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Global Warming Song

Oliver Swingler, who grew up in Belsize Park Gardens, has shared this song with us, and here is a link to the Making Waves community choir singing it. We hope you enjoy it!

 

 

 

 

  

What can we do about global warming?

(to the tune of ‘What can we do with the drunken sailor?’)

 

Chorus:                  What can we do about global warming?

What can we do about global warming?

Submitted by Carla Ranicki on Mon 17/06/2013

Fruitery now ready for Open Day

On Saturday, a group of us tidied up the Fruitery ready for the St Peter's Church Arts Week Open Day on 22nd June.

Despite the rain, the garden did need some additional watering and weeds have now been removed from the paths.The patio area has been swept and some additional screws added to the wooden pallet furniture.

 

 

Submitted by Nigel Bee on Sun 16/06/2013

Swiss Cottage raised beds attract public attention

On Saturday we ran a stall jointly with the Swiss Cottage Library promote green organisations in Camden. A wide range of literature was available and there was a lot of interest from passers-by.

We took the opportunity to water the Swiss Cottage raised beds and were pleased to see that the rows of seeds that had been sown a few weeks earlier, were sprouting (nasturtiums, broad beans, runner beans, leeks, cabbage and sprouts).

Submitted by Nigel Bee on Sun 19/05/2013

Festival of Neighbourhood

Transition Belsize is not the only organisation to promote the idea that setting up allotments in high profile public spaces is a good way to encourage people to collaborate to improve the environment.

A few stops down the Northern Line, you will find that the Brutalist concrete jungle of the South Bank has been transformed into a gardeners’ paradise. A series of allotments, created from reclaimed wood, has been erected along the Thames, in front of the Royal Festival Hall. Hopefully, we will soon be seeing the area blooming with fresh fruit, vegetables and flowers. There are also 200 window boxes.

Submitted by Nigel Bee on Sat 18/05/2013

Capital Growth Scheme a Great Success

A new report, entitled Growing Success, has just been produced to describe the huge and positive impact of the Capital Growth programme over the last four years. The programme, funded by the Mayor of London and the Big Lottery, and run by London Food Link has helped get around 99,000 people growing on 2012 community food gardens, with 82% in the more deprived parts of London.

Submitted by Nigel Bee on Sun 05/05/2013

Swiss Cottage Raised Beds - Watch this space ...

Several of us met up at Swiss Cottage on Saturday to plant seeds in the raised beds. The beds have now been filled with compost, but the recent drought meant we had to make several trips with a watering can to prepare the beds for this year's seeds. We now have a wide variety of plants growing and are hoping that leeks and brussel sprouts will add interest and keep on growing during the winter, when other plants have gone.

Submitted by Nigel Bee on Sat 04/05/2013

Food growing in Japan

At last Saturday's gardening session at the Premier Inn site, we had a visitor from Japan who was keen to learn about what we were doing. We heard that we are not the only people trying to grow food in confined spaces - in Japan, where land is also scarce, apartment blocks are being developed which are sold with the benefit of communal growing space (see attached picture at this link).

Submitted by Nigel Bee on Sun 24/02/2013

Progress at the Premier Inn Site

This is a quick update on the latest burst of activity at the Premier Inn site.

Despite being dressed unsuitably, the Transition Belsize Premier Inn gardening team were not put off by the cold wet weather and met up at the weekend to check out the state of the site. Those scurrying up the hill were greeted with a swinging compost bucket of veg being fed to the worms. Heartless team members had no qualms about expressing a lack of sympathy for the wimpiness of those who had refused to garden in the snow a couple of weeks earlier. The team set to work, no messing around, rescuing drowning worms, pruning straggling plants, tidying away unsightly plastic bottles and cardboard. Hiding under an umbrella, a team member took notes of what we were going to plant where.

Submitted by Nigel Bee on Sun 10/02/2013

Swiss Cottage Community Growing Space

It is a little known fact that, in addition to the growing spaces at St Peter's, the Premier Inn and the Royal Free, Transition Belsize also maintains some raised beds near the Swiss Cottage Leisure Centre.

Now that the snow has gone, mint and thyme can be seen to have survived the winter. It's a bit early to plant most seeds, but broad beans are tolerant of cold weather and we have planted lots of these so that the site can produce some early crops.

There used to be quite a few people maintaining these beds but many have moved away. We hope to encourage some new people to continue their work.

This site gives us an excellent opportunity to show the local community some of the things that we do.

Submitted by Nigel Bee on Sat 02/02/2013