Blackstock Triangle Gardeners
Our project started in 2009
In 2009, Islington council’s wildflower seed give-away for tree pits inspired two neighbours, Naomi Schillinger (that’s me above) and Nicolette Jones, to start up a community growing project in North London.
As the wildflowers flourished in the tree pits, so did friendships. Neighbours started to get to know one another, swapping plants and helping each other with gardening jobs. Two adjoining streets entered into the 2009 ‘Islington in Bloom’ competition and were delighted to win 5 awards between them, including a specially created community award. Great joy!! By 2010 the council had stopped giving away seeds, but the enthusiasm for growing was now unstoppable and after a chance meeting with another enthusiastic gardener, the idea growing vegetables in front gardens was born. The veg growing idea was to experiment with the ’3 sisters project’ where corn, runner beans and squashes were all grown in one grow-bag to create a symbiotic growing relationship.
Neighbours sharing tea and cake while picking up free seeds
By knocking on doors, emailing neighbours and leafleting the streets, 50 households joined up to grow vegetables in grow-bags in their front gardens. To help pay towards the project, funding was given to us from ‘Capital Growth’ and Islington Gardeners. Free seeds were then given away to all participating residents at an event that we called ‘Cake Saturday’. Many neighbours made delicious home-made cakes which were served up with tea and coffee in a front garden.
It was a very jolly gathering where some neighbours met each other for the first time and learnt about the growing project.
Grow-bag deliveries
Soon after the seed give-away, residents pitched in with delivering the free grow-bags (full of compost) to front gardens,
and neighbours were then all set for growing their vegetables.
Planting up tree pits
Islington council were so impressed with our project that they asked us to be a part of their entry into both ‘London in Bloom’ and ‘Britain in Bloom’ and helped us to green-up our area by edging 15 tree pits, so that with a deeper pit we could plant up perennials. They also generously donated some money to buy plants for the tree pit
Many residents also bought plants and enthusiastically took ownership of a tree pits.
As well as greening up tree pits, we were also very lucky in receiving grants to remove concrete from 10 front gardens. This dramatically improved the look of both the individual garden and the surrounding gardens and also helped to increase drainage in the area too.
Here’s a ‘before’ pic from one front garden,
and here’s the ‘after’ pic. The garden is transformed from dismal to delightful.
As the summer progressed, so the crops grew, and by the end of August, the grow-bags were looking very impressive.
As a celebration of our growing success, and just to catch up with one another, we organised another ‘Cake’ event
to which over 50 residents attended, plus our local police force!
It’s now the end of summer in 2010. The growing project has been hugely successful in bringing our community together, and in 2011 we hope to increase participating households from 50 to 100. Funding is tight this year due to cuts, but we hope to raise enough money to carry on, encouraging neighbours to green-up our area, to grow vegetables and to continue getting to know one another. Since starting our projects, we’ve formed a constituted group called the Blackstock Triangle Gardeners to reflect the area that we live in.
6th April 2011
Still waiting to hear back from funders to see if we can get funding for this year. In the meantime, the streets are looking glorious with our daffodils in full bloom.
15th April 2011
Hurrah! We have just received a letter letting us know that we have funding from the Islington Community Chest to continue our project this year. All systems go! Lots to do. We need to organise free compost delivery , order grow bags, update the list of participating neighbours and add new residents to this (by knocking on doors!), buy veg seeds for the bags and wildflower seeds for tree pits and organise van hire and volunteers to distribute the bags of compost. Not forgetting another ‘Cake Saturday’ event when neighbours get gather together, over tea and cake, to discuss this year’s growing project and indeed anything else. Think I need to take a deep breath!
We’re counting out and packing up our runner bean seeds (above) as our next event is ‘Cake Sunday’ on Sunday 15th May where we are giving away free seeds and plants and catching up over tea and home-made cakes. Do contact me at contact.outofmyshed@gmail.com if you would like to join us.
22nd May 2011
Another spring and another ‘Cake Sunday’.
Our knocking on doors and emailing neighbours has paid off and many residents got together last weekend in one of our front gardens to pick up their free seeds and to discuss the veg growing scheme for this year over tea and cakes.
Last year we experimented with growing corn, squash and runner beans in growbags in front gardens, with the help of a Capital Growth grant.
