September News From the Garden
Hi Everyone!
Hope your autumn has got off to a good start.
GOODBYE SUMMER! This summer has been a whirlwind of volunteers and watering cans in the garden. A massive thank you to everyone who's taken a turn with the watering can and continues to do so as rain levels remain low and the hosepipe ban continues. With the exception of the Edible Forest, we have carefully selected drought-tolerant plants for SJG over recent years as the garden is sloped and the soil is extremely dry due to the canopy of thirsty plane trees. But this summer was a whole new level of heat and dryness; while it was hard work and a whole-team effort to keep (most of) the plants alive, the garden became a fantastic classroom for learning what does and doesn't work in our overheated, highly-urbanised urban environment. It also reminded us how vital our green spaces are for providing shade and regulating temperatures for people as well as providing wildlife with water, food and shelter. We're taking forward lessons learned and will be exploring new solutions for water management, soil improvement and drought-resilient planting in the weeks and months ahead, testing and learning together.
August Flowers by Hilary Barton
HELLO AUTUMN! There's lots going on this month, kicking off with ***Monthly Community Gardening THIS SATURDAY 5 September, 10 am-12 noon***, followed by complimentary coffee round the corner at Camino. We'll be making new bunting, watering the beds, starting to rake leaves and harvesting cherry tomatoes. Come along for as little or as long as you like, and absolutely no experience needed!
Friday 25th September sees a Seasonal Bioblitz at 4 pm followed by Poetry in the Park: Autumn Edition at 5.30-6.15 pm, where we'll also be celebrating the launch of the "Little Nature Library," generously donated by our neighbours at PanMacmillan and due to be installed next week. There'll be a range of gorgeous nature books from poems to picture books for adults and children; people are encouraged to sit and read in the garden or borrow and return books.
Carrots from the edible forest
A SEASON OF MELLOW FRUITFULNESS...The plans for creating a community orchard in St John's Garden are coming to fruition this season (yes! pun intended!) ... As many of you know (and have helped with), we created Farringdon's First Edible Forest in 2025, planting edibles such as fig trees, passion flower, blueberries, wild strawberries, ginger and rainbow chard. This year, we're working with The Orchard Project, a pioneering charity focused on planting new orchards in urban green spaces. We're excited to announce that a new Clerkenwell Community Orchard will be planted in St John's Garden at a community planting event in January and The Orchard Project team are running a series of free workshops starting in October for anyone who's interested in learning how to plant and care for an urban orchard, especially those keen to care for the orchard in St John's Garden. Training sessions will be held at The Charterhouse and St Luke’s Community Centre as well as in the garden, with the introductory session at The Charterhouse on Monday, October 5th covering orchard design and tree selection. The poster with full dates and details is attached below or you can go straight through to Eventbrite here, find out more and reserve your spot. Spaces are limited so it's worth booking soon.
Buzz from the Clerkenwell Pollinator Path
Over the summer we moved into a fantastic growing space with raised beds, greenhouses, water, wormery and sunshine. It's the Edible Yard at St Luke's Community Centre and we are OBSESSED! Everyone is invited to the CPP x Edible Yard (green)housewarming on Thursday 24th September 12-4pm, where we'll hatch plans, drink tea, meet our new pollinator gardener (generously funded by London National Park City), eat cake and plant a drought-resistant pollinator bed together. The full autumn programme is being finalised and will be released in the next few days so check out Instagram @clerkenwellpollinatorpath or the notice board in SJG to see what else is planned. We can confirm that on Monday 14th September, 10am-11.30am there'll be a Croissants and Seed Collection session at St John's Museum Cloister Garden - a very laid-back way to start the week. All welcome!