Sowing at other partner gardens
As well as using the plot at Tuppenny Barn (previous blog) I am using other spaces to grow my plants.
My base garden is The Garden @ Art Space, an area of tarmac next to Art Space Portsmouth that I have helped to turn into a little green oasis in the middle of Portsmouth. Because there is no soil to plant into we created beds from the bags sand, gravel, etc. gets delivered to builders, to hold the soil, surrounded by decking panels. The garden has won 13 local and regional awards over the last 6 years. This year some of these beds have been cleared of their plants and prepared to host my plants. I don’t know what the judges will think of my crops!
Richard, who assists in the garden most Tuesday mornings, helped me sow the flax in one of the beds. I made the drills and then we very carefully put the slippery seeds in the rows. Then a criss-cross of sticks and string was created, to try and stop the local cats from digging it all up! They have come up well and the string worked!
I have also helped at the Aspex Gallery / Greenspace garden behind Milton Library in Portsmouth. While others where giving the site a general tidy up, I was planting some of the veg beds. As well as putting in some tomatoes and strawberries, I also planted some red onion sets that I donated. The outer skins of these will be used for my project to either make into paper or to dye other plant material with a nice warm glow.
An unexpected extra garden I am now using belongs to Sharon, a good friend from Bedhampton, just outside Portsmouth. She is not able to use her veg patch this year and she offered it to me to grow my plants on. Ian, her husband, cleared the space of the annual weeds and it was ready for me to sow my flax seeds. I will go back soon with more of that ‘funky corn’ and other plants. I can also use other plant material from around her garden. This will be a great help to my project and give me new plants to play with.
The Garden @ Art Space – www.artspace.co.uk/garden
Aspex / Greenspace garden – www.aspex.org.uk/events/spring-painting-planting-a…