Following its success, especially with the runner beans, this year we’re giving away free runner bean, spinach and radish seeds (thanks to funding received from the Cripplegate Foundation and Islington Gardeners) and as before, large growbags, full of rich compost, will be delivered to residents’ front gardens in a couple of weeks.
We also have a specially concocted mix of annual and perennial wildflower seeds to give away, which we sourced from Landlife Wildflowers, to sow at the base of our street trees. These tree pits really enliven the area and do encourage dog owners to be more responsible about where their dogs do their business!
And once again, one of our local community police officers was on hand to offer support,
and signed up the local police station at the end of our street to join the veg growing scheme.
This year we’re managed to double the number of participating households from 50 to 100 as more neighbours are keen to join in growing vegetables and above all, want to get to know other residents in their neighbourhood. As numbers of participating households increase, the Blackstock Triangle area in Finsbury Park is becoming an even more friendly place to live!
Yesterday,we spent the whole day distributing green growbags (as in pic above) to our neighbours’ front gardens for this year’s Community veg growing project. Pic above is also part of a 4 page article in Gardening Which? this month. Unfortunately I can’t include a link to our article, as it’s only accessible to members, so below I’ve copied and pasted the rest of the article. That’s me above (in pink) in my front garden last May.
Most photos were taken last year during the growbags give-away day in May and at the end of the growing season in August.
This year, we’ve doubled the number of participating households from 50 to 100!
Neighbours can now start growing their beans in the growbags provided, and we’ll get together in a couple of months over tea and cake (again!) to catch up at the end of the growing season. Meanwhile, word about our veg project is spreading…………………
Blackstock Triangle Gardeners scheme wins Which? Gardening praise
Growing interest in gardeners
READERS of a leading consumer magazine have praised an award-winning project that is bringing people together by transforming their front gardens.
Writing in the current edition of Which? Gardening, one correspondent, who said she had been the victim of a mugging, described how reading about the Blackstock Triangle Gardeners scheme had “restored my faith in human nature”.
Last month the magazine devoted a four-page colour photo spread to the green-fingered Finsbury Park residents in an area around Ambler, Plimsoll, Prah, St Thomas’s and Monsell roads who are part of the scheme. Along with flowers and herbs, the residents, who all live within hundreds of yards of bustling Finsbury Park station, come together to produce 12ft runner beans, tomatoes, sweet corn and squash – all cultivated in large grow-bags in front gardens.
Since a report on the scheme in the Tribune last year numbers of households taking part have doubled from 50 to 100.
Residents Naomi Schillinger and Nicolette Jones are the driving force behind the project. Naomi is a professional gardener and can give advice while Nicolette, who runs a Neighbourhood News email, helps spread the word.
Naomi said she was proud that their efforts had won recognition in such a prestigious national magazine.
“The feedback from readers has been fantastic,” she added. “We often receive enquiries about the Triangle and have gone and given talks in various parts of the country.
“It’s a simple idea. It brightens up front gardens, and provides produce, which saves money. But perhaps most of all, the project has created a wonderful neighbourhood network where people help and talk to each other.”
Even children such as Shola, eight, and his sister Sayo, nine, who attend St John’s primary school in Highbury Vale, have got involved.
Shola said: “We grow delicious cherry tomatoes and beans in our front garden. It’s good fun.”
To find out more visit www.outofmyshed.co.uk/btg
• The Plimsoll Road street party is being held on Saturday, July 16 from 1pm to 6pm. Residents can enjoy live music, children’s games, a barbecue and a chance to meet the neighbours.
Published: 8th July, 2011
by PETER GRUNER
AUGUST 2011
Plenty of rain and sunshine has really helped to produce a fantastic crop of runner beans this year.
As you walk through our neighbourhood, growbags full of veg abound, creating our own urban Eden!
It’s a joy to see that over 100 households are growing vegetables in their front gardens this year, and also using last year’s growbags to expand their veg growing to courgettes,
Jerusalem artichokes and nasturtium
Spinach and corn
Rhubarb
and tomatoes.
And our tree pits, and front gardens look amazing too!
Soon, it will be time to have another ‘Cake Sunday’, where lots of neighbours catch up with each other over tea and cake in a front garden, and we have loads of free bulbs to give away for next spring too.
It’s great to see our local urban community brought closer together through gardening and cake!
Hurrah! Funding received.
As autumn approaches, we’ve just heard that Islington Community chest will help with funding our project for next year. Fantastic news which means we can involve more neighbours in our veg growing scheme over the next 12 months.
