At our November meeting members enjoyed an inspirational talk by Suze Hu who told us all about the establishment of a Community Garden in an old laundry yard on the Field Estate in Forest Gate, named the Up Garden.  We first heard about the Up Garden when it won the RHS & BBC Growing Together Award for community gardening and featured on the BBC One Show and some of us visited it as part of the Forest Gate garden trail in June 2024. It is situated in an area of high deprivation behind a block of flats and it was a dark and derelict space full of brambles.  After leafletting local households on the estate Suze found that 240 responded positively to the idea of developing the yard into a garden with over 150 offering to help.  A generous grant was bid for and allocated by the Greater London Authority. 

Despite the money, however, there were a number of major problems on the way – because of inflation the cost of materials rose dramatically; a large area of Japanese Knotweed was discovered and the deep brambles took a lot of clearing.   To make things more difficult there was no water on site, but with a lot of determination, drive and hard work and with the support of local businesses, raised beds were built, a free play area established and donated furniture was painted in bright colours. Water Butts have been erected to hold over 7,000 litres of water, some connected to the block of flats down pipes. A pergola was built by volunteers and a green roof covers the buggy shelter.  A wildflower bed has been a great success attracting bees and butterflies; meeting the key aim of the garden to increase biodiversity. In six square metre planters vegetables are grown, there is a grapevine and wisteria growing up the laundry poles that were kept in the garden.  There are a number of committed volunteers which means that the garden can be open every day and the space is used as a place where members of the community can gather, events are hosted throughout the year including family events during school holidays. Suz was an inspirational speaker – her enthusiasm and drive, together with that of her team of volunteers, has transformed a laundry yard into a beautiful biodiverse green space for all to enjoy.

AGM.

The AHS AGM was held before the talk – Reports from the Chair & Secretary, Treasurer and Membership Secretary were unanimously agreed.  Officers and committee members were re-elected unopposed for a list of Officers & Committee Members please see XX on the website.

Members of Aldersbrook Horticultural Society were treated to a great talk last Tuesday 8th October, by John Phillips, the Head Conservator of Epping Forest about the cows in Epping Forest and how they are used to improve the landscape of the forest.

Epping Forest covers 3,600 hectares of land and was created by an Act of Parliament in 1878 and is owned by the City of London corporation.  After the Forest was taken over by the corporation the ancient custom of pollarding tees was stopped which meant grassland did not grow as it had previously, reducing biodiversity and the space for cattle to graze.  Until the middle of the 20^th Century cattle grazed in all parts of the Forest, indeed many who were at Tuesday’s meeting can remember cattle walking through the roads of Aldersbrook between the Flats and the Park.  Cattle were taken away from the Forest in 1996 as a result of the outbreak of BSE.  From 1998 to 2002 cattle were brought back to the Forest, the Longhorn breed were chosen for their docility, with  the aim of conservation of the grassland and to increase biodiversity.

Cattle are grazed in Epping Forest to conserve some of the ancient acid grassland, protect the grassland habitats and encourage a wider range of insects, such as dung beetles, to live in the Forest.  John talked to us about the Forest’s farm at Theydon Bois where the cows are in calf are kept under cover for about three months. 

He explained that it is now possible to have cattle grazing in Wanstead Park as a device the cows wear around their necks acts as an ‘electric fence’ as well as tracking where they are and even how many steps they have done!!  The cows currently in the park are called Nina, Olive, Answer and Mara and they will be there until early next year. 

There were many questions to John at the end of his talk including how they get their names (from members of the public), what happens to the males in the herd (they get sold to a breeder in Derbyshire); some beef from older cows is sold for ready meals to a well known supermarket, while beef from younger cattle is sold locally. 

The talk was very well received and gave a fascinating insight into an important aspect of local life.

At the first meeting of Aldersbrook Horticultural Society since the Summer break, we were pleased to welcome Manoj Malde, a well-known Garden Designer, who appears on the BBC’s Your Garden Made Perfect and More 4’s Garden of the Year. He spoke about the garden he designed for the Chelsea show in 2017, taking us through the planning process, meeting the assessment criteria set by the RHS, hunting in Europe and the UK for plants and then the actual build itself. His talk was lively and entertaining with beautiful images and film of the garden, which was based on the work of the Mexican architect, Luis Barragan and called Beneath a Mexican Sky. The garden was based on bright colours and the planting was mainly Mediterranean with beautiful drought tolerant plants such as Agaves, Aeonium and Cistus with structure provided by Strawberry Trees (Arbutus unedo). The first plans are submitted to the RHS in July, with feedback in September and the final selection of which gardens will be selected for the show announced in November. From then on it’s all go – plant selection, building the structures needed for the garden and enrolling teams of helpers to construct the garden. The gardeners are given three weeks to construct their gardens and have to be ready to be judged by the Saturday before the Show opens. Manoj’s talk was very well received and questions included how to design a small garden, the experience of working on a show like Your Garden Made Perfect, and the design of Manoj’s own garden.