Our first of three gardening workshops on 15 October with Michel Thill from Social Lands was very well attended and began with the questions: ‘What is a pest? Are there pests in nature?’ Of course in nature everything is part of the ecosystem, working together to create the overall environment. But in the garden pests…Read more …
Bandstand Beds’ Jane joined several other community gardeners in Regent’s Park Allotment Garden for a seed savers course, run by Capital Growth and London Freedom Seed Bank, to find out why we should save seed even though we can easily buy them from garden centres or online? Here’s what she discovered… Different people save seed…Read more …
The garden is starting to look ready for Autumn, the beans are finished and the squashes which have been romping across the community garden are ready to come out. The last of the tomatoes will be harvested this weekend, and today we took some green tomatoes off to make into chutney. I used Pam Corbin’s recipe for …Read more …
Each time the Bandstand Beds team organise an event they worry whether it will be as good as the one before. Last year’s feast marked the opening of our community growing space on Windmill Drive and, despite the dreary weather, lots of people came along to see the new garden and enjoy the great grub…Read more …
The nights are drawing in and there’s a slight chill in the air, and what better way to say goodbye to summer than with a community harvest celebration. And that’s just what Bandstand Beds and The Spinney nursery are planning with our Common People Feast on Saturday 8 October, from midday until 4pm There’ll be…Read more …
Our mid-week potter yesterday produced a fantastic harvest. Loads of cucumbers hiding away at the back of the polytunnel, courgettes – some rather more marrows, plus beans, tomatoes squash, and a few peas. Some friends old and new turned up to help water, harvest and plan for Saturdays bring and share picnic. I took home…Read more …
A major harvest now in progress – mounds of runner beans, courgettes and squashes, cucumbers and our first sweet corn, tomatoes and aubergines. We gathered in the produce Lots of weeding around the beds targeting nettles which keep catching us out as we harvest. We let the docks grow on the site so we have…Read more …
After all that rain we turned up at the Community Garden to find we had to wade through a big puddle to get in. We managed to sweep the water out into the road and down a drain – thankfully unblocked thanks to Neil and Charles. Plastic water bottles get everywhere! Main tasks today were…Read more …
The community food growing space on Clapham Common’s Windmill Drive, was a hive of activity on Saturday 11 June. We gathered our first harvest of the season, and already we are getting a taste of what is to come. Picked, preserved and in a pickle Head cook Diana working…Read more …
The bandstand at Clapham Common came alive on Saturday 30 April for Common People. This event organised by Bandstand Beds (but really David and Simon!) and supported by This is Clapham, was a lovely spring celebration. We had a typical April day of sunshine and threatened showers, which luckily managed to steer clear of us.…Read more …