The last post!

Beautiful and abundant

This is the final post for Goldsmiths Community Garden, which was reclaimed just over two years' ago in a neglected corner of the community centre grounds. I no longer maintain the garden but appreciate the initial work, donations of time, resources and plants by volunteers and local community organisations and groups, and the regular maintenance of the garden every Sunday by the Community Payback Team. The garden has been transformed but more importantly kept under control and ownership, and this has spread to the rest of the grounds which now look wonderful, open and inviting.

These photographs were taken on 13 May 2014 and the one of the bulb display in April.    

Thanks go to all the supporters of the community garden with special mention to Elwood Amey for his horticultural advice, experience and persistence; to Anne Marie at Lewisham Gardens for her enthusiasm, friendship and contacts; to Ruth Webber, Downham Nutrition Partnership, for her encouragement and friendship in making the garden accessible; to Delicious most Nutritious, for their enthusiasm and participation in making use of the  garden plants; to Goldsmiths centre users and groups for their voluntary work and donations; to Ruth and Suriya for their inspiration and enthusiasm for creating the herb spiral and introducing me to permaculture; to Katy Delaney at Lewisham Council Green Scene Community Garden Grants and compost/love food hate waste workshops; and to Capital Growth, the RHS/Groundwork Re-Use scheme and Grow Wild, and the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association for grants and donations.

The pipes of broccoli

Yesterday was the first time I'd had a good look around the grounds, to see what progress has been made other than in the community garden. Outside the hall, the beds have been dug over and I discovered what had happened to the tray of broccoli seedlings I picked up from St Mungo's a few weeks ago. They seem to be thriving!

In the community garden itself, the blackcurrant bush planted last spring has produced a few berries. Watch out, Ribena... Herbs, traditional apothecary plants, fruit and vegetables all happily co-exist in this sunny open space.

These lovely dianthus are now in full bloom. They were from Lidl or Aldi, 99p specials. I don't know the name of the white, pink tipped rose although I've had a good look on the internet.

Every Thursday morning the community garden is transformed with a shade sail and tent, books and toys and guinea pigs, for the pre-walkers outdoor play session run by Limelight. The session provides sensory experiences for the little ones, and it's great to see the garden put to such good use!

Midsummer update

Note the bucket and terracotta pipes - more later

This is the community garden in mid-February 2013 before the fruit trees were planted. We received a grant of £150 towards a mini-orchard from Capital Growth, and Elwood kindly bought and collected them from Keepers Nursery near Maidstone.

The photograph below was taken in May, with the fruit trees planted and settled in. We are now the proud guardians of three apple trees, three pear trees, a King James mulberry tree and a red filbert. The apple trees flowered and have produced fruit. The idea was to replace the brambles, which local people could pick if they dared, with something more substantial and less thorny! Removing the chain link fence from behind the palisade means that we can remove the bindweed more easily too.

The community garden benefitted last year from the Groundwork Hampton Court Flower Show re-use scheme, and again this June from their Chelsea Flower Show re-use scheme co-ordinated by Anne Marie of Lewisham Gardens.

Last year the plants were collected and distributed at St Swithun's, Hither Green Lane, and this year at Spring Gardens, Hither Green, a homeless hostel managed by the St Mungo's charity. The first articulated lorry turned up bearing large quantities of york stone, paving blocks and aggregate and the driver kindly gave us both a go of the grabber remote control - an unrealised dream until then!

Payback has paid off!

The payback team have taken the community garden to their hearts. Without their careful tending of the garden every Sunday, I would need to be there a lot more.

White borage, lovage and achillea with fruit trees in the background

Every time I visit there is a delightful new addition to the garden - this edging was made and installed by the team. The team have taken enthusiastically to planting, and the 40 or so plants I collected from Spring Gardens were in the following day. In some surprising places....

Imaginative use of the terracotta pipes, and a galvanised bucket! I hope to encourage the team to eat the lettuces and peas growing out of the pipes, which Anne Marie refers to as chimneys. The plants seem to like it and who knows, it may start a trend!

Courgette and leek, 'pipe' grown

The Apothecary Garden

Here are some photos of the apothecary garden, in full bloom. The white borage plant, bought last year from Dig This nursery in New Cross Gate (do pay a visit, if you need some herbs) surpassed all expectations.

The herb spiral, created last September

This is a garden I visited recently, in Downham. It was created and maintained by a group of disabled people, who due to funding cuts no longer tend it. I am looking at it for a project involving older people and gardening, and another to link community venues and green spaces across Downham, Whitefoot and Grove Park. Can you guess where it is?

Please visit the Downham Interagency website for details of how to get involved in these projects.

Garden Party

Goldsmiths Community Centre Garden Party

On Saturday September 22nd from 12 to 4 pm all are welcome to enjoy Goldsmiths Community Centre's Apothecary Garden to mark the end of the Hubbub media resource project and to raise funds and awareness for the Goldsmiths Well Being Room.

