LATEST NEWS // Join our NEW Organic Gardening Course // Enrol before Fri 19 Dec 4pm

Learn about your soil, how to make compost, irrigation systems and all about sustainable planting, with a little help and inspiration from the NEW Forest Gate Community Garden (FGCG) Organic Gardening Course. The course is open to everyone including FGCG Members but there are only a few places left so get in quick – last chance to enrol is Friday 19 December 2014 before 4pm!

FGCG Organic Gardening Course tutor Stephen Mason
on site (centre) in the Forest Gate Community Garden
following our Members event in September 2014

Run in partnership with Newham Adult Learning Service and tutored by renowned local organic gardener Stephen Mason of Greenspace Management – who has a distinguished community garden record – it runs for 10 weeks from Friday 16 January until Friday 27 March 2015 (with a break for half term). Sessions take place between 1-3pm each week and are held at the Forest Gate Learning Zone (1 Woodford Road, London, E7 0DH; 5 minutes walk from Forest Gate Station; opposite Wanstead Park Station).

The full cost of the course is £60 for those in employment but there are concessions for the retired and those on benefits, with evidence (see page 2 of the Newham Adult Learning Lifelong Learning 2014-2015 brochure). In order to qualify you need to enrol at Forest Gate Learning Zone as soon as possible – last chance to do so is Wednesday 17 December and Thursday 18 December (10am-7pm) and Friday 19 December (10am to 4pm). If there are spaces left, you can enrol in the week beginning 5 January, but we expect a high level of take-up.

Read on for a detailed account of our syllabus. It is designed to be flexible to meet participants needs and interests and to be of value to experienced as well as new gardeners. Hope to see you there!

FGCG ORGANIC GARDENING COURSE // SYLLABUS

The course will cover a range of topics at a basic level allowing course attendees to confidently care for and improve their gardens in a sustainable way. The topics covered will include:

Soil and Compost

• Soil and life on earth
• What is soil – How is it formed – Structure – PH
• What happens in soil – What type of organisms live in soil
• How do we keep soil healthy – What can we do to conserve soil
• Cultivation – Improvement
• What is compost - What is it used for
• How is compost different from soil
• What types of compost are there available and how do they differ
• How and why do we make compost

Water conservation and irrigation and Wind

• Water and the water cycle
• Water in your garden – How much do you get from the rain/Rainwater harvesting
• Water and soil – water retention and drainage
• Irrigation systems
• Water and plants – how does water influence or determine a plants growth
• Wind – How it affects the garden and plant growth/development

Plants

• Plant structure
• Life cycles
• Reproduction and seeds
• Bulbs and Corms
• Photosynthesis and Transpiration
• Families of plants
• Types of plants – Annuals/Biennials/Perennials/ corms/bulbs/rhyzomes
• Plants for different situations
• Flowers and foliage

Plant Nutrition and Fertilisers

• Major Nutrients and Minor Nutrients
• Soil PH and availability of nutrients
• Nutrients there functions and symptoms of deficiency
• Fertilizers the different types and what they are made of

Planting and Propagation

• Flowerpots and seed cell planters
• Seeds
• Vegetative propagation
• Hardwood and Softwood cuttings
• Seed and cutting composts

Pests and Diseases

• Common garden pests and diseases
• Reasons for pests and diseases in the garden
• Action to reduce pest and disease problems
• Soil and plant health
• Companion planting
• Pest and disease control

Trees and Hedging

• Tree types- deciduous and evergreen/ Species
• Hedges – common hedging plants/habitat
• Shape and form
• Trees for the garden – size and spread/foliage and autumn colour
• Fruit trees – standard/espalier/cordon

Tools

• Types of tools –pruning/digging/clearing
• Tool maintenance and care – H+S/sharpening/storage
• Use of tools – pruning techniques/digging techniques
• Lawn Mowers

Mulches and Lawns and seasonal work

• Types of mulches and their use
• Lawns and their care and management
• Jobs in the garden throughout the year

Organic principles

• The reasons behind organic horticulture
• Benefits of organic soil, compost, companion planting
• Organics as a part of the bigger picture

FUTURE COURSES

We also hope to run a course in the summer term if we have enough demand, potentially in the Forest Gate Community Garden. If you are interested in this please email to express your interest, to info@forestgate-comunity-garden.org.uk

LATEST NEWS: We're in the running for the Mayor's High Street Fund and we're on Spacehive - you can support our cause!

