Capital Growth

Learning allot about food growing

Sarah Williams provides an update on Capital Growth, the London Food Link campaign to support 2,012 new community food-growing spaces by the end of 2012

Capital GrowthThe Campaign now has over 500 registered spaces – well on the way to its target, and the Capital Growth team is working hard to increase the support it provides these spaces. The team has developed a new urban food-growing training programme, now being run at space number 500, The Regent’s Park Allotment Garden. This is a new food-growing site developed by The Royal Parks, run in partnership with Capital Growth.

The garden has been designed as a training site, with a mixture of low beds, high beds and ground planting. The Capital Growth beds are maintained by volunteers, who
also help with training and events.

“The site is in a great location and to encourage lots of people to pop in we have put together a variety of activities, from kids events to ‘ask the expert sessions’,” says Amy Solomons, the site’s volunteer co-ordinator.

Training has already started: so far there have been sell-out two-and-a-half hour sessions covering seed sowing, planning a garden and composting. Future sessions include: understanding soils and soil life; winter growing/seed saving; and container growing, plus training specially designed for Capital Growth schools.

Visit www.capitalgrowth.org/training for training dates, or if you are interested in volunteering at our open days (and can commit at least one Saturday each month) contact sarah@sustainweb.org to be considered for future recruitment.

Open days

Come visit our beautiful site in the heart of one of London’s finest parks, on the following open days:

  • Sat 17 July 2010 – Drop-in/Q&A session
  • Sat 31 July 2010 – Ask the experts
  • Sat 13 August 2010 – Ask the experts
  • Fri 21 August 2010 – Ask the experts
  • Wed 25 August 2010 – Children’s day
  • Sat 18 September 2010 – Container growing
  • Sat 26 September 2010 – Harvest festival

The team is also organising discounts, competitions, and a new volunteer-matching service, making it easier to find volunteers or to get involved in a site if you are not already. Visit www.capitalgrowth.org/spaces to find out more, and don’t forget to sign up for our in-kind support if you are involved in a community food-growing project in London.

Growing calendar

JULY

  • Often a dry month, so water thoroughly – roots not leaf – and use mulches to retain the moisture of soil or compost.
  • Use a knife to snip off courgettes; best when firm and slender. The flowers are also a delicacy.
  • Sow beetroot, carrots, chard, fennel, French beans (dwarf varieties), lettuce, peas (early varieties), radishes, spring onions and turnips.

AUGUST

  • Rotate squashes to make sure all sides catch the sun. Place a tile or piece of paving slab under each fruit to prevent rot and retain heat. Harvest with a few inches of stalk – to help with storage.
  • Pinch out the tips of your runner beans when they reach the top of canes or supporting structure.
  • Try ripening green tomatoes by placing in a paper bag with a banana.

SEPTEMBER

  • Place your orders for garlic, best sown in autumn to establish roots before winter. Have a go at Elephant garlic, a giant version, allowing a few plants to eventually go to flower.
  • Sow crops for winter such as chervil, chicory, Oriental greens, lambs lettuce, land cress, mustards, spinach, rocket and winter purslane.

Tom Moggach

Tom Moggach and Chris Heath from City Leaf are teachers who offer food-growing training to groups and individuals, plus site assessments and project consultancy. Call 020 7485 9262 or email info@cityleaf.co.uk. For free monthly growing tips, sign up for the City Leaf newsletter: www.cityleaf.co.uk