Our community garden

Lettuces and kale flourish in one of the raised beds

It’s hard to believe that this time last year our community garden in the south corner of Arlington Square was an overgrown rubbish dump.

Help yourself to herbs

Yet, thanks to our gardening volunteers and the indomitable duo Gordon and Paul, the former dump is now a much loved herb, flower and vegetable garden. The fruit trees and the grape vine are growing steadily. The herbs and kale have flourished, although we didn’t have much luck with the runner beans. We had a small blueberry crop and some rhubarb. And the bees loved the borage.

We’ve now cleared away the summer bedding and have planted winter flowers and pak choi seeds in some of the six raised beds.

Kate’s kale cook-up

Kate cooks kale

It has been gratifying to see so many neighbours pop into the community garden to snip a herb or two for their evening meal. But what to do with all the kale we planted in one of the beds? Cook it, of course. So one sunny Saturday morning in September our volunteer gardeners were treated to lunch cooked up by Kate Johnstone.

Kate and her helpers set up a kitchen in the garden and prepared three tasty dishes: a kale, olive and gruyere tart; spaghetti with kale, garlic and chilli; and a kale and chorizo broth.

The volunteers’ verdict? Delicious! Kate’s recipe for the broth is below.

Next year’s crops

We’re now planning what vegetables and herbs to plant next year. Please do let us know what you would like to see growing in the raised beds in 2013. Someone has already suggested some chilli bushes – they look attractive and are good for cooking, if you can handle their heat.

If you have any ideas for community crops, please send your thoughts to us at arlingtonassociation@hotmail.co.uk, using the subject heading Planting Suggestions.