Winter Blues

It's been the wettest winter I've ever experienced. All the parks are flooded and many rivers have risen high above their banks. In the garden, the ground is saturated and the uncompleted pathways are now a boggy mush. It's good fun splashing around in the vastness of water and mud. It's also been cold, very very cold. -7°C. It's been so wet and so cold that we have not been able to spend much time working on the garden. I fear for the crops I planted outdoors a few months ago. The leeks and chard are not liking this volume of water and having their roots firmly fastened in heavy clay soil is not helping matters. Our soil holds onto water like a sponge, which is a good quality in most situations. I sit and hope that this period of wet weather won't cause too much permanent damage. 

Biological toilet build

Working on the new feature

Working in the polytunnel

One way we've been keeping warm during the odd brief break in the rains has been by working on creating new features in the garden. One of our volunteers has been designing and creating a stunning feature which will greet visitors as they walk into the garden. We have also been constructing the biological toilet, which has been severely delayed due to 'bad' weather. Our salvation during the rains has been the Polytunnel. There are many baby seedlings coming on in the tunnel and we had managed to keep salads going even through the frosty periods. But not even crops in the polytunnel have been completely safe from harm. The foxes are back in force. They too seem to have worked out that it's both drier and warmer in the tunnel. They have been tearing their way into the tunnels and causing a great deal of damage to both the tunnel and the plants that live there. The polytunnel won't be the only refuge from the poor weather for much longer. We are working on starting the build of our communal structure. Our friends at the National Trust have kindly agreed to give us as much material as we need from their tree punning exercises. Building work is due to start any time now.

Our Christmas tree 

The Christmas period was fun. We made a Christmas tree using recycled material and branches from several different trees to symbolise creativity and togetherness. This was on display at Morden Hall Park's Stable Yard for a few days during their Christmas celebrations and had a very good response. We also held a small feast where people came together to cook healthy and delicious meals from food that was thrown away by our local shops and supermarkets (pictures). On the 12th of December we had a small gathering where people came together to celebrated sustainability and enjoy good music and great company (pictures).

2012 has been a very full on high energy year and many developments and lessons learnt. We are very much looking forward to growing further in 2013. We hope you'll be able to join us.               

Progressing together

Volunteer showing off her
handy wood carving skills

Warmest greetings on this wet autumn day. Still moaning about the wet weather this season. Many rivers in parts of the UK have burst their banks and caused loads of damage due to flooding. We have been very lucky, though we have had pretty much non stop rain for weeks we have not had any flooding. 

Herb Spiral build --
Multiple mulch layers 

On the odd occasion when the rain breaks for a few hours we managed to get out and do some work. We've completed our herb spiral. The herb spiral is a Permaculture form that allows you to create your own ecosystem and become self sufficient. The format can be adapted to large gardens if space is available. We found a large stack of bricks which were as a result of a demolition job near us. Bricks allows for retention of heat and insulate plants in colder weather or at night, while acting as a backbone for the structure. We used fermented grass as a base layer for the structure and filled it with layers of manure, straw, fallen leaves and compost. Thanks to the rain the layers have been watered in very well and have now settled and ready for planting up in spring. I am very excited about this project. The spiral was placed just outside the kitchen door and will act as a living spice rack conveniently placed to be utilized during cooking.

Planting plan -- Herb Spiral

The spiral is a natural form that provides an efficient method for managing space, storing and sorting. Using the natural universal design of a spiral, the forces of gravity and water flow are utilized to their fullest allowing for proper drainage downhill. Herbs that thrive on drier soils live at the top, whereas those needing more moisture reside at the bottom where water collects. This form allows for planting of a widely diverse number of plants, and creates natural, sunny and shady areas -- a perfect miniature microclimate landscape environment. The herb spiral also creates a bio-diverse habitat for creatures who come to visit the garden. For a more detailed look at the creation process check out our facebook link. Herb Spiral Build -- Autumn 2012

Beginning stages -- Biological toilet

We have also been working on the biological toilet. We have a rough design plan which keeps evolving to best match the materials we are able to salvage. Hardcore from old paving slabs were used to strengthen the foundation posts, discarded fence post for the framework, we've used palette wood to construct the composting chambers and later on in the build willow poles will be used to create a living shield which will not only enclosed and protect the structure from the elements but will also use up the excess liquid that will accumulate in the chambers, preventing undesirable leaks. We aim to have this project done before spring and will make a start on the communal structure shortly after the Christmas period. 

