There is an area on the other side of the church that is a bit wilder and more natural and is supposed to have a meadow but the contractors didn't sow it. Because of this I am allowed to use this are for "community projects". So I have been planning a garden of sorts that is to resemble a native hedge or woodland edge, where everything there is edible or useful to people in some way. To be honest this does count most things in, but with this focus there is an extra oomph and ahh. And it means that it all has to be considered properly.
I'm going to do something similar to this, on a smaller scale, on the allotment. I have no way of knowing if we will be able to do it in the park.
Here is a snippet of my plan for the plants.
I'm quite proud of my cobbled together design work on this, all done in power point as I have no other programme to use. And the background images used to colour the symbols are all photos taken on site. No clip art here.
I was thinking a lot about how community gardening projects, especially those done by artists, are rubbish. They are really dishonest. I'm hoping that this addresses that. I wrote a bit for the plan to try and explain about this diplomatically.
With community focused growing and gardening projects becoming increasing popular it seems that there is a call for public green space to be presented in a form that can enable people to interact with spaces, not only in the creation of areas but also to take a more proactive view of the way that they can continue to use the provision. The ‘keep off the grass’ type of garden can be replace with a space that can be explored and used. Project such as What if-VACANT_LOT and Fritz Haeg’s edible estates have focused on the provision of a garden space for local people to be able to grow their own food. Whilst anything that encourages people to get interested in plants and nature is to be commended I feel that the energy in these projects is misdirected. I appreciate that seeing a tomato growing on the bush or pulling a carrot from the ground is exciting and goes a long way to educate about the food we eat, but it is misleading to suggest that these projects will feed the community or necessarily make a green space into a lovely environment.
These projects are also very work intensive in the long run, vegetables will need to be replanted and tended. These plants have been bred to be grown in this way, tended on an allotment or kitchen garden, to get larger quantities of food. To my mind this type of planting is not suitable for community projects where a garden is needed that can develop over time without constant attention, provide aesthetic pleasure for most/all of the year and work in conjunction with the LBAP.
With this in mind I think that the choice of plants is what can enable a garden or planted area to go beyond just being some nice flowers and interesting leaves, into a garden that can excite interest, be used to facilitate education and foster an understanding of how plants and the natural world are valuable to our everyday lives. For this garden I have chosen only plants that grow wild in the UK, to be useful to biodiversity, and plants that are edible or useful to humans. This focus on useful Plants means that a conversation can be started around the plants used, people will be able to see leaves, flowers and fruit that they recognise, others that can be wondered about what they might be used for. This type of planting will be able to create connections between what grows wild and plants that we use.
These plants should be suitable to grow in the site suggested without the need for much care and tending. The plants should naturalise the area, spreading, self seeding and competing for space. These plants should grow into a natural garden that should not need large amounts of ongoing care.
The plants chosen will also increase the variety of habitat and the availability of food for birds and insects and within the project there will be the potential to further increase habitats with the installation of log piles, ground cover and bird boxes etc. The project should directly address targets in the LBAP.
LBAP is the local biodiversity action plan, by the way.
Hopefully that explains it. I just think its crap how arty folk come along and take a cheap swipe using some courgette plants and think that is good enough.
It's kinda nice but it's not good enough.
With gardening hand in hand with nature in mind, there was an interesting programme on the radio. Part of radio 4's 'nature' series. Personally I consider this type of thing a no brainer and all will be encouraged to visit our garden. Apart from the squirrels, whom I hate for their rudeness. The programme talks about the forum for gardening with wildlife in mind and they have a manifesto that I'm whole heartedly embracing.
Download it and read it now.
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