{"id":540,"date":"2012-07-09T15:19:17","date_gmt":"2012-07-09T15:19:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/?p=540"},"modified":"2026-07-21T18:02:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T17:02:08","slug":"4th-july-work-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/2012\/07\/09\/4th-july-work-day\/","title":{"rendered":"4th July Work Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

While the summer struggles to settle in and the sun is very shy, our garden in Avery Hill is looking good and flourishing with vegetables! We finally see (and taste!) the results as we keep on harvesting the abundant products from the raised beds.<\/p>\n

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our beautiful garden!<\/p><\/div>\n

The plants must feel slightly confused with all these weather extremes, with moments of sturdy sunny heat followed by long pouring rain: the rocket for example couldn\u2019t resist and bolted \u2013<\/em> we had to remove all the flowers!<\/p>\n

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the rocket flowers as they bolted<\/p><\/div>\n

However some other plants are doing very well, such as the peas – looking gorgeous!<\/p>\n

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our pea bush!<\/p><\/div>\n

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lots of peas!<\/p><\/div>\n

Radishes are growing full of flavour and massive in size<\/p>\n

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Jon with the radishes<\/p><\/div>\n

Also the lettuces, Swiss chard and spinach are thriving with abundance in their beds; the brassicaceae<\/em> (the Cabbage family) bed is also looking very happy with beautiful cabbages and lovely kale (the very Italian Cavolo Nero<\/em>).<\/p>\n

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wonderful cabbage<\/p><\/div>\n

In the meantime, the first tiny tomatoes, marrows and beans made their first appearance and are joyfully getting bigger (yummy!) I\u2019m looking forward to taking my first bite!<\/p>\n

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tiny courgette growing<\/p><\/div>\n

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our first beans!<\/p><\/div>\n

Last Wednesday we had a very nice full day of work and achieved big results. The toughest one was moving the mountain of compost from the upper side of the garden down to the compost area. This required a good amount of passion and muscle power, happily donated by our own very strong men James, Julian and Stefan.<\/p>\n

While we were all working very hard, this tiny lost frog came to visit:<\/p>\n

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unexpected visitor<\/p><\/div>\n

Other tasks involved clearing the beds from the weeds that had peeped out from the ground since last week – such as yarrow and fat hen. These are very common weeds that can grow spontaneously almost everywhere and – although can be annoying if you didn\u2019t want them to be there \u2013 can be edible and useful. Fat hen for example tastes nice if eaten raw in salads or cooked in tasty risottos; yarrow flowers can be used in infusions against hay fever and are also important source of food for beneficial insects.<\/p>\n

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fat hen with radishes<\/p><\/div>\n

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scented yarrow flowers<\/p><\/div>\n

We carried on transplanting some tomatoes seedlings in one of our solanaceae & cucurbitaceae<\/em> beds (potato and cucumber families) where also courgettes and aubergine are now growing. We also planted giant sunflowers in the corners of different beds and next to their cousins the Jerusalem Artichokes. These sunflowers will soon look spectacularly tall and will make great companion plants as aphids love them and hopefully will hang about up there, leaving our lovely crops alone, for us to enjoy!<\/p>\n

The favourite job of the day was to prune the tomato plants as the smell was so nice! Pruning tomatoes is very easy and extremely beneficial to the plant as it will increase fruit size and quality, while also reducing risks of diseases. The basic method of pruning is to remove the lower leaves at the bottom of the plant and the suckers that grow from the leaf axils, you do this by pinching them with your fingers every 7-10 days throughout the growing season.<\/p>\n

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the first tiny growing tomatoes!<\/p><\/div>\n

The less pleasurable task instead was moving the stinky pile of organic matter (mostly grass residues) from the first compartment to the second one, this was bravely carried out by me and Stefan in turns. The key to make good compost is to use a mixture of ingredients: young, moist materials, such as grass clippings, known as \u201cgreens\u201d, rot quickly resulting in an unbearable smelly sludge; this is why they need to be mixed with tougher, dry items like old bedding plants \u2013 \u201cbrowns\u201d which add the necessary fibre and a supply of air to give the compost a good structure. <\/em>These can also be scrap papers and packaging like paper bags or cardboard for example \u2013 to provide a good balance. The compost area is one of the most important in a healthy garden. This is where organic matter is broken down by microorganisms and other little creatures, like worms and woodlice, which will provide our soil with all the nutrients our plants need.<\/p>\n

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the compost area<\/p><\/div>\n

There is still a lot to do and to be enjoyed at the community garden so for those who want to practice their gardening skills or simply have a breath of fresh air on those working days, come along and join us! We are here every Wednesdays!<\/p>\n

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our very own special gardeners, Jon and Kat, checking on the vegetables<\/p><\/div>\n

