About Me

Pembroke Pocket Garden
London, SE17 1QR, United Kingdom
Pembroke Pocket Garden is a pocket of space in the heart of Walworth for people to get together, experiment with growing and sharing food, and have creative fun along the way… The container garden is located within the grounds of the community centre Pembroke House, and is entirely what the community makes of it. The space has lots of potential, not only as a place for experimenting with ways of growing food, but also as a venue for events, exhibitions, pop up cafes, outdoor cinema, workshops and more… Pembroke Pocket Garden welcomes new folk all year around, so if you are interested in getting involved and being part of bringing this community space to life, please get in touch by contacting pembrokecommunitygarden@gmail.com
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Saturday 17 December 2011

Make do and mend.

One new 'temporary' greenhouse made from bits of two old broken greenhouses...
Wednesday 14 December 2011

Windy deposit



Yesterday's gusts have given our greenhouse a fresh new identity.

It had to be brought back from next door's garden



















A few sad chilli plants
Thursday 17 November 2011

Wednesday 16th November

Everyone finds the Tomatillos delicious! We impressed some of the ladies on the Inspire biscuit baking course with them. And we have lost many to slugs and snails. Oh well.

Jenny the Cook is using up the last of this year's tomatoes in a Chutney. She has promised us the recipe!

Possible New Look for the Garden! We're trying out ways of increasing the growing space, and making the Garden a more exciting place to walk around.
Wednesday 16 November 2011

London Wildlife Trust

The Centre for Wildlife Gardening in Peckham has lots of great info posted up around the garden.


Harvested seeds hanging inside the classroom
Friday 11 November 2011

FREE CONSENSUS DECISION MAKING WORKSHOP


FREE CONSENSUS DECISION MAKING WORKSHOP
Sat 26th Nov 2011
10am-5pm
Pembroke House, Tatum Street, Walworth
SE17 1QR

Are you interested in learning how to help your community group make decisions collectively?

If so, this is the workshop for you!

Consensus decision making is a creative and dynamic way of reaching agreement between all members of a group. Instead of simply voting for an item and having the majority of the group getting their way, a consensus group is committed to finding solutions that everyone actively supports - or at least can live with.
The workshop will be facilitated by Seeds of Change, a non-profit training and support co-op which helps people organise for action and positive social change.
To register, please click here If you are part of a local group, it would be ideal to have at least two of your members attend the workshop. This is because it is considerably easier for two people or more to feedback the learning outcomes of the workshop to their group.

The host - Pembroke Community Garden, is especially keen to have other food growing groups and local community groups participate, as it is interested in creating and strengthening local networks.
The workshop is free and will include a bring and share lunch.  So if you do register, please bring some food with you to share.

If you have any questions please emailpembrokecommunitygarden@gmail.com or call 07871955394.

Wednesday 9th November

 The Garlic 'Marco' is doing well already, and has not been eaten by squirrels yet!
The Elephant Garlic is slower to sprout, but is just pushing through the soil.

Many of the tomatoes are hanging down close to the wet ground now that the branches are old and sagging. Many are rotting on the vine...
..so, the tomatoes in danger of rotting have been placed in the greenhouse in the hope that as many as possible will continue to ripen.
Some have already ripened in the greenhouse. Should we think about collecting their seeds for next year?
The Winter Parsline is doing very well. How do we eat this?
Somebody (squirrels?) is digging big holes and digging up our beetroot!
The beetroots need to be thinned to give those that aren't eaten by squirrels enough space to grow and get fat.
We need to keep an eye on drainage during the winter....

Someone has even started digging holes in the pots in the greenhouse!
The Hazel has started budding, so hopefully we will have plenty of Hazelnuts next year. The broken branches have been tidied up.

We must remeber next year to harvest the Tomatellos more often. So many have dropped and been eaten by slugs and snail. It would be nice if they shared more with us!
Wednesday 2 November 2011

Wednesday 2nd November


On the way to the Garden, a punnet of figs was collected from Chumleigh Gardens in Burgess Park!


The broad beans planted last month are doing well.


And the garlic planted two weeks ago, have sprung up too.


The tiny chilli plants re-potted and placed in the greenhouse are doing well and some have started to flower.


Also in the greenhouse, the runner beans have dried and can be stored for planting out in the spring.


Compost!
The three compost bins were emptied out and mixed together.
All the twiggy bits were cut up in to smaller pieces to ease composting.
Once mixed together, the compost was put back in to one container, with layers of shredded cardboard, tomato plants in between and a sheet of plastic covering the whole bin to keep the compost nice and warm.


