Gardening on a shoestring

Hello Garden Friends,

Perhaps you've noticed that we've been sprucing up the tree pits along Fordwych and St Cuthbert's Roads the past two weekends, including putting out more planted up shoes for everyone to enjoy.

All the shoes we use are 'recycled' old shoes, either donated or abandoned in our neighbourhood.

We mix up soil, free compost we collect from the Eco Hub in King's Cross 

(that's what becomes of the garden and kitchen waste you recycle every week), 

and perlite to help with aeration and water retention and soak thoroughly with rain water.

Then we find a good selection of colourful plants that will do well in the shoes, either ones we've raised in our greenhouse or good ones on sale at nearby shops (and  don't forget to check out places like Sainsbury's and Aldi's as well as garden centres for good buys)

Now for the fun part, time to start planting up the shoes.

Fill the shoes with the soil and compost mixture, add the plant, press it into the soil and top up with a bit more and give it another drink.

Looking good.

Looking very good indeed! Enjoy them as you pass by - 

they're guaranteed to put a smile on your face :)

There are 60 tree pits that Garden Friends NW2 look after on Fordwych Road between Maygrove and Mill Lane and St Cuthbert's Road. We've got most of them planted up with shoes, but we still need 26 more pairs of old shoes or boots to complete the job. If you're in the mood to clear out your closet and run across some old shoes suitable for planting, just put them near the notice board at St Cuthbert's Church and we'll happily plant them up and put them in the remaining tree pits for all to enjoy.

Keep calm and carry on shoe gardening!

Gardening Session Saturday 18th April

Hi everyone,

Please, please come by St Cuthbert's for a gardening session on Saturday afternoon 18th April from 2pm onwards to about 4pm or so.

Lots of (fun) work to be done in our raised beds (to get them to look a bit like these ones).

And lots of (fun) work to be done in the tree pits (to get them to look a bit like these ones).

Hope to see all interested, curious and eager NW2 gardening volunteers at St Cuthbert's on Fordwych Road this Saturday afternoon for some communal gardening fun in the sun!

Keep calm and carry on spring gardening!

Prune Roses with an Expert session - Saturday 7th March

Hi Garden Friends,

Spring's just around the corner, so it's time for Garden Friends to awaken from our winter's semi-hibernation and get back to some fun gardening!

And what better way to kick off the spring gardening season than with a session on pruning roses, personally conducted by our resident roseologist, Clare. We have ten different varieties of David Austin Old English roses planted up in large oak cask barrels in the church garden that blossomed in their very first year last year, so we're optimistic that with proper care, they'll do even better this season.

Clare will cheerfully conduct the session on the care and feeding of roses, with practical skills focused on pruning. All are welcome, and no prior knowledge is necessary, so do come along. Bring any secateurs or pruning sheers you may have, though we do have some to use on site as well. The roses are all situated on a grass lawn, but you might want to wear wellies depending on the weather, and any other gardening in and around the raised beds and/or tree pits that may also pop up on the day.

The gardening will commence at 1:30 till 3:30pm on Saturday, 7th March at the church garden at St Cuthbert's Church located at the intersection of Fordwych Road and St Cuthbert's Road.

The roses say 'thank you' and they'll return the favour all summer and autumn with beautiful and fragrant blooms for you to enjoy and know you 'had a hand' in it all. Mmmm, you can almost smell them now!

Hope to see you there!

Keep calm and carry on pruning!

Minster Road Nature Reserve Planting Day Saturday 21st Feb

Hello Garden Friends,

Let's lend a neighbourly hand to our friends at Minster Road Nature Reserve for their Planting Day!