SNAPSHOT: Member Meeting Site Visit on 27 September 2014

For those who didn't manage to make the Member Meeting or site visit on 27 September 2014 we've got a host of new images from the day, by Lloyd Jeans and Sonya Patel Ellis, below and on our website Gallery page. Those who did come along, can you spot yourself among the wild jungle of buddleia and Russian vine?

For more images, read more and scroll down, or see our website Gallery page >

LATEST EVENTS: Forest Gate Community Garden Fun Palace, Saturday 4 October

Roll up, roll up for the Forest Gate Community Garden Fun Palace on Saturday 4 October between 11am and 3pm at Woodgrange Market Place, Forest Gate, E7. Featuring...

Local artist Leah Lovett's VENT: a pop-up parliament

and

The Amazing Dr Fothergill – a garden project

We'll also be recruiting new Members so bring your £2 for a bargain lifetime Membership – all monies raised go in the Forest Gate Community Garden pot.

Hope to see you there!

LATEST NEWS: Results of the design workshop on 20 August 2014

The Member Meeting on Saturday 27 September at Kaye Rowe Nursery School gave us the ideal opportunity to report back on our design workshop, held on 20 August at the Forest Gate Community Garden site, 136 Earlham Grove, London E7

For those who missed the meeting, we've put the presentation, as produced and presented by jane McCarthy and Lisa Eller of our Design and Planning Team, on our website at www.forestgate-community-garden.org.uk. See our Planning and Design page.

You can also view it below. Read, enjoy and let us know your thoughts at info@forestgate-community-garden.org.uk or via Twitter or Facebook.

LATEST NEWS: Member Meeting on Saturday 27 September a great success

The Member meeting on Saturday 27 September, at Kaye Rowe Nursery School – followed by a site visit for attendees, especially those interested in construction – was a great success. We launched our new website, presented initial plans for the garden design, and made a grand total of £111.38. A fantastic sum for the Forest Gate Community Garden fund

The Forest Gate Community Garden's youngest fans have great fun investigating the wildlife at our site visit on Saturday 27 September and posing against the blue hoardings that currently mark out the 'front door' at 136 Earlham Grove

LATEST NEWS: A design is taking shape

Dying to know what the final garden design might look like? Lisa Eller, from the Forest Gate Community Garden Planning and Design Team, explains what's happening so far, following a fantastic Member planning visit to the site in August...

The Forest Gate Community Garden (FGCG) Steering Group held a meeting of the planning group on 20 August 2014. The numbers were good and attendees ranged in age, ability, skill sets and background. Fellow FGCG Planing and Design Team Member Jane McCarthy, who chaired the meeting, went through the aims of the garden and presented a site plan and three possible designs as a starting point for discussion. See images below.

FEATURE: The Herbarium Project at the FGCG // Into the Press

A sec on post by Sonya Patel Ellis from The Herbarium Project offers a chance to see flowers from the Forest Gate Community Garden going into the press. Flower and plant specimens include rose, buddleia, Russian vine, bramble, ivy, birch leaf and thistle. Looking forward to seeing how they press and starting the official Forest Gate Community Garden Herbarium – a great way to share news on the existing and developing wildlife in our garden.

For more details on The Herbarium Project visit www.theherbariumproject.com or see Ellis' blog At L'Herbier. You can also follow and view updates on Twitter @sonyapatelellis and on a dedicated Facebook page at www.facebook.com/theherbariumproject

FEATURE: The Herbarium Project at the FGCG // On the concrete

Sonya Patel Ellis of The Herbarium Project visited the site on 12 September to do her first pressing of plants and flowers already in the garden. A great way to report back on what's already growing there. Here's her first report...

A gorgeous sunny afternoon, pressing the wildness that is the Forest Gate Community Garden at 136 Earlham Grove, Forest Gate, London E7. The buddleia jungle has grown even higher since we were last there on the 9 July 2014.

Searching round for specimens for a new Herbarium Project herbarium collection, we stumbled across the most beautiful lilac-coloured, heavily-scented rose, a birch tree sapling, and a hellebores-type plant that looked as though it could have been cultivated in a former garden on the plot. Looking forward to finding out what it is – one of the best bits about creating a herbarium.

Also loved laying the specimens out on a concrete foundation, where an old Victorian villa once stood. Standing in this spot, in the middle of the plot, you really do get a sense of how the space was once a habitable house with a garden at front and back. There's definitely something magical about this location, it's historic past, wild present, and the sense of what it might become in the future.

Watch this space for further developments in the Forest Gate Community Garden Herbarium.

For more details on The Herbarium Project visit www.theherbariumproject.com or see Ellis' blog At L'Herbier. You can also follow and view updates on Twitter @sonyapatelellis and on a dedicated Facebook page at www.facebook.com/theherbariumproject