Wake up and smell the...coffee...roses...compost!

We're sorry. Really sorry. Begging your pardon.

Last week some Garden Friends took a very hot day off work and volunteered their time and labour to go across town to the King's Cross area to tackle a mountain of compost, shovel it into bags, rent a van, haul it back and dig it into the gravelly soil to feed the plants in all 60 tree pit gardens on Fordwych and St Cuthberts Roads that we're trying to establish to cheer up this sad neighbourhood, take our minds off the traffic, graffiti, litter, vandalism, cigarette butts, dog poo, pavement dumping, slicks of deliberately spilled antifreeze in the street being slurped up by the birds, and neighbours who are unlikely to spare a smile or nod let alone a dime.

This is free-to-collect sterile compost from EcoPark, the company that converts all you recycled green garden and kitchen waste into rich, reusable and free compost that goes back into the community for gardening. Think cycle of life.

But horror upon horrors, it's not odour-free. Smells lightly of the countryside. Smells like the cycle of life, for a while until it too blends in and provides the nutrients to create new life in our neighbourhood. Seems it got right up some people's upturned noses.

Sorry for that. We should have factored the human factor into the equation.

Keep calm and carry on odourless gardening!

Dog poo found in tree pit gardens!

To the lovely, kind and public-spirited man who's been spotted leaving his dog poo in all of the lovely but still struggling to survive tree pit gardens along Fordwych Road...

Sometimes in plastic bags...

Sometimes not...

We're happy to tell you that your neighbours have kindly collected over 1,238 of your offerings and have bagged them up awaiting your collection.

And also kindly pointed out that Camden Council have positioned no less than 8 bins at the intersections of Fordwych Road and Maygrove, Garlinge, St Cuthberts & Mill Lane.

Keep calm and carry on gardening and dog-walking responsibly.

Thanks to 'The Winch' for our new greenhouse

Hi everyone,

Garden Friends NW2 relies completely on donations, volunteerism, and good will from the neighbourhood to start up and sustain our gardening projects in the tree pits and communal garden in the Fordwych Road area. So when The Winchester Project in Swiss Cottage offered to donate a greenhouse/garden shed to us, we were thrilled.

 Now we can propagate our own cuttings and seedlings year-round at great cost savings before we put them out into the tree pits and in the communal garden for everyone to enjoy (and hopefully take care of).

So thanks to The Winch, and best wishes for your continued and dedicated success in your mission:

 "to build authentic and lasting relationships with children and young people, to offer a safe space in which they experience an extended family, to invite them into community with each other and wider society and to provide opportunities of challenge, excitement and possibility which call them into exploring and fulfilling their potential."

Keep calm and carry on building authentic and lasting relationships with everyone through gardening!

Red currant and port jelly

 Hi Garden Friends,

When we first planted cuttings from a centuries-old family red currant bush in our St Cuthbert's community garden, we had modest expectations. But they seemed to like their new home against the south-facing black brick wall that acts as a year-round heat bank and grew vigorously.

 

 even producing our first crop of fruit!

Which we protected from the hungry birds and squirrels with netting.

And were able to pick enough red currants

To make our first batch of red currant and port jelly to share with Garden Friends!

Easy red currant and port jelly recipe:

http://www.kaveyeats.com/2012/08/easy-redcurrant-port-jelly.html

Keep calm and carry on gardening!