Having gone south for the winter, thus missing the deep chill of the last month or so, I find myself returned into the midst of some rather major moving and shaking on the Hackney food growing front. I’ve taken on the role of head grower at Growing Communities and my first major challenge has already raised its head. This Monday, in Clissold Park, we start the small but significant move from the one side of the butterfly tunnel to the other. Yup, it’s all go as work starts on the park, thanks to a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
On Monday, the contractors will be helping us to shift the soil from our salad growing beds to make way for a fence. They’ll help us to move the shed, lovingly constructed many moons ago, and they’ll be moving the butterfly tunnel a few metres to the west. I have to say that this last is a really delightful by-product of an otherwise rather upsetting event. We’ve been given the existing butterfly tunnel (in the ‘new’ park the butterflies get to hang out in a rather snazzy dome), to cover in plastic and do some serious growing within…increasing the amount of growing space we have under cover at our urban market gardens.
So, my plan to really push the yields in 2010 has shifted a little this coming growing season. Of course we’ll be working to increase the amount that we can harvest from the existing beds at the other sites, but quite a bit of time and energy will go to developing this new site. As always, you are welcome to join us. As soon as the dust settles, I’ll be updating the website so you’ll know when we’re at the site. It’s an exciting time to get involved.
