Community gardening made a triple page spread in October’s edtion of  the Garden Design Journal.

Entitled Productive Urban Growing, the article contrasts south London community gardens with overt design input, and those without. Featured  were: Westow Park Community Garden, Cottington Estate Community Garden, Streatham Common Community Garden, Lambeth’s Green Community Champion officer Sue Sheehan, MG Kate Daly.

Kate’s design for Westow Park drew very positive comments from Rachel de Thample, one of the gardens’ leaders.

Kate’s drawing was very motivating, but most importantly her list of things to do has meant we established the garden in less than six months.

This shows the key role our knowledgeable master gardeners can offer in inspiring and making happen sustainable gardens.

Nicola Desmond of Cottington Community Gardens in Kennington (also supported by South London Master Gardeners) explained the design process there.

‘We had to put the first beds in the spaces that were there in the light on the lawn, away from the overgrown shrubs. Then we took out a dead hedge and put in more raised beds that followed the path. We didn’t know who would come, whether in a wheelchair or able to bend so we made sure one side was on a hard surface. People told us they wanted their own space so we divided up the beds and created a central herb area to share.’

The Garden Design Journal is principally for the members of the Society of Garden Designers, the UK professional body.  The Journal also has an international distribution for the landscaping and horticulture trades, parks, landscape archtitects and the various schools as well as the universities offering these disciplines.

The story, by South London Master Gardener Coordinator, Fiona Law (that’s me) was comissioned as editor Jackie Bennett to explain to the readers how community gardens work, are were set up and what benefits they are having. The article would also act as a source for designers so they can really understand what can be done (and what they could do). Productive growing in a community setting is very much on the agenda.

Read the article here

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A you a South London Community Garden? See this link for Capital Growth training