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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Tuesday 27 September 2011

Mid-week harvest 21st September


My volunteers were very busy on wednesday preparing for the winter. My new tables have been painted to protect them from the weather.


Now that I have a nice new greenhouse, the old ones have been cleaned and packed away in case they are needed in the future.

I'm still producing plenty of beans, tomatoes and chillies, these will be great in hearty winter meals when the weather turns!


My late sown spinach and winter purslane are coming along nicely.


A big, fat spider is guarding my crops from pests and creepy crawlies!
Sunday 25 September 2011

Harvesting Lavender & Sunflowers

drying lavender in the new greenhouse
 
Cutting lavender



harvesting sunflower seeds
probably a leaf beetle with metallic red shell
Monday 19 September 2011

How many accountants does it take to transform a garden?

This week felt like my birthday as I was bestowed with so many presents - from a greenhouse to arches!

Here's an account (excuse the pun) of how it all happened...

 I began to hear the hum of human activity earlier than usual this Wednesday morning. By 9:30am, there were more than 20 volunteers in my midst, brandishing all sorts of tools, from electric drills to trowels. What could they be up to I wondered?



Here, take a look at David and these Ernst and Young ladies...What on earth are they scheming on together?



And what about these gentlemen? They look like they're onto something, brandishing that tape measurer and drill...



With the amount of gusto that these accounting folk threw into their work, it wasn't long before the plans began to shape up...can you guess what these hard working folk are making?







Whilst all of this work was going on outside, Pembroke House was also being transformed by a team of local volunteers into a space fit for a banquet!




Spot the home grown salad!


And here are the Pembroke House chefs and waiters who made this all possible. 



The freshly prepared meal went down well with the hungry volunteers, who devoured a menu of Walworth Salad, Thai Vegetable Curry, Biscuits and Cheese. 


After replenishing their energy stores, the volunteers soon got back to work and by 4.30 pm, I felt like I had had something of a makeover (Groundforce take note!)



Some of the hard working volunteers left with reluctance (despite working overtime!) as they didn't like to leave any work unfinished. On the other hand I was impressed with all that they had achieved in such a short space of time!

What with my new arches, greenhouse, vertical growing spaces and shelter, I can barely recognise my former myself (see below).


Since Wednesday I have been hearing rumours on the (soon to be home grown) grapevine, that some of the Ernst and Young crew would like to come back and complete the project. I am so very touched by their level of dedication. However since they have been gone, the local communtiy have been continuing to work on me, so the project is nearly complete...

Check out our finished greenhouse, which was kindly completed by the Pembroke House manager Aydin, and residential volunteer Thom.

And Adam and Laura from the Volunteer Centre also gave their spare time to help finish painting the vertical growing spaces. Don't they look great? And they will look even better when overflowing with edible delights too!



Hopefully the shelter will be complete soon... Adam from the volunteer centre is giving more of his spare time tomorrow to help with this so I will update you with news on that front soon!

So a huge thank you to everybody who helped with these most recent transformations...I feel very lucky to have had such an enthusiastic and practical bunch of folk working on me! And if you would like to help out again, please don't hesitate to contact me on pembrokecommunitygarden@gmail.com. As a living thing, a garden is never finished...
Thursday 8 September 2011

Wet Wednesday

I was damp and sluggish (full of slugs!) on the monthly volunteer-lunch Wednesday. The rain and being enthusiastically watered by my keen gardeners, has left me feeling soggy.
I was still able to provide a hearty harvest for the monthly garden lunch, including: a myriad of salad leaves, tomatoes, purple tomatillos, beetroot, beans and spring onions.
Some of my less successful courgette plants were added to the compost and winter salads were planted in their place. The soil level in these containers was raised slightly in an effort to allow greater air-flow around the bases of these new plants.
Seeds were gathered for over winter storage from my vigorous nasturtiums.
And I'm feeling fresh after my compost was given a good digging over.