Open Eco Gardens – 14 July

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This relatively new housing complex off Brooklands Avenue is a good demonstration of careful thought relating to how garden features would play an important part in this community when it was designed. Shared garden spaces feature rain butts, espalier fruit trees, which residents have learned to look after themselves, and raised beds that have been guerilla gardened to grow mini-crops. Children play together safely in the garden areas while bats roost in an old pill box converted into a “bat hotel” – see a video about here! This is a must-see for planners, architects and people looking for a great example of community cooperation.

This is a relatively new planting project, part of a household with a strong sense of community and many shared interests including eco-gardening and building structures. The household is currently reshaping the space in growing with a mix of permaculture and aquaponics, with two geodesic dome structures built partly from recycled materials. The owners compost and process our waste using worms, have begun bee keeping, and dry and process local foraged plants and those grown for medicinal, food and herbal tea purposes.

This is a large family garden used for growing food and keeping chickens as well as some natural areas for wildlife. There are some mature trees including a mirabel plum, a small wildlife pond and fruit and vegetables are grown in raised beds. There are also plenty of cultivated and wild flowers to attract bees and provide ground cover between the vegetables. The chickens are integrated into the garden as well as being kept for eggs. They are used to clear the raised beds in spring and autumn, they eat kitchen scraps and their manure is composted along with garden and kitchen waste.

A small forgotten public space tucked in a city council housing site was rescued by Transition Cambridge’s Growing Spaces project and re-planted with fruit trees, fruit bushes and herbs using permaculture design. In addition to hearing about the space and the design on this tour, you can learn more about Growing Spaces and the challenges and rewards associated with using public spaces to grow food. Visit at 1:30pm to hear from the Project Coordinator!

This garden has it all! Since the owners moved in 4 years ago, a featureless lawn and driveway has been transformed. Not only is it attractive all year round, but it conserves water, grows food and encourages wildlife. The front garden was changed from grass into a productive vegetable garden, using companion planting (and a frog) to cut down on pests and four water butts supply water. Another lawn was turned into a mini ‘wild flower meadow’ that includes heritage varieties of fruit trees. There is also a south facing herb garden and examples of drought tolerant planting in a contemporary prairie style. Wildlife is encouraged through log piles for habitat, stylish planters created from recycled materials and seed heads left on throughout winter for food. The garden owner will also share gardening tips and ideas from the large public garden where she works. This garden is slightly outside Cambridge but is right on the No. 18 bus service and the cycle path from Newnham. A plant stall and cakes will also be available in aid of local charities.

Visit this private garden which makes good use of spaces in both front and back of the house. Fruit and veg grow in the front where cars used to park. In the back, fruit and nut trees are being established, the lawn is managed as a wildflower meadow (interspersed with children’s toys). The residents manage their own wood supply out of the back garden as well, and make use of a unique wood cutting table. Digging up the pond provided enough soil for a small green roof, and most kitchen and garden waste is recycled in a compost and wormery heap.

Visit some raised borders on Romsey Rec that have been planted with mainly drought-tolerant Mediterranean plants which were established last spring in the middle of a drought by Romsey Garden Club members. These plants now should not need any watering other than rainfall and are great for bees and butterflies. Many also have colourful evergreen foliage that looks good even when not in flower. This little garden will demonstrate what could be done in a small space even in drought, and also doubles as an example of smart public landscaping by local volunteers. Get a chance to speak with one of these volunteers at 10am.

Visit this garden outside the FLACK office which is an initiative of their homeless members.  They’ve turned a small area of scrubland outside the office into a vegetable garden and now have lots of vegetables growing and thriving, as well as being very inventive about using found receptacles and turning them into plant pots!  Don’t miss this garden if you want inspiration on how to take a neglected piece of land and turn it into something productive! Stop by at 11:30am for a guided tour of the garden.

Fulbourn Trio – Fulbourn is opening up three gardens, as well as inviting visitors to look at their community herb beds and visit the Community Market (open 2:30-4:30). See descriptions of their three Open Eco Gardens below.

This Fulbourn garden has been built up over the years to include grow your own aspects, including fruit trees and blackberries.

Join a master composter for a tour of his organic garden fed by compost, comfrey and nettle juice. If you’re particularly interested in the composting aspect of gardening, this is definitely the garden for you!

This organic, permaculture garden is packed with fruit (17 varieties), and is boosted by raised beds for vegetables and herbs. The raised beds were installed in 2009 (the photo was taken just after they were built) through a  Grow Zones wherein households work together over a season with everyone doing some work in each other’s gardens using permaculture design (an approach to garden design based on the relationships seen in nature). Come and see how it’s growing and evolving towards a nature-rich forest garden. There’s also a lean-to with workbench and woodstores made from largely reclaimed and recycled materials, plus two pallet compost bins, three water butts and a squirrel-proof bird feeder.

Trumpington Allotments – The Trumpington Allotments are opening up their doors to share a variety of features found on the site. There will be two tours lasting longer than the other Open Eco Garden visits as there is so much to see. They will each be approximately an hour an a half to two hours, one beginning in the morning at 10am and one starting in the afternoon at 1:30pm. The five features included on the tour are described below.

If you’ve ever wanted to learn a little about beekeeping, this is the Open Eco Garden visit for you!  This February a living willow screen was planted and hedge laid in the area where the bees are to help reduce the chances of the bees causing problems for adjacent plot holders, so you’ll also get to hear about this unique feature and how it was built.

This community orchard adjacent to the allotments site is full of a wide variety of fruit and nut trees including many heritage varieties. You’ll find many kinds of apples, plums, mulberry, quince and more. See what grows here, learn about planting and pruning fruit trees and how a community orchard operates. Visit their website here.

The Community Polytunnel allows allotment users to extend the growing season and grow plants which require more heat. Visit and see what’s being grown and how a community polytunnel is managed.

If you want to focus your Open Eco Garden visit on growing your own, you won’t want to miss this large allotment plot managed organically for 15 years. Originally taken to help regenerate the site, this allotment has supplied a market stall and been used for teaching, as well as feeding Dave and friends. It is slowly changing from all-dig to less strenuous methods. Crops include annual vegetables grown in a bed system, while a new forest garden area contains soft and top fruit, hazels and other perennials. In addition to wildlife, Dave tries to encourage human visitors including the local primary school, participants in GYO sessions and members of the CamLETS scheme, and hopefully you!

The Hazel Platt at the Trumpington Allotments site has been planted with nut bearing filberts (hazel) and standard hazel and sweet chestnut for coppicing. The plan is to harvest the nuts and to provide beans poles for the allotment’s trading hut and also biomass for wood local stoves with the help of volunteers. This plot has a field maple tree on it that is probably about 100 years old, which is very rare for this tree type.