There were plenty of delicious bright red tomatoes in the garden this year, of all shapes and sizes. But as the evenings drew in and the record breaking, baking summer finally cooled off, ripening slowed, and for tomatoes was pretty much over. With a mild reprise even in mid November, ripening can continue, if slowly. But with this mild and often damp weather there is the increasing risk of late tomato blight spoiling those last pickings…
Hackney Winter Night Shelter – Volunteer Lunch
Shruland TRA hosted a Hackney Winter Night Shelter thank you lunch for their volunteers at the weekend. Over 40 pizzas were baked in the community’s wood fired pizza oven and were complimented by fresh salads grown in the garden.
Hackney Winter Night Shelter (HWNS) is a volunteer-run project that provides temporary accommodation for homeless people seven nights per week during the coldest months of the year.
Spring garden meet up and pizza firing
After one of the coldest and wettest Springs on record, optimistic Shrubland gardeners met up to survey the winter damage and plan their year ahead. There was a good sort out of the seed box, and liberal swapping of seedlings and plants between plot holders. After a long day, cheer was provided by a test firing of the community’s new wood fired pizza oven.
Preserving vegetables
As part of the Capital Growth’s Urban Harvest, Shrubland community garden and kitchen held a preserving vegetable session in the garden. Residents led on different types of preserving. There was preserving in oil, by fermentation, in vinegar and heat.
Shrubland loves the NHS!
On the 3rd February 12-4pm, there was a march in Central London to keep up the struggle for proper NHS funding. For those who couldn’t make it but wanted to discuss these issues and find ways to fight to defend the NHS as we know it, residents organised a village gathering on a very cold and rainy afternoon Shrubland Road.
Halloween party is lots of scary fun
A band of wicked, well organised and hard working ghouls put on a phantastic Halloween party for Shrubland Road children at the weekend. Fancy dress, music and games, apple bobbing, … Read more
Pumpkin festival
Shrubland community garden and kitchen held a pumpkin festival to highlight all the delicious dishes we can make using pumpkins. So next time, you carve a pumpkin use the flesh … Read more
Ahoy there! – a Canal Cruise with the history boys
Thanks again Peter for organising this lovely sedate trip up through Victoria Park from Laburnum Boat club. Local knowledge of passing landmarks provided by Peter and John. John remembered when … Read more
Ratatouille
The children’s gardening club organised a ratatouille event for the children who have been involved in growing vegetables in the children’s box. Six children attended. They harvested some vegetables and … Read more
Shrubland Food Festival and Street Party 2017
The Shrubland Road Food Festival Street Party was held on Sunday 23rd July. Last year’s wildly successful, first-ever Shrubland Road Street Party was a difficult act to follow, but all … Read more
Kid’s Party 2017
We had a lovely children’s day in June. The weather was nice and warm and sun was shining all day. The kids very much enjoyed the bouncy castle where they … Read more
Happening in your street this summer
Kids Street Party – Sunday 11 June, from 1pm Join us for a bouncy castle, BBQ food, kids’ games, face painting and more! Cooking Classes – Over the next few … Read more
Where is the Shrubland garden?
The garden entrance is between numbers 40 and 42 Shrubland Road, Hackney, London E8 4NN.
Community Kitchen
The community kitchen was funded through the Big Lottery Celebrate England fund. The vision of the community kitchen is to build on the success of the community garden by bringing … Read more
Gardening club – harvest, meet and eat session
On a very hot Sunday afternoon, the gardening club met to harvest vegetables from the community plot and to turn them into lunch. Marjon led this session with the help … Read more
HOME – 50 Years of Social Housing in Hackney
Great 25 minute video about 50 years of social housing in Hackney. Starring John and Pat!
Gardener’s blog
After the driest winter for 20 years, April experienced half its average rainfall. It was cold too, especially at night. Things were slow to grow – it was as if … Read more
Dates for your diary 2017
Film Premiere: ‘HOME: 50 years of Social Housing in Hackney’ Wednesday 20 September
Coach trip to Hastings Saturday 23 September departing @ 9am
Preserving vegetables Sunday 24th September 10am – 4pm
Canal boat trip Wednesday 27 September @ 2pm
Pumpkin Festival Saturday 14 October
Halloween Party – Sunday 29th October
Pantomime Friday 1 December @ 7.00pm
Seasonal get together Friday 22 December @ 2.00pm
English: homemade mayonnaise with radishes and courgette fritters with a coriander and lime dressing
Piers was the chef for this session, using seasonal vegetables from the garden. Piers has experience as a sous chef at River Cottage so it was great to see him … Read more
Kid’s after-school gardening club
There is now a free after-school gardening club starting up in the garden. Aimed at primary age children 5-12 years (-ish), it’s being organised by teacher and Shrubland Road resident … Read more
Spanish: Gazpacho soup and tortilla
Fernando got everyone involved in chopping and straining the tomatoes for the Gazpacho soup, which is a cold soup. In total we chopped and strained 5 kilos of tomatoes and … Read more
Gujurati: Vegetarian Pullao rice and Kadhi
On a warm Saturday afternoon Bhavna and Nirmala cooked up some traditional recipes from Gujarat. They made vegetarian Pullao rice and Kadhi which is a warm yoghurt dish with spices. … Read more
Trial session: warm lentil hummus and couscous salad
The first session, on 22 June, we held the the first session to test the concept of the mobile kitchen unit for cooking in the garden. The session was led … Read more
Cooking and growing sessions
A series of cooking sessions, part of the cooking and growing project, is now underway, starting on Saturday 24th June and culminating with the street food festival on 23rd July. … Read more
Gardening club gets up and running
The Gardening Club held its first session on Saturday. New members came along for a tour of the gardens, fill in a questionnaire, and planted peas, onions and garlic in … Read more
Greenhouse and new growboxes installed
The garden now has a fine greenhouse and an additional eight growboxes, including an extra long one for community use. The new growboxes have arrived just in time for Spring, … Read more
Peter cooks up a dream
When Shrubland TRA treasurer Peter Jarvis set about his growbox early in spring 2016, he had a vision: onions, potatoes, leeks, celeriac, some fresh herbs, all grown in his growbox … Read more
Mayor visits Shrubland growboxes
The new Mayor of Hackney, Philip Glanville, dropped in to the growbox garden for an impromptu visit on a freezing January morning. Shrubland gardeners John, Marloes, Marjon and Peter were … Read more
New gardening club to launch spring 2017
It’s early days still, but a new gardening club is set to get going this spring. The main focus will be on growing vegetables, fruit and herbs in the growing … Read more
Shrubland residents send a message to Trump
A group of Shrubland residents joined together to contribute a banner to the Bridges Not Walls campaign. The idea for the protest was to spread messages of solidarity, peace and … Read more