Want a green space in the heart of Forest Gate? Help secure vital funds for the Forest Gate Community Garden by supporting our bid for the Mayor's High Street Fund (up to £20,000 per project) and our pitch on fantastic new crowdfunding website Spacehive. 

A green space in the heart of Forest Gate – namely the Forest Gate Community Garden – would give our children a safe and beautiful place to play just seconds from the high street, as well as serving people and groups from across the community including workers, families, the elderly, garden lovers, visitors and those from different cultures. 

Have you heard about the Mayor's High Street Fund? It's a great new initiative that aims to invest over £200 million to improve London's high street, boost local economies, celebrate diversity and protect and create jobs. It also links in with Spacehive, the world's first crowdfunding website for civic projects enabling people to help build a new park, community garden or renovate their high street as easily as buying a book online.

We're also launching a gardening course in partnership with Newham
Adult Learning Service and headed by local organic gardener
Stephen Mason of Greenspace Management

To apply for funding – up to £20,000 per project – charity, business improvement and community organisations across London have been invited to submit ideas for making London's high streets even better places to visit, live in and do business. The aim is to give our high streets a sustainable future and celebrate the crucial role that they play in our daily lives and to encourage communities to be their custodians.

So what better fit then the Forest Gate Community Garden? A team of committed local residents have been working together for almost two years now to create a green space in the heart of Forest Gate. The location of the garden is at 136 Earlham Grove, a stone's throw from Woodgrange Road, Forest Gate's high street (just opposite the Royal Mail sorting office) and the main railway station opposite Woodgrange Market.

It will turn derelict and overgrown land into a beautiful wildlife garden made by and serving people from all aspects of the community – families, workers, the elderly, visitors, those who wish to just have some quiet time away from the hustle and the bustle of main roads, people from different community groups and cultures. It will provide a hub for community events and gatherings – we're open to all ideas and have a burgeoning list already! Plus it truly is a project that everyone can get involved in, whether that's by helping to plan the garden or raise awareness about it, or by quite literally getting stuck in with a fork and spade. The birds, bees and other wildlife will love it too.

The site will turn derelict land into a beautiful wildlife garden –
an amazing green space at the heart of Forest Gate

Right now we need you to help raise awareness about our bid for the Mayor's High Street Fund and generate even more support. Start by checking out our page on the accompanying site Spacehive: Green Space in the Heart of Forest Gate. Click through the options on our page and you'll see exactly what we propose to do, and what monies we need to get the garden up and running and make it sustainable. It's a dual purpose bid in that it sets out our stall for the Mayor's High Street Fund but also provides a platform for crowdfunding crucial funds ourselves – something we're also committed to doing to the tune of £5,000 for starters!

There's a range of social media buttons on our Spacehive page that make it really easy to share with family, friends, colleagues or organisations and businesses that you think might be interested in supporting us too. Or write a glowing report about us yourselves on your blog or in the media! We need as much support as we can get to make our green space a dream come true for everyone. Also check out the Forest Gate Community Garden Facebook and Twitter pages to leave your comments.

If you're not a Member of the Forest Gate Community Garden already you can also join for just £2 lifetime Membership, which keeps you in the loop about what's going on with updates and newsletters. We always want to hear your ideas too. See our Become a Member page on the website.

Fingers crossed we'll see you in the garden soon – a sure way to make our high street a better, brighter more beautiful place.


MORE INFORMATION / NOTES TO EDITORS:

Forest Gate Community Garden

Web: www.forestgate-community-garden.org.uk
Blog: www.136earlhamgrove.blogspot.co.uk
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Forest-Gate-Community-Garden
Twitter: www.twitter.com/FGCommGarden
Email: info@forestgate-community-garden.org.uk
Spacehive: www.spacehive.com/greenspaceintheheartofforestgate

Mayor's High Street Fund

Greater London Authority www.london.gov.uk/priorities/regeneration/high-streets/funding-programmes/high-street-fund
Spacehive: www.spacehive.com/initiatives/mayoroflondon