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the gardener's best friend: a ladybird larvae<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While the summer struggles to settle in and the sun is very shy, our garden in Avery Hill is looking good and flourishing with vegetables! We finally see (and taste!) the results as we keep on harvesting the abundant products from the raised beds. The plants must feel slightly confused… Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[101,295,324],"class_list":["post-540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-edible-garden","tag-community-garden","tag-sustainability","tag-university-of-greenwich"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":564,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/2012\/07\/17\/11th-july-garden-work-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":540,"position":0},"title":"11th July Garden Work Day","author":"Simon Goldsmith","date":"17 July 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Last Wednesday's weather was a little undecided but gave us some time to do some work in the garden - in between shiny sunny spells and torrential showers of rain. The tasks of the day included weeding, harvesting and pruning: There were many vegetables to harvest as everything kept growing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Edible Garden"","block_context":{"text":"Edible Garden","link":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/category\/biodiversity\/edible-garden\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"\/greengreenwich\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2012\/07\/SA1_0064.jpg","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"\/greengreenwich\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2012\/07\/SA1_0064.jpg 1x, \/greengreenwich\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2012\/07\/SA1_0064.jpg 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":367,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/2012\/04\/23\/community-garden-at-avery-hill-campus\/","url_meta":{"origin":540,"position":1},"title":"Community Garden at Avery Hill Campus","author":"","date":"23 April 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"It has been an exciting past few weeks at the Avery Hill Campus as the community garden allotment has started to take shape. The garden now has eleven raised beds built, four of them filled with compost, a line of compost bins ready for our waste and a huge pile\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Edible Garden"","block_context":{"text":"Edible Garden","link":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/category\/biodiversity\/edible-garden\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"\/greengreenwich\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2012\/04\/Photo-19-03-2012-09-35-03.jpg","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"\/greengreenwich\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2012\/04\/Photo-19-03-2012-09-35-03.jpg 1x, \/greengreenwich\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2012\/04\/Photo-19-03-2012-09-35-03.jpg 1.5x, \/greengreenwich\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2012\/04\/Photo-19-03-2012-09-35-03.jpg 2x, \/greengreenwich\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2012\/04\/Photo-19-03-2012-09-35-03.jpg 3x, \/greengreenwich\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2012\/04\/Photo-19-03-2012-09-35-03.jpg 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":699,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/2012\/08\/25\/august-progression-in-the-community-allotment\/","url_meta":{"origin":540,"position":2},"title":"August Progression in the Community Allotment","author":"Simon Goldsmith","date":"25 August 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Our community garden at the Avery Hill campus continues to progress and expand! We now have a beautiful shed where we keep our tools: Over the course of the last few week some of the Brassicas crops were badly attacked by nasty cabbage caterpillars. These are often found in large\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Edible Garden"","block_context":{"text":"Edible Garden","link":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/category\/biodiversity\/edible-garden\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"\/greengreenwich\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2012\/08\/SA1_0795.jpg","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"\/greengreenwich\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2012\/08\/SA1_0795.jpg 1x, \/greengreenwich\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2012\/08\/SA1_0795.jpg 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1997,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/2014\/11\/17\/year-avery-hill-gardener-forager\/","url_meta":{"origin":540,"position":3},"title":"My year as an Avery Hill gardener & forager by Alice Coyle","author":"Simon Goldsmith","date":"17 November 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"As the beautiful Autumn colours begin to fade into the stark grey, white and blues of winter, the gardeners\u2019 task changes from a focus on planting, watering, weeding and harvesting to one of replenishing the soil, picking the last of the harvest and tucking the garden in for the winter.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Biodiversity"","block_context":{"text":"Biodiversity","link":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/category\/biodiversity\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2014\/11\/IMG_1359-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2014\/11\/IMG_1359-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2014\/11\/IMG_1359-scaled.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2014\/11\/IMG_1359-scaled.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2014\/11\/IMG_1359-scaled.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2014\/11\/IMG_1359-scaled.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1030,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/2013\/06\/20\/chelsea-fringe-2013\/","url_meta":{"origin":540,"position":4},"title":"Chelsea Fringe 2013","author":"Simon Goldsmith","date":"20 June 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The University of Greenwich held its first community event at the Avery Hill Community Garden as part of the Chelsea Fringe festival. Dragos Buharu, a 2nd year\u00a0Business\u00a0School student studying\u00a0BA Business with Marketing was in attendance and here he gives you his perspective of the day. Chelsea Fringe 2013 \u2013Even the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Community Engagement"","block_context":{"text":"Community Engagement","link":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/category\/partnerships-and-engagement\/community-engagement\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"\/greengreenwich\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2013\/06\/chelsea-fringe-logo-no-date.png","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"\/greengreenwich\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2013\/06\/chelsea-fringe-logo-no-date.png 1x, \/greengreenwich\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2013\/06\/chelsea-fringe-logo-no-date.png 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":880,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/2013\/01\/11\/forest-garden-plans\/","url_meta":{"origin":540,"position":5},"title":"Forest Garden Plans","author":"","date":"11 January 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"As the cold weather persists across London we are waiting for the sun and warmth before we get planting in the community garden again. Volunteers, members of the Sustainability Team and James Hallybone from Roundfield have been discussing what to do for when the\u00a0springtime\u00a0arrives. With the addition of a polytunnel\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Edible Garden"","block_context":{"text":"Edible Garden","link":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/category\/biodiversity\/edible-garden\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Forest garden Plans","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2013\/01\/forestgarden1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2013\/01\/forestgarden1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2013\/01\/forestgarden1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2013\/01\/forestgarden1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=540"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7460,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540\/revisions\/7460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/greengreenwich\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}