Andrew of Syon Lane
Community Allotment Project
helps to bag up compost

I mentioned in the last post that our composting system has grown significantly and has been very efficient and productive. We harvested over fifteen 60lt bags from one of the heaps and have used a lot of it to top up most of the growing beds and feed all our fruit trees and bushes. We've also had visits from old friends from the Syon Lane Community Allotment project and Runnymede Eco-village and had a good old catch on whats' been going on the the world of community eco-project. We have also just returned from a two day conference involving a number of food growing community projects. The conference was organised and facilitated by the UK Permaculture Association. We  were one of the featured projects and asked to do a short story telling session on our experiences and visions. The notion of food growing in the middle of a city environment engaging local communities is one that large environmental organisations are keen to support. And only two days ago we were asked to join a meeting hosted by the Councillors of Merton and the people responsible for the maintenance of the green spaces in the borough. This meeting was called to discuss the potential of forming a collective of community food growing and other ecological projects. This is great news for us as it means that we will be have the support of both the council and the many other community projects operating in Merton. We have been provided with maps showing many of the green spaces which may be freed up for community food growing in the near future.

Thanks to all our dedicated volunteers who have stuck with us all through the rough weather to help us realise our goals for creating an inspiring, educational, productive and relaxing community space. Peace, Love and more Blessings.  
               

       

Atumn Bliss

The May team at Deen City
Farms' harvest day

So after a challenging spring/summer period, we are now carrying on into the winter months. So far it's been cold, wet and very windy. But that hasn't dampened the spirits of the true eco worriers  We have had a steady inflow of visitors and volunteers helping us get our herb spiral, composting toilet and communal space built before next spring. Over the past month we have been focusing on winter planting and early spring harvest. We have been making good use of our neighbors garden and have planted loads of golden chard and broccoli. 

Broccoli under plastic soda bottle
greenhouses/slug barriers 

We are still fighting with the slugs and snails but have an ally in the form of miniature white spider creatures which we have identified as a type of nematode. We have been noticing the increase of injured sickly look slugs being found around the garden and on closer inspection observed that these nematodes were crawling all over the poor slimy creatures. Natures balance. However we are still taking precautions and have added extra barriers to help keep the pests away.  We had a slight frost a few weeks ago and all of our younger tomatoes we were hoping to have a late harvest off were damaged. Next time we will aim to build some sort of temporary weather protection from the later succession crops. In our garden we have planted out the salads we had sown back in September. Most of which we planted in the polytunnel and the rest in large pot indoors. We are hoping that we will be able to harvest grees all through winter. 

Winter greens and seed balls/
green grenades

We have also planted loads of chard, broccoli, leek, kale, parsnip and cabbage all of which were sown last month and are now incubation in the winter nursery in the polytunnel. They all seem to be doing very well despite the low temperatures and limited sunlight available. In the last post I mentioned the workshops we have been hosting and all the groups and organisations we had visit. Well we were invited to be part of our local farms' harvest festival and were featured in the local newspaper as a result. We had seed balls making workshops and had jams and cider for sale. It was a great day and we were received very well. We have been growing slowing in popularity and are now been seen by other, larger more established, organisations as potential beneficial partners. This is great for us as it means that we have the backing and resources of more experience ecological institutes. 

Mushrooms growing in the QR
composting heap

Another thing which has grown dramatically this year is our compost making capacity. We have created so much compost this year that we are slightly struggling to find places to store the excess. I still have to publish a post completely dedicated to our composting system.We have five different composting processes but my personal favorite is the quick return (aerobic) system. During this time of year (summer - autumn) there is almost always lots of excess fruit laying about. This year our apple tree didn't do very well (compared to previous years) but we were blessed with locating a number of neglected fruit trees, both public and private. We collected a great deal of apples, plums and pears and had juicing sessions, and made a selection of jams and chutneys which went down a treat. 

A selection of jams

We have also been playing around with planting crops outdoors to see how they will cope with the harsh change in weather. The spring onions recently got demolished by slugs, but the beetroots are still going strong even after the frost. Also the forest garden has been really living up to its' name. All the trees have put on a hell of a lot of growth this year. We restricted them from bearing fruit by prick out the blossoms as they began to form fruits which I think allowed them to concentrate on working on root and wood development. We have also been dividing up the comfrey plants we have and planting them up around each tree. This will serve as feed for the trees next season when we will allow them to produce fruit.  

Chard and leek beds

So it hasn't been all dull, wet and gloomy this season. Though the harvest wasn't as abundant as we would have expected, we still managed to form valuable connections, learnt valuable lessons and are now even more confident for the development in the coming seasons. We've got a compost toilet, communal structure, and herb spiral on the horizon. This season was all about creating awareness of the project, building up our network and developing the main focus of the project. This come season we will aim to increase the educational aspect of the project and step up community engagement. We always welcome new ideas and energies to the project so if you have anything to offer or just want to get involve and learn about ecology please visit our website and get in touch. Peace Love and Blessings.