We stocked this long, formerly weed-occupied space along a fence with as many fruit bushes as we could so I like to call the Wycliffe Fruit Aisle. Wycliffe Road is very near to one of the large supermarkets in Cambridge, but residents should soon be able to pick their own soft fruit, including strawberries, blueberries, tayberries, raspberries and blackcurrants. A great example of how you can use fruit bushes instead of other evergreen shrubbery to landscape.
At Woodlands Care Centre, in collaboration with Young at Heart, a community project aimed at building links to help bridge the divide between younger and older people, we created two new veg plots and built a raised herb bed. This was based on consultation with the staff and residents, through which we recognized the need to accommodate wheelchair users and those that had reduced mobility. The veg bed continues thanks to a Transition volunteer with family in residence at Woodlands, and in June 2013 a crop of broad beans were harvested and served up as part of a meal for all residents!
A tiny space outside St. Regis where a gap had formed in the existing landscaping. Since we enjoy harvesting and drying our own rosemary, we planted an extra two bushes outside the front doors of the building, filling in a space that needed a new plant. When we dug down into the space we found several bricks. There’s never any guarantee that your space will be in pristine condition! The rosemary has now quadrupled in size and is enjoying its new home along with irises that were removed from another space we reclaimed and some nasturtiums.
At St. Regis, college graduate housing for Clare College, residents transformed a corner of the lawn into three rich beds producing fresh fruit, vegetables and herbs. The beds slowly took shape, starting with the original two and then expanding to a third the following year. A herb spiral is a main feature, providing lots of fresh herbs for residents to share. The garden is a great way for people in the building to get to know each other. Last year when new students and their partners moved into the building at the beginning of the academic year they each received a ‘welcome onion’ grown from the garden.
The Romsey Community Garden is a thriving community garden transformed from a partial lot which had been cut off from the rest of the house and lot adjacent many years before and had become overgrown. With permission from the city council local group Ad-Lib and Transition Cambridge took over, cleared the space and turned it into a beautiful community area that grows fruit, vegetables, flowers, as well as provides a communal meeting space. For more photos and information, visit the Romsey Community Garden website here and check out their new blog here.
These four planters on Norfolk Street had been neglected for some time, so we asked the shopkeepers nearby if they wouldn’t mind if we cleaned them up and put in a few herbs. They were more than happy with that, so we took out a big bag of rubbish, weeds and cigarette butts and planted some chives, mint and parsley. Sadly these plants struggled in the difficult space, but our efforts did encourage the renewed care of these planters and the following year we found them planted with bright flowers. The begonia flowers in the middle are even edible!
On Norfolk Street, this small bed outside Ashley Court was full of weeds, especially vine weed, but it was cleared and offered to us to plant some new plants in. We suggested some edibles, and in the first year we tried out some purple sprouting broccoli, squash and courgettes. Caterpillars ate all the courgettes but the squash and broccoli did quite well. The following year we planted some perennials, including gooseberry bushes, curry plants and strawberries. The thick mulch keeps the weeds away and the bed is very low-maintenance.
The front beds at Browns Field Community Centre were in need of a little work in the spring of 2012. A long hedge of roses and some ornamental grasses had a space between them which had formerly been wildflowers. We put down a rich layer of compost and mulch, and planted strawberries, herbs, raspberry bushes, and lots of nasturtiums to give the space some colour. In between the two beds was a walkway that looked like a bridge, so we emphasized flowing elements in this design, with big clumps of herbs and flowers connected by a river of strawberries.
This space was a small empty lot that had suffered some vandalism and most of the original plants landscaped there had died off. The city council was considering paving over it, but with permission we instead planted it with 3 apple trees, a hazel tree and several herbs and soft fruit plants. It’s now thriving under the watchful eye of some supportive neighbours. A brilliant transformation!
This is our second space at Hanover Court, which was quite a bit larger than the first. Some recycling bins were removed from the area, opening up this space underneath a tree. We chose a more geometric pattern with small evergreen shrubs, including Winter Savory, Prostrate Rosemary, Curry, and Silver Thyme. The colours of the leaves will complement each other year-round, and each has a different colour flower.