This week in the garden, we will be harvesting chard, red gooseberries and our earliest ripening apples. We will be sowing more parsley, dill, basil and mint and taking more cuttings from our herb garden plants including lavender, sage, rosemary, lemon verbena, and the curry plant. Once prepped, these will then go into our redesigned wooden propagator / mist unit. We will be harvesting the last of our broad beans and planting some herbs in their place.
In our roots bed where the garlic was we will sow some Japanese Radish otherwise known as Mooli. This is a deep rooted white radish and the variety is ‘Mino summer Cross’.
Our cordon tomato plants need tying in, supporting and feeding (don’t we all – well maybe just the supporting and feeding…) and some of our hedges are getting some Covid hair cuts.
We are making some new signs around the garden so will be cutting wooden boards to size, sanding and painting them ready to write on.
On Saturday, we will be starting our garlic ferments. This is a gentle seated peel and brine job – conversational and well….garlicy!
On BPCG’s Gardeners’ Question Time this Saturday 2pm to 3pm, we have guests from The Orchard Project joining us. So do get your tree-related and other gardening questions in by replying to this email or by asking them on the day. Join us on Zoom here (Meeting ID: 857 9257 1646, Password: 045500). If you ‘d like to catch up on any earlier BPCG GQTs go here. This will be the last GQT in the summer series. We will keep you posted on when we start again in the Autumn.
At the BPCG shop this week we are selling for the first time, The Orchard Project’s delicious London Apple Juice made from apples collected from gardens all around London and pressed by Orchard Project volunteers. It’s delicious! Other highlights this week at the shop, are Chilli Plants (Numex Twilight), Brugmansia, Coleus and for fresh produce – gorgeous red lettuce and 3 varieties of Kale!
We have re-started our children’s programme at BPCG on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. It’s lovely to have the kids back! If you are interested in volunteering on our kids’ programme and helping run a range of imaginative and fun outdoor nature based activities, please let us know by replying to this email. Thank you!
On Monday August 17th, Cat Stevens and Andrea Heath are starting a new group ‘Drawing from the Roots’ 1pm to 2.30pm on Mondays. You are invited to explore the creative benefits that emerge in a space where art, community and nature meet. All are welcome who wish to draw. For more information, contact Cat on garden@brockwellgreenhouses.org.uk or 07503 919973
In other news, Brixton local Michael Wharley visited the Greenhouses in late June to shoot portraits of volunteers at work, showcasing BPCG as part of a project ‘In a Green Shade‘ taking an affectionate look at the English and Nature. Michael’s ongoing project explores and celebrates our diverse connections to the natural world by showing people and the environments they love. To see the photos to date, including volunteers from the greenhouses, click this link. To read more about the project, to get involved or to suggest a suitable person or organisation, click this link
Applications are open for the plant nursery traineeship at Great Dixter. The chosen trainee will spend a year working in the nursery at Great Dixter. The nursery trainee is paid minimum wage and is eligible for subsidised accommodation onsite. The training is a practical one although anyone joining without a Level 2 in horticulture will receive time off and funding to gain an RHS qualification during their time with us. We are looking for someone who sees their future as working in a nursery, and would like to gain the skills necessary to do this. Starting date mid-September 2020. Deadline 3rd of August 2020, interviews held on the 20th August 2020. Applications and enquires to nursery@greatdixter.co.uk.”
Are you a butterfly enthusiast? If so, help the Butterfly Conservation Trust identify and conserve species by recording what you see. Download the free app here. At BPCG we have seen and recorded: small and large white, green veined white, peacock, red admiral, orange tip, small tortoiseshell, small copper, and a tiger moth.
Incredible Edible Lambeth is hosting on this Thursday 16th July at 5.30pm a Biodiversity Emergency webinar on Zoom. For full details go here. We are bringing together key witnesses to the biodiversity crisis, as well as an Environmental Officer from Lambeth Council (author of the latest Biodiversity Action Plan for the borough) and Professor Dave Goulson, author of Bee Quest and The Garden Jungle, Judy Ling Wong, Founder of London National Park City and President of Black Environment Network, Nick Mole of the Pesticide Action Network and Sophie Leguil of More than Weeds. We hope that this event will help us to understand the severity of the crisis as well as give us all practical steps as to how we can encourage biodiversity in our green spaces. Register your interest on Eventbrite via our webpage here
Needed – have you had any clear outs during Lockdown? We are looking for any tea cups or little mugs etc. about 7cm wide and 7cm high that you could give to us for us to pot up succulents into. They don’t need drainage holes.
Allotmenteers – If you are struggling with your allotment and would consider trying out an allotment share, please reply to this email and we can put you in touch with a possible sharer – many of our volunteers are keen as mustard to do even more gardening!
GET INVOLVED WITH HERNE HILL SOLIDARITY FUND – The Herne Hill Solidarity Fund is a community-backed money pot for neighbours who are struggling to buy essentials. There are no conditions to apply for the fund, other than being a resident of SE24. We rely on financial support from local residents to back the fund, either through a monthly contribution (such as an hour’s or day’s wage) or a one-off payment. If you are in need of support, apply to the fund using the link below. There are no conditions to apply for the fund, other than being a resident of SE24 or in the immediate surrounding area. To donate and be a backer or request support go here. Contact details: hernehillsolidarityfund@gmail.