March 2012
Another warm spring (in places!) and Daffodils given away last October are in full bloom in the neighbourhood.
Flowers in front gardens and tree pits really brighten up our streets.
Cake Sunday
Photo: Sarah Cuttle
Cake Sundays have now become an institution and gorgeous weather, delicious cake and a fine array of seeds and plants to give away made our latest ‘Cake Sunday’ another really enjoyable get-together for neighbours. Over 100 households have now joined up to grow flowers and veg in their front gardens (and tree pits on the streets) and it was great to see lots of familiar faces as well as some new ones too.
Photo: Sarah CuttleThis year we gave away purple French Beans, Swiss Chard, especially good for the less sunny garden, and wildflower seeds for tree pits all around our neighbourhood.
We also had masses of Hollyhock seeds, collected from Lindsey’s front garden to share, as these do surprisingly well in the inhospitable area around tree bases too.
Photo: Sarah Cuttle
Now in our fourth growing season, our green growbags and large planters are proliferating in front gardens, as neighbours are eager to grow a large selection of veg, including potatoes (as above), courgettes, tomatoes, Jerusalem artichokes and some very decorative rhubarb plants.
Photo: Sarah Cuttle
Front gardens are a great place to meet up with neighbours on ‘Cake Sundays’, chat about all things horticultural and indeed anything else!
As part of the Chelsea Fringe this year, we inviting visitors to join us on Sunday May 27th 2012 in Finsbury Park, North London for another bumper Cake Sunday, with all the trimmings. Amongst many metres of bunting, visitors can come sup tea and cake, and find out more about our community veg growing project.
There’ll be a topiary demonstration by Tim Bushe,
some great ideas for edible window boxes,
P.S.
At 3.40 as part of our Cake Sunday, there’ll also be a 10 minute play called ‘Pumpkin Patch’ written by US Playwright, Patrick Gabridge, presented in a front garden (of course) by Liminal Space Productions and directed by Prav MJ. Actress Wendy Peace above, rehearsing her role in ‘Pumpkin Patch’.
26th April 2012
Not quite guerilla planting (we did knock on the door first).
Last autumn we planted 300 tulips in this front garden, hoping to inject some colour into this temptingly empty forgotten corner. Resident delighted with the results and hopefully the tulips brighten the day of passers-by on this busy main road too.
27th May 2012
Our Chelsea Fringe Cake Sunday was a huge success http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/gardening-blog/2012/may/31/chelsea-fringe-festival
As rain and cooler weather are predicted for the coming Jubilee weekend, I was reflecting on how lucky we were with exceptional weather for our Chelsea Fringe on Sunday. Neighbours in our community veg growing scheme have been getting together at ‘Cake Sundays’ a couple of times a year since 2009, for a seed give-away and to catch up with each other over tea and home-made cakes. This May, as part of the Chelsea Fringe, we invited others to join us and put on a bumper spread with oodles cakes and bunting. It was a really enjoyable afternoon.
Annie (top pic) was on hand to advise on veg growing and gave away over 200 packs of seeds (and many borage and nasturtium plants too), and I was happy to talk to anyone about the delights of edible window boxes. (Giant red mustard leaf and violas above).
Nicolette had loads of visitors wanting to know more about how we started up our veg growing scheme, travelling from South London and as far as Colchester and Manchester to hear our story!
Neighbours and friends baked up the most gorgeous cakes I’ve ever seen (and tasted!),
and we also encouraged entries for the best planting around the base of our street trees, which were judged on the day by Veronica Peerless, deputy editor of Which? Gardening magazine.
Small events punctuated the afternoon and Tim Bushe was a real crowd pleaser with his virtuoso topiary demonstration.
Nicola Baird ably helped others to make over 100 wildflower seeds bombs, with seeds kindly donated by Nicky’s Nursery, that can be lobbed into inaccessible forgotten corners, creating floriferous joy wherever thrown,
and the afternoon continued with very entertaining veg races involving various transportation methods of cucumbers (hands), cabbages (knees) and potatoes (spoons).
Tim Richardson, creator and director of the Chelsea Fringe, joined us for tea and cake and happily agreed to present Best Tree Pit trophies. Runner up, Nicola, was delighted to recieve her award for a fantastic sculptural framework for sweet peas in her tree pit,
and Eugenie’s winning tree pit was deservedly recognised for providing gorgeous colour and interest in the form of snapdragons, verbascum, cabbages and wildflowers. Always a pleasure to walk by on the way to the shops!
