Our Saturday 28 October 2023 garden work party was one of our last opportunities to work on the garden when the weather allowed it.
We made the most of that fact with an eventful session where we all got stuck in to tidying things up for winter…
Permaculture principle: “Observe & interact”
After doing our usual reccy, where we observe what’s going on with various ecosystem elements, and how things are growing in our forest garden, we assessed what plants needed cutting back and pulling up where they were overgrowing the space…
Permaculture principle: “Use and value diversity”
We planted some of our community garden’s home-grown garlic cloves to companion with the raspberry bushes in that bed.
Like most of the allium family, garlic is a natural insecticide, so it can help keep harmful insects away from raspberry plants a well as helping to improve the soil quality.
Permaculture principle: Use & value renewable resources & services
We did what we did all those years ago when we started this, and laid down cardboard to suppress the weeds.
Sticking to one section of the garden path, we set to work removing any tape and sticky bits from the carboard boxes (because they won’t decompose) then set down the sheets of cardboard along the path, making sure to secure it under the wooden edges…
Permaculture principle: “Integrate rather than segregate”
Meanwhile, in other areas of the garden, some of our volunteers were moving plants to new locations in the garden… with assistance from our friendly robin who always likes to grab any worms that pop up in the process!
We recognise that we haven’t always put things in the right place in our original garden layout, hence certain plants getting too big for their space.
The plan is to have redesign our garden into zones in the new year so that we plan ahead for how plants will grow and the relationships they will develop to support each other.
Permaculture principles: Use small and slow solutions & Obtain a yield
We mulched the beds, scattering any non-invasive weeds over the top of them.
And we picked out the last of the artichoke crop for some of us to take home and cook.
Permaculture principle: Produce no waste
With that, all that remained to do, was complete the section of path that we’d covered with cardboard. So we filled our wheelbarrows with woodchip and put that on top…
As you can see, everyone mucked in – big people and little helpers alike! It was great fun.
What a satisfying result to finish on before lunch!
Pumpkin carving
After our delicious bring and share lunch, a few of us did some pumpkin carving and went home very happy with our original pumpkin head creations ready to put out for Halloween.
