham. What is permaculture? It's a design approach to any human activity and is a combination of Ecology, Architecture and Organic Gardening. Wow. Please let me know if you are interested in joining this workshop - date to be confirmed, as above.

Composting, recycling and Love Food Hate Waste

Next week is Recycle Week - bet you didn't know that (nor did I). Three or four years ago I ran some recycling workshops for local organisations and schools - I love finding out what can and can't be recycled, what it's made of and what happens to it and so on. Call me a nerd! WRAP, in conjunction with Lewisham Council, delivered a session on composting after North Downham Training Project opened their garden, which won a London's Green Corners Award in 2007. It's time for another one.

Kristina Binns from Lewisham Council has kindly offered to run workshops on composting, recycling and Love Food Hate Waste as part of the project. What is Love Food Hate Waste? It's a brilliant website with all sorts of hints and tips about saving food and money. We waste a staggering amount of food in this country, due to confusion over date labels, buying too much and not using cooked or uncooked food in creative ways. Delicious Nutritious will be running cook and eat sessions at the community centre, as will Limelight Family Learning Centre as part of their Summer Programme and this workshop will complement their sessions. Everyone is welcome. Please let me know if you are interested in joining these workshops - date to be confirmed, as above.

Community event

There is a little money in the budget that can be used towards a community event to celebrate the community garden on 18 August. It is still in the planning stage, but the famous Smoothie bikes will be there!

Red leaved basil in herb border - Hampton Court Flower Show 2010

Fundraising
Every seed I planted of the red-leaved basil has germinated and I now have loads of plants, far more than I can use. Last year one big plant on my kitchen windowsill lasted into the winter, and it looks fantastic in a mixed bed if you can keep the snails and slugs off it. I also have other plants; curly parsley, oriental and California salad mix and Marmande tomatoes. Last year I bought some very cheap hanging baskets and liners from Wilkinsons, filled them with mixed salad leaves and herbs and suspended them from crooks in the garden. Worked a treat as it frustrated the snails no end!

To raise some money for the garden I will offer them for 50p each - all for a very good cause! I would like to use the money raised to go towards learning materials as at the moment this blog is the main source of information. They are not quite ready yet but in a couple of weeks' time they will be available. 

I will also be fundraising for a new fence and gate to the garden, a new lawnmower and tools. Watch this space.

Another layer of 'lasagna' rained on

The almost continuous rain over the past couple of weeks has ensured that the new plants have settled in. Now what is needed is a bit more sun as most of the plants were chosen for their tolerance to drought and a hosepipe ban was in force when they were planted. Doh!

The circular bed after a lot of rain

There is a mini rain shadow in the roof overhang of the raised bed against the wall and the back of the bed is dry. The plants don't seem to mind apart from the oriental poppies, which are just underneath it; they seem to be putting down roots though not doing as well as my Mrs Perry this year. Before it got battered by the rain, that is. Here is a photo of the first flower to open, on Jubilee weekend. I love the blowsy, opulent flowers. Who is Mrs Perry? Amos Perry, nurseryman, who discovered this salmon sport in his Winchmore Hill garden in 1906, named it after his wife.

Papaver orientale 'Mrs Perry'

The 'rain shadow' at the back of the raised bed

More on lasagna gardening

A pile of grass clippings the height of the compost container was deposited a couple of weeks ago, the result of mowing the community centre grounds. Some went into the heap and about a third was left to be rained on and start the process of decay. Some of the pile was layered on top of the cardboard in the prospective veg patch. I am keeping the different piles separate at the moment. Doesn't look much like lasagna to me! or at least one that I'd fancy eating. The compost heap/layered garden is now the lucky recipient of a similar sized pile of nettles which are slowly rotting - I'll give this plenty of time as the last thing I want is another load of nettles.

Another 'lasagna' layer - semi rotted grass clippings

Musings on roses, lasagna gardening

Roses grow on you, sometimes a bit too much

Reflecting on how much time and effort I can put (even with volunteer help) into the traditional method of double digging the community garden, I consulted with Elwood Amey. Elwood is a gardener by profession and helped the older people's group design the garden structure some years ago. He is also a trustee of the community association and a partner in the Wellbeing Service which inspired the idea of an apothecary garden.

We had a conversation about roses and which ones to keep. They hadn't been pruned for so long that one had reverted to its wild state and it will have to come out. While not the biggest of the bunch, it will take some doing. I've already got rid of one which was fighting to survive the competition from pernicious weeds and not really in the right place, unless you want your legs scratched to pieces as you pass. Another is defying attempts to grow up the trellis on the bunker, stretching out to the light in the opposite direction.

Ideally I'd like to replace them all with Rosa Mundi, the 12th century apothecary rose said to be named after Fair Rosamund, mistress of Henry II! Unlike the floribundas and the hybrid teas, lovely though they are, it won't end up with flowers waving 8-10 feet in the air. One of my earliest memories is of my grandmother's square rose bed featuring the gorgeous 'Peace' in her garden, located at the foot of the Peak District National Park; but she did employ a gardener to keep them in good shape.

Rosa Mundi (Copyright Peter Beales Roses)

I love roses and have grown many (and lost some to disease or being in the wrong place) - here are two of them.

The highly scented Portland Rose 'Jacques Cartier' (1868)

Hybrid musk 'Cornelia' (1925)

Mulches and 'lasagna' gardening

Elwood suggested I cut down the big weeds, cover some of the areas with cardboard, followed by a deep mulch of bark chippings and plant through that. Brian kindly supplied a very large double sheet for the area that I've designated for fruit bushes and some vegetables. I've pinned it down with the bags of old compost for the moment. I'm fond of the cottage garden look and have planted a hollyhock picked up for a song at Farmstead Road Community Garden stall at the Phoenix Festival.

Intrigued by the idea of a cardboard mulch I went on a journey through the internet and discovered the wonderfully named lasagna gardening. The idea of No Dig gardening was developed in the 1950s in the USA by Ruth Stout, who lived in Poverty Hollow, Connecticut, and wrote a book Gardening Without Work; for the Aging, the Busy and the Indolent! Sounds appropriate.

Here is a presentation on lasagna gardening by Philadephia County Master Gardeners (Penn State University), and an interesting blog about it. Enjoy!