Creating the herb spiral

As suggested by the CEL students who took part in the Hubbub project the themes of the garden party are Well Being and Making Connections. This will be an opportunity to find out more about the Well Being Room at Goldsmiths Community Centre, and what health and Well Being services are available locally and at the Community Centre.

Clay oven for delicious pizzas!

Healthy hot food will be available fresh and hand made from the pizza oven, and a range of traditional home made produce like cakes, lemonade, ginger beer, chutney, pesto and hummous will be on sale.

There will also be a book stall, bric-a- brac and raffles.

Come and enjoy the last of the good weather in a beautiful garden setting. See you on Saturday 22nd!

SPONSORED BIKE RIDE

The Goldsmiths Community Centre Well Being room is a project that's been running since 2009 and making a positive difference to the local community of Downham.

The Well Being Room is a hub for health and well being in Downham. It provides sign posting to local health and well being services as well as offering low cost complementary therapies.

To support this Rowland Smith and Elwood Amey who run the project are taking part in the Question Challenge bike ride . . .

WHO? Elwood and Rowland as they run the Well Being Room, also other members of DUCK Cycling Club doing their own fund raising challenges and joining in just for fun.

WHERE? Visiting all the places that sound like questions within cycling distance of London, so….starting at: HOWE, Norfolk, then WARE, Hertfordshire, then HOO, Medway, ending at WYE in Kent.

WHEN? Friday 5th October to Sunday 7th of October 2012

WHY? Why not? Cycling is a great way for people to keep fit. Elwood and Rowland want to use this challenge to show that anybody can take up cycling AND enjoy it AND raise some money to support a great project.

If you'd like to support a health project that's been making a difference since 2009 please visit the Charity Giving website http://www.charitygiving.co.uk/questionchallenge and make a donation to support the Goldsmiths Community Centre Well being Room.

Free workshops start today - here comes summer at last

Glorious weather, finally! Just in time for the workshops to start. Today from 10am onwards Kristina Binns from Lewisham Council is providing a recycling information stall in the centre reception area. At 1.30pm she will be hosting a composting workshop and at 3.30pm a Love Food Hate Waste workshop. If you come to both as I'm going to you can learn all about creative ways of using leftovers, storing food correctly and if you can't use it, compost it! More information on these workshops and permaculture/build a bug hotel can be found on the earlier blog post here. Please come along and check it out to see if there are spaces available - you can visit the garden in progress too.

I have to say the compost heap is smelling lovely at the moment. Very compost-y, is that the word? Rowland helped me water the garden including the heap and planted several herbs and medicinal plants from the big plant giveaway.  We had a closer look at the St John's Wort growing by the preschool fence. Rowland showed me the translucent spots on the leaves that mature to produce the oil. It is an exquisite plant, very delicate in contrast to its showier relatives.

St John's Wort (Hypericum perforatum) - link to uses

Today (when I'm not at the workshops) I will be mostly raiding the allotment garden for more plants. It's getting overgrown so I will be doing it a favour. 

The circular bed and herb border

Now there is more light coming in through the fence, the lavender bushes are flowering for the first time in years. Marjoram, which must have self-seeded, is growing underneath and the soil is very compacted and mossy. They really need to be in a sunnier spot so once they've finished flowering I'll cut back and transplant. That area is crying out for some woodland plants: foxgloves and pulmonaria

On the home front, the rain has obviously benefitted the garden and my agapanthus which usually produces one measly flower head if anything, has four large globes. It's growing in a very large pot among japanese anemones. This was sold to me many moons ago as Anemone hupehensis 'Hadspen Abundance' but it doesn't look like the photos being a lighter pink. It is alive with honey and bumble bees.

Agapanthus

Anemone hupehensis 'Hadspen Abundance' - or is it?

I just had to include a photo of this beautiful rose, Joie de Vivre. I'm still reading 'No Dig Gardening' by Ruth Stout and will have to put off the review and received wisdom until next time! It's such a harsh climate on the eastern seaboard of the United States.

Joie de Vivre, rose of the year 2011

WORKSHOPS IN NEW CROSS

Three Cafe Crema garden events for aug-oct 2012

August 11th 10-1

Horticultural workshop and fruit tree pruning

Paul Ritchens from The Kings Cross Skip Garden leads this session on pest recognition and organic pest control strategies. This session would be great for beginners and enthusiasts and people who really don't want to douse their trees and gardens with harmful pesticides but don't want everything to get eaten either... Also good for new gardeners and allotment holders. After the morning session there will be a break for lunch (you are welcome to bring a picnic or you can buy something from the Cafe) followed by a short practical session looking at the new espalier trees and doing some summer formative pruning. Session ends at 1pm. All welcome, free. 

Please drop in to the Cafe or text Kiri to reserve a place. 07950 552 571.

Many thanks to Lewisham Council's 'Community Gardens Small Grant Award' for funding this event.

Come and try your hand at Botanical Illustration at Cafe Crema....

Free botanical illustration workshops will be held on Sat 15th sept and oct 13th from 3.30 til 5.30.

