From Gardens Where We Feel Secure

Some common or garden (or is that commoner garden?) events coming up locally:

Common Growth Community Garden Workshops

'First up is the kid's workshop on Wednesday 7th of August called herb spiral fun. It is suitable for children of all ages and runs from 10.30-12.00, and will involve fun learning activities, games and singing.

After that there will be an adult's workshop on Saturday 17th of August called Herbs and their uses and will run from 10.30 to 12.30. As usual this will be a mix of learning and practical activity.

The workshops are informal and fun, and it’s a great way to learn a few more gardening skills and share tips with other gardeners.

More information on the courses is given below. If you would like to attend any of them, or want more information, then please text Rich on 07901 360321 or email commongrowthuk@gmail.com giving the name of attendees and a contact telephone number. Places will be allocated on a first come first served basis. All courses are free, but we suggest a £3 voluntary donation to help cover the costs of materials.

Common Growth Community Garden, Sandbourne Road (on the corner with Jerningham Rd), SE4 2NS. http://goo.gl/maps/wu3GC'

Secret Garden Project Lewisham

Already underway is the Secret Garden Project Lewisham: 'Winding its way through Lewisham, fed by the River Thames (Deptford Creek) in the North, to Lower Sydenham and Beckenham in the South, the River Pool and Ravensbourne naturally define the boroughs parklands. Connected by the Waterlink Way, a cycle and foot path that follows the rivers, a series of new public art commissions; temporary, permanent and digital will investigate four parks, responding to their unique characteristics, communities and ecology.

'Launching in July 2013, Secret Garden Project Lewisham will manifest in Sue Godfrey Nature Park, Cornmill Gardens, Ladywell Fields and Riverpool Linear & Bellingham Play Park and will encourage people to discover and use urban green space in creative ways. These artworks form part of the pan-London Secret Garden Project, a programme of environmental art commissions produced by UP Projects'.

In the next couple of weeks they've got a series of events happening in the Deptford area, including:

Grasshoppers & Ghost Gardens, Saturday 10th August 2-4 pm

What has made Deptford the place that we know day? Share your stories of Deptford, as we walk from Sue Godfrey to John Evelyn Community Garden, taking in hidden pockets of green and ending with a feast of local food. Meet at Sue Godfrey Nature Park 2pm, Berthon Street, SE8

Clay Bottle Making, Sunday 11th August 2-5 pm

Revisit the history of Sue Godfrey Nature Park and make your own clay medicine bottles onsite.

Herbal Medicine Making

Saturday 17th August 11-4 pm

Working alongside herbalist Melissa Ronaldson,discover the medicinal properties of plants growing on your doorstep. Share your own recipes for home remedies, learn how to pick, process and bottle herbs to create a truly unique Deptford product. Meet at Sue Godfrey Nature Park at 11am

The Urban Immune System,Sunday 18th August 2-4 pm 

Join us for a shared meal and conversation with the artist, an ethno-botanist and herbalist, to examine the relationship between people and plants and the political dimensions of medicinal plant use. Meet at Deptford Lounge 2pm,  9 Gi­ffin Square, SE8 4RJ

All events free. To book please contact bethan@upprojects.com

 From Gardens Where We Feel Secure

Any excuse to get in a few verses of one of my favourite poems, A Summer Night (1933) by WH Auden:

Now north and south and east and west

Those I love lie down to rest;

The moon looks on them all,

The healers and the brilliant talkers,

The eccentrics and the silent walkers,

The dumpy and the tall.

She climbs the European sky,

Churches and power stations lie

Alike among earth’s fixtures:

Into the galleries she peers

And blankly as a butcher stares

Upon the marvelous pictures.

To gravity attentive, she

Can notice nothing here, though we

Whom hunger does not move,

From gardens where we feel secure

Look up and with a sigh endure

The tyrannies of love:

And, gentle, do not care to know,

Where Poland draws her eastern bow,

What violence is done,

Nor ask what doubtful act allows

Our freedom in this English house,

Our picnics in the sun.