We found fantastic stag beetle larvae emerging from old wooden sleepers while preparing to renovate the vegetable patches, with our grant from the National Garden Scheme Community Garden Grants. We carefully relocated the larvae along with their wood. It can take 3 to 7 years before the larvae become adults. The stag beetle is protected in the UK under the Wildlife and Countryside Act.

Our volunteers have started work on our project to build 13 new raised vegetable planters part funded with a grant from the National Garden Scheme Community Garden Grants. Landslip over the years has caused the vegetable beds to disintegrate. We are starting by removing old planks, sleepers and debris from the designated area. Alongside the project we are stabilising flower beds and terracing.

Landslip over many years is causing major disruption and damage. To help remedy the problem we are stabilising flower beds and terracing with wooden sleepers, replacing old disintegrating ones with new sleepers.

We bought 60 bags of manure from Freightliners Farm – probably helped by these cows!

We have received a grant from Islington Giving’s Make it Happen Fund, for our new project ‘Planting flowers in the shade’ – a perfect activity for volunteers during summer weather. Come and volunteer with us!

We welcomed over 140 visitors to our London Open Gardens open day in June. Visitors appreciated being given copies of our new map to guide them. Thank you to all the volunteers who helped on the day and provided tea and cake for our visitors to enjoy on our patio in the sun.

Thank you to the volunteers refurbishing our wooden table

Everyone welcome at our Have a Grow Day, an initiative of Social Farms and Gardens. At Olden Garden, we will offer gardening tasks including sowing next spring’s biennials, deadheading roses, weeding, pruning, tidying, watering.

Children can sow a sunflower seed in a pot to take home.

Tea and cake will be available.

Huge thank you to the volunteers from Macquarie who tidied up 50 metres of dead hedge, hammering in 70 wooden poles and rebuilding the hedge stacks. They also stripped and varnished wooden garden furniture.