Category Archives: Affiliated Spaces

Courgette plants at ARU raised beds

by stephaniej

It’s only been three weeks since our last gardening session but the raised beds definitely need our attention in the summer months. The herb bed looks much the same but we recently identified the plant Par-cel. It’s a cross between parsley and celery. It smells delicious and Stéphanie can vouch for it adding a lovely flavour to stock.

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Nermin brought along some pea seedlings that she had grown in pots as well as two courgette plants. We’ve give the courgettes plenty of space and hope to enjoy the fruits of our labour this summer.

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We planted some peas directly in the soil at our last gardening session but the ones Nermin grew were definitely happier. This may be because there were no snails around to eat them.

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We moved all the broad beans to the raspberry bed and will create a shelter for them so that they don’t blow over.

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If you’d like to join us at The Plot for a gardening session, please email Stéphanie or Geoff. You can also join the Facebook group.

Pink strawberry flowers at ARU raised beds

by stephaniej
Anglia Ruskin University’s raised beds hosted a gardening session on Saturday the 14th of May. Erica, Nermin, Geoff and Stéphanie from ARU were joined by Sandra and Toni from Growing Spaces.
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We discovered a strawberry plant in the herb bed with beautiful bright pink flowers. Apparently it’s a Pink Panda strawberry and is mostly grown for ornamental purposes.

 

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The session started – as most gardening does – with weeding. Nermin and Sandra weeded the raspberry bed and Erica made sure that the dandelions in the strawberry patch didn’t spread.

 

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And thankfully after the weeding, we did some planting. Sandra brought broad beans, mizuna and some young tomato plants so we added those to the raspberry bed. Toni also brought broad beans and some peas. We planted the peas directly in the soil and Nermin took some home to grow on the window sill.

 

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If you’d like to join us at The Plot for a gardening session, please email Stéphanie or Geoff. You can also join the Facebook group.

A frog at ARU raised beds

by stephaniej

There are three raised beds on the Anglia Ruskin University campus in Cambridge, behind Peter Taylor house.

Geoff, Giuseppe and Stéphanie spent Sunday 10 April tending to the beds and created a new one too. One of the beds contains herbs (including chocolate mint) so we added some garlic as well as another rosemary bush, onions and some more mint.

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Rebecca from Nightingale Park gave us some strawberry plants so we decided to create a whole new bed for them. The soil is heavy clay so we added three inches of leaf mould and compost to the area. We’ll add straw at a later stage to make sure the fruit doesn’t touch the ground and rot.

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On one of our trips to the compost heap we came across this adorable frog. As you can see from the picture, he didn’t hop away and was quite happy to pose for a picture!

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If you’d like to join us at The Plot for a gardening session, please email Stéphanie or Geoff. You can also join the Facebook group.

ARU Raised Beds

by Geoff
ARU Forage bed

ARU Forage bed

Anglia Ruskin University Residential Service have joined Growing Spaces to link students and the local community through a love of free food.

Located behind Peter Taylor House in the eastern corner of the campus the forage bed is so named because there are no labels. You are advised to use a guide to identify the herbs and fruits in this bed before picking them and be doubly sure before eating them! This approach challenges students to educate themselves on plant identification. Otherwise look out for I.D. Harvest events or contact the group organiser Geoff Morley for access through the ARU Allotment Club group on Facebook.