Found in amongst the compost was this sprouting avacado seed. This has been potted up and put in the greenhouse.


And found in the mounds of things waiting to be put in the skip were these potatoes desperate for some soil to get themselves started. Next week, these need planting!


A leaf from the tree that we have been told is a terrible weed and we should cut it down before it takes over the garden. Seems to be a Hazel though, so we could get some lovely Hazelnuts off it if we can beat the squirrels to them.
A five year cycle of coppicing right down to the base is recommended to ensure bushy growth. As this once has pretty much been coppiced down to the base, we can probably leave it for another five years, gathering Nuts in May (or at least in the autumn)!


Saturday 22 October 2011

Inside the greenhouse and out

Some of the tomato plants are completely dying back for the winter, but they still have tomatoes ripening on them....

Some of these tomatoes have been put in the greenhouse to ripen.
Some beans and peppers have also been put in the warmth of the greenhouse in the hope that they will dry and the seeds be collected for planting next spring.
Inside the greenhouse peppers are turning a wonderful red, but outside, they are still flowering and fruiting too...
This chilli plant has vigourously flowered and fruited after the chillies it grew earlier in the year were left on the plant until they had dried in the sun. These were all harvested (for delicious and spicy meals) and the plant has done it's utmost to replace it's lost fruit and seeds.

The strawberry runners potted up and put in the greenhouse to over winter aren't looking too good.
They have now been watered, but look like they are going to need more regular attention...
Clover, our Green Manure experiment, is sprouting well, but has been dug up a bit by squirrels. A wire mesh has been placed over this container, which will hopefully protect the tiny plants.

Planting Garlic


Autumn is the time of year to plant garlic bulbs.
Each bulb splits easily in to cloves, each clove can grow in to a new plant.


Potted up in soil-based compost, the cloves should be planted pointy end up and pushed an inch down into the soil.

Garlic is ideal for growing in containers, so we have potted some up ready to be taken home by green-fingered cooks from our Harvest Festival and BBQ on Wednesday 26th October.

We have also planted some Garlic 'Marco' and huge bulbs of Elephant Garlic for the garden.
And covered the delicious bulbs with, what we hope is, squirrel-proof wire....

Watch a video about how to plant garlic here.
Thursday 20 October 2011

Bring and Share BBQ and Harvest Festival: 26th October 6pm


Come and join us for a Harvest Festival/Birthday Party at Pembroke Community Garden.
Featuring Live Music from Nigel of Bermondsey

Bring something delicious to BBQ and share with friends and neighbours 

 See how much we have achieved in a year with just a few recycling boxes and some dedicated volunteers!

Saturday 15 October 2011

Feed the soil, not the plant!

Understanding Soil and Soil Life, Plus Mulches and Leaf Mould
Capital Growth course at Regent’s Park Allotment Garden 15th October 2011

Our new mantra:
Feed the soil, not the plant!


Soil is surprisingly rare on the planet; what with the sea taking up so much and mountains being about, there is only about 10% of the earth's surface that is covered in usable soil, and this is the same bit we keep building cities on!

To grow plants soil must be kept:
  • Moist
  • Warm
  • Aerated
  • Fed
Soil should be fed with:
  • Humus – this is what we are making in our compost heap
  • Vermicompost and Worm Juice– we could make this with a wormery

The pH balance of the soil is very important and for most plants should be kept at a neutral pH of about 7.
Soil should be tested regularly and the balance altered to keep it in the most fertile range. If it is too acid, we can add lime. If it is too alkaline, we can add more compost or manure.

Corrugated cardboard is good to add to compost heaps as it contains lime, used in its manufacture, it also adds carbon and allows for air to circulate the heap more easily so the bacteria can breath and compost our compost for us.
Wednesday 12 October 2011

Strawberries & Magic Beans

Alpine strawberry runners potted up for next year

old marigolds

Garlic chives

Three magic beans

Out with the old, in with the new


The harvest is still coming, but much of the garden is settling down for winter now. 
We dug up the mint and comfrey that had Powdery Mildew and planted Clover as Green Manure in the vacant boxes. 
We have also planted tulip bulbs and broad beans ready for the spring.
As many strawberry runners as we could pot up have been placed in the greenhouse to over winter. We should have plenty of strawberries for Strawberries and Cream in the garden next summer.
.
Aphids are enjoying our Mustard plants! The affected parts of the plant have been removed and disposed of.

Beautiful white 'Margo' Runner Beans were harvested for planting next year.

The Sweet Peppers were harvested and the rest of the plant removed. 
(These were lovely roasted for my dinner!)