And finally, the warm sunny afternoon was perfectly rounded off by a 10 minute play called ‘Pumpkin Patch’ about stealing veg in a community garden. Heaven forbid!
The Chelsea Fringe continues over the next 2 weekends, up until June 10th with tons of interesting horticultural happenings all over London. I rather fancy the Living medicine cookery workshop in Ladbroke Grove tomorrow afternoon (booking essential) and popping by for more tea and cake at a cheeky land grab in Greenwich on June 10th. Tim Richardson highly recommends, amongst others, the mintyGarden of Disorientation in Smithfields, open daily until June 9th (but closed 3rd and 4th June) and the Floating Forest installation, again in Ladbroke Grove. There are up to 90 events listed, so take your pic to get your horticultural fix over the next 10 days. You won’t be disappointed!
September 2012
Full steam ahead for 2013!
My book, based around our project is now published. It celebrates the fact that anyone can ‘grow your own’ and that through veg growing you can meet your neighbours and grow your own community too. I love the fact that it’s packed full of pics of my fantastic neighbours, as well as being a month by month guide to growing veg.
Meanwhile, we’ve been gearing up for the year ahead by installing tree pit edging around the streets in our neighbourhood.
And this will allow us to plant up a wider variety of perennial plants and wildflower seeds to brighten up our streets later in the year.
Our next get-together is the Chelsea Fringe Cake Sunday on Sunday 2nd June 2013 from 2-4pm in Finsbury Park. All are welcome to come and visit our project at 39 Ambler Road, London N4 2QS. There’ll be oodles of tea and home-made cakes plus a number of small happenings and installations in the vicinity. Marvel at our topiary herd of elephants and see Tim Bushe give a topiary demonstration. Join in with seed bomb making, be dazzled by our disco ball hanging baskets and enjoy free vegetable seeds, a strawberry pillar box, and a botanical art exhibition in our local green grocers. We finish off at 3.45pm with ‘Can you Dig It’, above, singing charming horticulturally themed songs in one of our front gardens. Delighted that they can join us!
Following our Cake Sunday, five minutes away by the Arsenal tube, there’ll be free foraging walks with Forage London at the Islington Ecology Centre, one at 4.30pm and another at 5.45pm. There are 15 places on each walk and you can book a free place now on 020 7527 4374. I think they’ll be fab!
What a fantastic site you have. The info and pictures regarding your street made me smile and almost wish I could move back to London. Well done and keep up the good work x
Thanks Sue. Growing vegetables has really made a difference to our community. It’s always been a great place to live, but now it’s friendlier than ever and looking greener and greener every month. Naomi
Hi noomi its look like you doing great jop. Well done to you
and your friend.
ozzy
can anyone help i want to buy and get delivered some grow bags to my daughter who lives in kennington se london she wants to grow veg this season thanks julie
A completely innovative approach – what a fab fab idea. We too are a community veg garden (in Surrey) so have an inkling about how much work you have done, though ours structured in a completely different way. Inspirational! Can you make it self-funding do you think? Would be great to think that you would keep on, year after year, regardless of whether anyone else ‘gets it’ enough to fund you! Come see us in Surrey sometime and we’ll invite ourselves to come see you too if we may.
Hi Su, would love a visit. Whereabouts in Surrey are you? V.best Naomi
What a lovely project. I guess there are many people doing this kind of project, but what really stands out about your scheme is the number of people you seem to have got involved. You must have a great talent for bringing people together and making things happen. -Lovely to see.
It’s so good to see the effect this has had on the community. Have you thought about giving talks to raise funds? I’d be happy to book you for my local garden society in Kent.
Jo, Nicolette and I would be very happy to come and talk about our project. Will contact you directly.V.best Naomi
[...] BTG Community veg growing project [...]
[...] BTG Community veg growing project [...]
[...] BTG Community veg growing project [...]
[...] – and I’ve been inspired into action by discovering Naomi Schillinger. On her blog, Out of My Shed, you can read her story of how her whole street has been brought together by growing vegetables at [...]
