A Word of Advice
At Cultivation Street we are so lucky to have such incredible Communities all wanting the best for one another. Angela Hayler, a co-founder of The Wonky Garden, has spoken to me over the past week about how she is managing their numerous gardens during the Covid-19 Crisis and we wanted to share with you her words of wisdom.
The Wonky Garden was established in 2017 by three incredible women, Angela, Sue, and Amanda. They met at a wellbeing event during their cancer treatment and instead of returning to their 9-5 jobs, they pooled their business knowledge, experience, love of nature and the great outdoors together, with their quest for something fun and engaging. They now have 5 glorious locations including a hospital rehabilitation ward and two busy community centres. They personally found peace and solace in their own efforts when Amanda, sadly lost her battle with cancer, and found comfort knowing she was such an important part of their beginning.
This garden focuses on creating beautiful outdoor health and wellness spaces designed by, and for, the community. Originally developing a raised-bed garden, the project now looks after 5 locations: two busy community centres, a hospital rehabilitation ward, a local hospice for people facing life limiting illnesses and a rugby club for people of all ages.
Angela wanted to share her advice and help others in this time of uncertainty.
First, look at what can be achieved with the materials, plants, seeds, facilities, and volunteers that are able to get to the garden. Make a loose plan and don’t over stretch yourself. It’s far better to nurture 4 out of 10 beds for example and enjoy seeing them thrive than over-stretching and becoming frustrated. For unused areas, cover with an environmentally friendly weed net or old pieces of fabric so you don’t have a weed mountain later! If you have mulch, then make good use of it for thirsty plants or order some from your local garden centre (we do this every year and it saves masses of water and energy!)
Prioritise work that needs doing with existing plants and then look at what you can grow; we chose edibles and plants that will cope with maximum of 2 good waterings a week and flowers that will grow from seed with little attention.
Then it’s time to get organised with volunteers. Set up a message group (we use WhatsApp) to keep volunteers engaged and to plan for activities on site. Be clear with volunteers, encourage them to go to the site with members of their own household only and ask them to let the group know when they are attending so’s tasks can be allocated and ensure social distancing requirements can be achieved. We also take our own tools (because access to our lockup is closed) and hand cleaning materials. Make sure there is either a jobs board or a place where written notes can be left to share what needs to be done and say hello! After each session, encourage posting an update and photos for all to enjoy.
If this has inspired you, register for Cultivation Street 2020 by clicking the link below.