Grow Together, Be Together

This weekend was wedding free.  At a complete loss to know what to do with this rare Saturday off, I decided to spend it in the garden.  Not my garden though.  Whilst we dream big about this communal space round the back of our flat, it may take some time to amp ourselves up to tackle the waste land of plastic bags, cider tins and hypodermic needles...

Instead we popped down to the Community Gardening Session at Flanders Fields in East Ham. Grow Together, Be Together is a food project run by Bonny Downs Community Association where volunteers grow organic produce for the benefit of the community.  The garden is a classroom and the food supplies the community cafe and food bank.

The video of last year's launch gives you an idea of what's going on down there;

We were shown around by the other volunteers - the office and brew making station fashioned from shipping containers left on site by previous tenants, the long drop compost loo, the hand built polytunnel, the raised beds for those less able to work on ground level, multi-use planters crafted from scaffolding boards and scrap wood, and (best of all) an outdoor PIZZA OVEN.

We spent the session pruning the tomato plants which had been hit by a nasty case of Blight (an airborne infection which led to the Irish Potato Famine i.e serious stuff) and we were rewarded with an invitation to help ourselves to all the red spinach and sea beet we fancied.  Delicious in lentil soup.

Next week...SPARKLER MAKING;