See more pictures of the July Garden here
As you can imagine we are both excited and anxious about our Garden Plot right now. We restored the tap in the wall for watering and then it broke again so right now, volunteer Chris is watering daily and sometimes twice daily with a watering can. He has to walk around the side of the building and go in through the front doors repeatedly but he smiles away and says ‘it’s good for my steps’. Thank goodness for Chris! We are investigating how to restore the tap (again!). Volunteer Eric was here today although when the sun is overhead, we just do 30 minutes on and then 20 minutes off so that he doesn’t get unwell. He cleared the base of the apple tree from bindweed this morning.
We have two ollas in place – purchased from Chimney Sweep – and they are proving their worth. They are in the ground next to our courgettes and the good health of the plants around them in this heat is noticeable. Volunteer Mahammad fills them when he waters on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings, travelling here on the No. 60 bus from Croydon. He was a fruit farmer in Pakistan and knows the olla watering system from there. He says they use them for seedling fruit trees. We are also using part of an under-plant watering system to keep some more courgettes going. Fingers crossed. Sadly, volunteer Nikki is off at the moment after an accident that has damaged her hip – we wish her a pain-free recovery asap.
I picked fresh mint from the raised beds today and made some refreshing mint tea. And we have harvested some of our garlic – some went to volunteer Rose in the Community Café and some went to the cooks at Sunrise Day Centre where they cook mainly vegetarian Gujarati dishes for their clients, who are mainly older people and definitely know their garlic. I asked nervously whether it was any good and was told enthusiastically that it definitely was. I hope they weren’t just being polite. I’ll probably find out for myself soon.
We have plenty of spinach in the ground looking healthy and tasty and some fine beef tomatoes withstanding the heat. Chris says they seem to do best if he just ignores them a bit, which is odd. Have a look at the photos!
Meanwhile our helpful colleagues in Merton Public Health team are researching water harvesting and it seems that water butts don’t have to be round, green and in the corner. Some of these really inspired us and we will have to get fundraising! Ecosure have wowed us with vibrant coloured ‘slim’, ‘pillar’, ‘planter’ and other amazing styles. We put a packet of Merton 60th Birthday celebration seeds in the planter by the main doors (a funny place to put wildflowers, but still) and they are looking lovely with our Ukrainian star symbols.
