Happy new year, happy new trees?

One of the 33 new trees recently planted in the park

People have been asking us about the new trees planted recently in the park. And today, we got a handy update from ‘Kenny the tree man’ (at the Council).

In brief, these trees are to replace/off-set ones felled or likely to be short-lived and DON’T include fruit trees. There was a consultation in September 2021, which I missed.

They will get some green watering bags soon and will join the Council’s watering rota. But do give them a drink if you are passing: ‘a little from many will help keep their roots moist’. Even the end of a water bottle as you walk a dog or run past.

The Council are very supportive of planting fruit trees in the park, if people are interested. I have suggested that the area near the pavilion might be good. But we need to find places where the trees will thrive. In the meantime, we can enjoy our little orchard in the community garden. Details of all the trees we have planted in the garden are on the same webpage.

Season's greetings... with eight extra helpings of robins

‘Christopher ‘robin invites you to enjoy the garden at our Festive Get Together on Sunday 19 December 2021 from 2.30 to 4.30 - and every day.

The polytunnel is decorated for the holiday period. We have a bit of a willow/natural/recycled theme this year. But also with some things from charity shops and Scrapstore.

This year, we are especially thinking of people who won’t - for any reason - be able to meet with friends and family. Or who would rather do it somewhere outdoors, like the community garden.

And most of all… all the people who will be working harder than usual to provide services of any kind to our community, including the healthcare staff in and around our neighbouring hospitals. We do really appreciate what you do and send our love and best wishes.

Take care everyone and we wish you a very happy, healthy 2022.

A huge thank you to all our garden volunteers - every one of you has so many talents and kindness to share. You work hard for your garden community and we love to have you in the garden’s family. You are just stars.

Our last thank you is for the wider community around the garden - you donate plants (including this live Xmas tree), tools, resources, funds, join our Friends group, enjoy the garden and tell us so, which makes being involved in this project so rewarding every year…

Our robins were inspired by these small ones, available to buy on Etsy.

Lantern making to 'light up the garden'

Our ‘top volunteer’ Julia Leong has created the most amazing lantern making guide for the St Martin’s Day event on 11 November 2021. We are so lucky that she is part of our garden community.

It has several recipes - the owl is my favourite - I especially like its expression

If you can make one, it will also be useful for the event we are planning on Sunday 19 December at Wulfstan Way shops. Lanterns are very Autumn/Winter 2021 (AW21) you know…

But if you don’t have time, we would be delighted to see you anyway. It will get dark quickly so, for your safety, do bring at least a cycle light with you. Torches will be great. We are avoiding candles for safety reasons.

Artichoke harvesting

Jerusalem artichokes straight from the ground - with a Bocking 14 comfrey plant too.

On Sunday, our volunteers harvested our little crop of Jerusalem artichokes, mainly because we wanted to give some to a visiting student from a local college gardening club. We love to share plants and seeds with other gardeners. Six of us harvested just 15 or so plants. But it is fun to do. Ours were a gift a few years ago from Empty Common Community garden and aren’t as knobbly as others so easy to clean before eating. At Nightingale, they are growing in a poor spot and are always neglected - so are easy to grow. If they are in a better place, they have attractive yellow flowers and crop very heavily. Maybe we need to find them a better place to grow…

The large tubers we shared to eat and the small ones we saved to try out in local gardens and plots. They were new to our volunteers, who have come to live in Cambridge from all over the world. In the UK, Jerusalems are mainly eaten in soups or roasted. They taste similar to a parsnip. It will be interesting to see how our volunteers adapt them to their own culinary traditions. I have already heard they are delicious fried like chips and also made into rice congee.

Confusingly, there are other types of artichokes:

We grow globe artichokes around the garden. They were gifts from local gardens and plots and also we grow different types from seed. They do well in our free draining soil. We grow them mainly for their spectacular purple-centred flowers, which are very popular with garden visitors and also bees. The grey foliage is also beautiful and gives welcome structure over the Winter. They are cooked in quite a different way to the Jerusalems. Delicious but a bit of an investment in time.

Globe artichokes look a bit like our much taller cardoons, a ‘cousin’ to the globes, but their leaf stems are blanched to eat rather than the flower buds (I have never tried this). They were a gift from a local allotmenter - they had self-seeded all over her plot.

We also have some Chinese artichokes (bought from Incredible Vegetables) growing in one raised bed and we dug one up for the student gardeners. They have tiny white tubers and are a delicacy, tasting a little like water chestnuts.

We will aim to grow some red dwarf artichokes (also bought from Incredible Vegetables), when they have bulked up a bit more in a volunteer’s allotment. Last season, they tasted very good and are a bit easier to grow.

Not-so mini-beast trail

In time for school half-term holiday, Nightingale Garden has a new trail. It adds to the 12 small doors and 10 rabbits on the run. This time 14 minibeasts - mainly beetles - have come out of hiding to say hello.

How many can you spot? Do you like their names?

Big thanks to Julia who organised all the local families to do the painting for us. Such talent in the area.

They link with the beetle habitat work we have been doing: we now have a new dead hedge, a recently made beetle mound, well-established buried logs for stag beetles and lots of other hidey places for small creatures like our minibeast mansion, bug hotels, wood piles, compost bins and slow-rot bins. No wonder we meet so many of minibeasts everyday in the garden.

If you’d like to know more about being kind to beetles see the RHS/Wildlife Trust’s Wild about Gardens information.

Gate poster.

Moon festival - thank you!

“Thank for for celebrating the Moon Festival with us”. By Hsin-Ling Liang on behalf of all of us

“Thank for for celebrating the Moon Festival with us”. By Hsin-Ling Liang on behalf of all of us

We had such a lovely evening on 21 September - perfect weather - and so many people of all ages enjoying the garden. From the local Chinese-descent community but also the wider garden community. We had baking, calligraphy, dancing, flute playing, lantern-making, moon-cake eating, gardening, parachute flying, singing, tea drinking. But most of all people coming together and making new friends.

Some useful links:

  • Calligraphic art demonstration by Professor Tung-Hu Tsai of National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University in Taiwan and University of Cambridge (see image below).

  • Moon cakes - from Kang Chiao Bakery.

  • Grow your own harvest: take away a ‘Chinese veg’ plant (A4 poster about caring for them).

  • Storytelling (and photos) by Yuki Lin from Mandarin Go.

Busy with artwork and publications...

Francesca’s designs - for the Friends Group flyer and membership cards.

Francesca’s designs - for the Friends Group flyer and membership cards.

We are so fortunate to have very talented volunteers - not only those who look after the garden but also ones who make, paint, create for us. Over the Summer we have:

  1. Designed and published our first online printable newsletter. You can view this from the website but there is also a laminated copy attached to the metal table on the veranda.

  2. Designed a flyer, poster and membership card for our new Friends Group.

  3. Designed a new map of the most fun features in the garden. This is on posters, our Friends flyer and also on our visit webpage.

  4. Designed an image to support learning in the garden. We are really keen to do more to support this - either in your own time or as organised groups.

Massive thanks to local illustrator Francesca Luisi for the designs - we love them. And it has been a pleasure working with her ‘professionally’ as well as a garden volunteer. See her instagram page: @francesca_luisi_design.