Learn to paint and draw botanical specimens with professional artist Alison Day from Lewisham Arthouse. Explore the autumn colours, shapes and textures of the local flora found in the wildlife garden at Café Crema. Suitable for adults and children over 10 yrs, (or younger if they are very keen.) No previous experience needed. Materials provided. You are also welcome to bring your own sketchbooks/ pencils if you prefer.

These two events are organised in partnership with London Wildlife Trust.

To reserve a place please text 07950 552 571 or email: freshfilmscafe@hotmail.com. You will need to drop by to leave a £3 deposit to keep your place, but this will be returned to you on arrival. Refreshments will be provided.

Cafe Crema: 306 New Cross Road, London SE14 6AF. Close to the Town Hall and almost opposite the venue, minutes from New Cross Gate station. Tel: 020 8320 2317

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!

Slow but rewarding progress

Excavations and planting at the community garden continue. Lush and bosky from the recent rain, the 'lawn' turns out to be meadow, with some interesting wildflowers in the mix, some associated with herb gardens and remedies. A weed is only a plant you don't like, as I often remind myself. 

On Monday I got in early and spent time digging up loads of herb bennet or wood avens (Geum urbanum) which had wrapped itself around the circular bed, yesterday I uncovered a patch of germander speedwell (Veronica chamaedrys) and last week a very healthy marjoram (Origanum majorana) plant under one of the rose bushes. The digging is proving a formidable task, but I have had offers of help including from the tutor of the baby yoga class. There is a lot of curiosity from the local community and I've had many an interesting chat through the fence!

A beautiful paeony, liberated from a blanket of brambles and ivy

Helped by the acquisition of about 35 bags of old compost the soil from excavated areas can now be replaced, to an extent. Some of the bags fell apart or were so waterlogged that any nutrients have long since leached out but they are all being put to use either in the excavated areas or smothering the weeds! Thanks to Brian for wheelbarrowing them in.

The raised bed is starting to look great, I wish I knew the name of the red paeony it is truly beautiful. I noticed a few bindweed shoots appearing in the circular bed but Andrea had done a really good job of tracking down the roots and they came out easily.

The french lavender is in flower and the plants are settling in

Since the circular bed has been cleared the garden is being visited by a group (?) of sparrows. My own garden in Brockley is visited by every other bird, small, medium and large, but not sparrows and I'm heartened to see them. As an urban kid they were all I saw apart from pigeons!

Got to do something about those doors!

Having cleared a lot of the brambles, bindweed is now springing up by the fence. Press on regardless. Still much to do, but it's taking shape - and looks a lot better than it did!

If you would like to help out in the community garden please get in touch. I am there on Mondays and Tuesdays but occasionally can't resist another day if I'm not busy. If you would like to help or visit, contact the community centre on 020 8698 3741, email me at hubbub@goldsmithscommunityhub.org.uk or use the comments section below,

The heavily 'pruned' roses, which are fighting back

View towards the preschool garden and chicken coop across the bags of compost

What is an apothecary garden?

The word 'apothecary' is derived from apotheca, meaning a place where wine, spices and herbs were stored. During the thirteenth century it came into use in this country to describe a person who kept a stock of these commodities, which he sold from his shop or street stall. By the mid-sixteenth century apothecaries had become the equivalent of today's community pharmacists, dealing mainly with the preparation and sale of substances for medicinal purposes. Authority over medical practice, however, lay with the College of Physicians. From 1672 until 1922, the Society of Apothecaries manufactured and sold medicinal and pharmaceutical products at the Hall, and in 1673 it founded the Chelsea Physic Garden, only relinquishing managerial control in 1899.

The Apothecaries' Physic Garden at Chelsea was founded as an educational enterprise; it was also established in conjunction with the possession of the Society's first ceremonial barge.  In July 1673 the Society took the lease on three-and-a-half acres of land on the riverfront at Chelsea and proceeded to build a bargehouse and cultivate a physic garden where, for well over two centuries, Apothecaries' apprentices and, later, medical students, were taught Botany and Materia Medica.

The Worshipful Society of Apothecaries 

The word Physic means the art or skill of healing. As a species name, the word 'officinale' denotes a plant that was traditionally sold in apothecary shops and was considered to have medicinal or healthful properties.  Many plants in the apothecary or physic garden were grown for cooking, healing, dyeing wool and fabric and 'strewing', or scattering over the floor for their perfume. Pennyroyal and Lady's Bedstraw kept fleas at bay. Traditionally apothecary or physic gardens grouped the plants according to their healing or soothing properties.

 

There isn't enough space in the Goldsmiths Community Garden for a full scale apothecary garden like the one at Cowbridge Physic Garden, west of Cardiff, or the Abbey Physic Community Garden in Faversham. The aim is to make it an educational space for all generations to enjoy and for the garden to evolve over time. Please contact me at hubbub@goldsmithscommunityhub.org.uk for more information, and to visit the garden (currently Monday & Tuesday only).

Hemerocallis flava with sweet cicely, rue, hop, thalictrum and lemon balm

Read this article by Francine Raymond in the Sunday Telegraph, October 2011.

Purple Sage, periwinkle (Vinca minor) and catmint (Nepeta  x faassenii)