January News From the Garden
Happy New Year to all the friends of St John's Garden!
There were a few snowflake flurries in the garden last week and our sixth form volunteers have been using the new soil probe to keep track of soil temperature, as well as moisture, acidity and light levels across the space (soil temp was approx 5-6 celsius yesterday afternoon, with very low moisture level of 5%). Next week we'll be measuring microbial biomass as we seek to increase microbial life in the garden soil and build biodiversity from the ground up. You'll see from the photo that the snowdrops we planted in Autumn are already starting to peep through - small but mighty and a very welcome sight in the bed by Benjamin Street gate.
New Year, No Goals... Yes, you did read that right! We're usually a pretty goal-oriented group - which does mean we get a lot done! - but this year we'll be making time and space to just enjoy being in the garden, doing whatever brings us joy and making the most of peaceful moments doing nothing much at all and simply drinking in the sights, sounds and smells of nature. Standing on the shoulders of an incredible 2025 (Green Flag, Best Park in Islington, Gold in London in Bloom), this year will be a time of consolidation, quietly building on the hard work of the last 12 months, continuing to monitor wildlife in the garden, including the increasing variety of creatures that we hope arrive and thrive in our wildlife pond, nurturing new edible goodies in the Edible Forest and using data from 2025 pollinator surveys to create and monitor viable pollinator habitats that support the bees, butterflies, and mini-beasts of SJG. If you're keen to spend more time in nature this year and would like to be part of a can-do, nature-loving, local community, you can join the Garden Care WhatsApp group here. And on the subject of peaceful moments watching wildlife (actually not so peaceful!), there's a note from Susanna below about what we've noticed this month in the world of birds.
The results are in from this summer's Pollinating London Together surveys... SJG was one of 15 green spaces in Clerkenwell assessed by pollinator ecologists over the summer and we're doing really well for a shady site, scoring 16/20 on the habitat survey. Honey bees currently predominate, followed by carder bees and hoverflies and the report has given us lots of ideas for how to support a broader range of pollinating insects across their life-stages in 2026. There are lots of workshops and events already being planned as part of the Clerkenwell Pollinator Path project for Spring and Summer this year - if you'd like to stay in the loop you can sign up to receive email updates here. And if you're keen to come along to growing workshops, planting blitzes, habitat builds or recording sessions it's a good to join the Pollinator Path WhatsApp group here.
Happening in SJG soon... We'll be Community Gardening on Saturday 24 January 10am - noon with a focus on leaving the leaves in most of the beds - they are simply the BEST overwintering habitats for pollinators. Instead, we'll be turning our attention to tidying the toolshed, washing plant pots for re-use and oiling rusty tools. We'll be creating a Winter Haven for visiting birds and insects and consulting with each other on what to plant this Spring over a flask of coffee (pls bring your own mug). It's a drop-in session so stay as long as you like and pop by to say hello if you're passing! On Saturday 31st January at 11am, we'll be strolling over to the Clerks Well - THE Clerks Well of Clerkenwell - where Islington Guide Fran has secured us special access to the well itself and will share some of the history and stories of the well - a significant source of culture as well as water in Medieval London. The Winter calendar is attached and can also be found on the noticeboard in the garden and on Instagram @stjohnsgarden.ec1.
Sarah, Susanna, Analisa, Ian and Liz
(Friends of St John's Garden Committee)