Hi Naomi – I mention your brilliant project on my blog here: http://www.verticalveg.org.uk/can-vegetables-change-relationships/ – hope that’s OK?! I found out about it from Rosey at King Henry’s Walk. Very inspiring, thanks. Mark
Absolutely Fantastic. I wish more communities would do what you are doing,its great.
[...] BTG Community veg growing project in front gardens [...]
[...] BTG Community veg growing project in front gardens [...]
[...] is an idea Charlotte from York Road spotted in London, and we think it could work very well in [...]
[...] BTG Community veg growing project in front gardens [...]
Hi Naomi,
I have just stubbled across your blog and love what you are doing! I am a student looking to do my undergraduate thesis on community gardening/growing in the city and the transformation of the front garden, what you do is just that! and so inspiring! Would you be willing to answer some questions about your project? hopefully I will hear back from you – love what you have created for your community!
Hi Hanna, Thanks for your enthusiastic comments! Very happy to answer questions. V.best Naomi
Hi Hanna,
We have just bought a house in St John’s Wood that has a large concrete front garden – I am looking to turn it into a ‘growing’ garden and would love any advice that you might have for me.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Hi Ruchika, If money was no object, then I’d definitely have the concrete removed and start my plans from there. If the concrete is to stay, then I’d build some raised beds on top or import some large pots, allowing plenty of growing space for the plants that you’d love to grow.
Many fruit trees will grow in large pots and containers, and if you can make your raised beds as deep as possible 12-18inches, then you can grow a huge amount of delicious fruit and veg which can also be very decorative . Start by making a wish list of what you’d like to grow. Most fruits are perennial, coming back year after year, so will need a permanent spot. Then you can start playing with the space that you have left to grow the rest of your crops. It’s also important to consider how much sun your front garden has to offer and make sure there’s enough sunlight for all your choices. Hope this helps. Naomi
[...] BTG Community veg growing project in front gardens [...]
I think thus is absolutely amazing, fun and am blown away by the deep sense of community.
Hi Celeste, Yes, now in our fourth year and neighbours really getting to know one another. Can only be a good thing, and the veg growing is very enjoyable and satisfying too. We’ll be participating in the Chelsea Fringe this year on May 27th, so come and visit if you’re nearby.Thanks for dropping by. Naomi
[...] started from scratch by knocking on doors and are now being held up as examples to follow. In 2009, Naomi Schillinger and a neighbour in Highbury, north London, began planting wild flowers around the bases of street [...]
[...] BTG Community veg growing project in front gardens [...]
[...] in its fourth growing season, our community veg growing scheme in Finsbury Park is inviting vistors to come and join us for tea and home-made cake during the Fringe and hear all [...]
Fantastic work guys! So happy this is happening in my area (im just the other side of finsbury park to you) love the fact you are bringing the community together through a shared love of growing plants! Good luck with this years project and hopefully pop down to see you next weekend.
Thanks Owen. Next Cake Sunday MAY 27th (in a month’s time!), but if you’d like some spare seeds in the meantime, we still have plenty to give away. V.best Naomi
Ha ha – Ooooops – be just like me to turn up a month early- too eager by half!
Id love to try some seeds please if thats ok- how would I go about this?
Many thanks
Owen
[...] An overwhelming story of success about community growing in Islington [...]
[...] BTG Community veg growing project [...]
[...] BTG Community veg growing project [...]
[...] BTG Community veg growing project [...]
Hi, I came to the Chelsea fringe event and I thought it was fab. I live locally and I’d like to get involved. Is there someone I could speak to or could you contact me by email? Thanks, Chris
[...] BTG Community veg growing project [...]
[...] BTG Community veg growing project [...]
[...] See more about the project and the whole article here. [...]
[...] BTG Community veg growing project [...]
[...] Veg growing project [...]
[...] Veg growing project [...]
[...] Veg growing project [...]
Brilliant project but I also wanted o say High Quality photographs
Thanks Chris!
Just a “Hello” from Belgium… This is just GORGEOUS, and makes you want to start something similar wherever you may live.
Thanks Cedric! Why not come and join us on June 2nd? There’ll be lots of other Chelsea Fringe events happening in London that weekend too. V.best Naomi
I was looking up sage pictures on Yahoo and came upon your site. What a wonderful idea! I live in the Unites States of America in the state of Virginia on the east coast. I wish I could move to your town! Have fun everyone!
Hi Mark, you’d be more than welcome! What’s the street growing like in your town in Virginia?