Rockaway's Community Forest Garden is Thriving

Our Community Forest Garden is thriving thanks to the work of our brilliant new Head Gardener, Penny Austin, and our wonderful volunteers. We're also delighted to see more visitors in the garden exploring the beautiful green spaces.

When Chris Packham visited in August for our wildlife activism event (One For The Animals) Penny took him on a tour of the garden and he loved what’s happening there, like the abundance of caterpillars happily feasting, which all add to increased biodiversity. Much of the conversation Penny had with Chris was centred around how to keep some of our greedier wildlife at bay and they both agreed that electric fencing is a good solution.

We also recently discovered that the new compost bins have been raided through a series of tunnels created by the badgers, who’ve absconded with the majority of tasty green stuff and most of the worms. Metal plating has now been screwed to the bottom of the bins to prevent further raids!

We’ve been gifted some lovely perennial herbs and native plants from Earthsong Seeds for our wildflower area, which will incorporate a wider range of plants that can withstand the changing weather. Big pumpkins and squashes are taking over the vegetable beds and with the new gates and fencing now in place the amount of produce for the Vegan Café should increase. Penny has several projects planned for the garden volunteers, including clearing out and planting up the entrance to the garden, as well as planting baby strawberry plants.

Penny’s first course on biodiversity in the garden was also a great success in August and the feedback has been really encouraging.

Don’t forget that the Sustainable Gardening in a Changing Climate course begins this weekend on 7th September. Active garden volunteers also have the opportunity to take part in Penny’s garden courses for free!

If you'd like to get involved and help the Community Forest Garden continue to grow, please get in touch via the link on the Garden webpage HERE.

If you'd like to take part in Penny's gardening course, you can check out all the details on Our Workshops & Courses page HERE.

We look forward to welcoming more of you to experience the magic of the Community Forest Garden!