Harringay Open Gardens day on Sunday 1st July

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Deborah Phillips on May 30, 2012 at 15:51

I would love to visit all the gardens and also would be happy for anyone to have a look at mine in Effingham Road, decking, ponds and various old bits of metal and lots of other strange bits. 

Deborah

 

Permalink Reply by Alison P on May 31, 2012 at 13:47

Thanks everyone. I'll leave this post open for another few weeks (mid June say) and then I'll draw up a plan that means people hopefully won't have to sprint all over the borough if they want to visit all the gardens!

Do please add details of your garden if you'd like it to be on the list - but just to repeat that you can visit the gardens without your own garden being on the list (if that makes sense!). 

Permalink Reply by Kamila on May 31, 2012 at 13:56

Hi Alison,

I think we need to know who is planning to visit rather than people dropping round without an invitation so to speak - this is for insurance purposes.  It's OK to have a few friends round but I think it becomes difficult if you just throw open a pubic invitation to a private house. It doesn't matter if people don't have their own gardens but as long as this doesn't constitute an 'open garden' event, in which case we would have to fully insured.  Sorry to raise elf and safety but I don't want to be at risk.  So I think at least you will need to draw up a list of people who plan to come (it doesn't matter if those on the list don't come, but it does if people come who aren't on the list I think).  I know this because I the yellow book scheme covers your insurance, but people doing a local scheme have to take out their own.

Permalink Reply by Alison P on June 6, 2012 at 13:55

Hi Kamila

Sorry not to have replied earlier. I've looked into this a bit in the meantime and I can see your point. There is a site here that has a discussion about it which is rather scary! From this it seems the most straightforward way around it is indeed to know who is coming in advance. So I suggest that when I confirm the list of gardens I also ask people to say if they intend to visit any of them (obviously not committing them to coming on the day). I'll then draw up a list and circulate among those of us whose gardens are open.

How does that sound?

Permalink Reply by Kamila on June 6, 2012 at 21:27

Sounds good to me.  Really it is a bit silly isn't it that one has to go such lengths.  Thanks for your hard work in coordinating this.  I fear the best of my garden will be over - I have a superbly unruly Rambling Rector rose at the moment!

Kamila

Permalink Reply by Anna T on June 11, 2012 at 20:02

Thanks Alison

I am also in Seymour Rd and have a south facing, small, secluded garden which looks at it's best right now (oriental poppies, white calla lilies, peonies, purple irises, clematis, roses, elephant ears, very robust grape vine shrub, some other shrubs I cannot name and small loan in the middle.  I also try to grow some strawberries and a few tomatoes.  It would probably look quite bare on the 1st but if anyone wants to have a look they are welcome.  

My main purpose to join this group is to really find an inspiration on how to transform my tiny garden so would be happy to see as many gardens as I can to get some ideas.

I am available, either to receive visitors or view other gardens on the 1st from, say, 9.30 am - till about 12.30, and then again after 4pm.

Look forward to this. All the best

Anna

Permalink Reply by Jeanette Sitton on June 12, 2012 at 9:33

Hi all - yes, I'm still very happy for people to visit my small wildlife garden on 1st. Should I post the address here, or shall I give you on phone, Alison? Please note: sadly I may not be able to visit any others on the day, You see, I don't have a car and waiting around at bus stops, etc plays havoc with my osteoporosis. Alison, please confirm you've got this message. Many thanks, Jeanette

Permalink Reply by Alison P on June 12, 2012 at 9:40

Thanks Jeanette. I'd be happy to give you a lift to a few of them if that would be helpful?

Good point about addresses - I will message each of you privately about that.

Permalink Reply by Alison P on June 12, 2012 at 9:34

Great, thanks everyone. Room for just a couple more - would be great to have some at the south end of the ladder or in the gardens ..

Permalink Reply by Alison P on June 12, 2012 at 9:35

Assuming this rain ever stops of course ...

Permalink Reply by Kamila on June 16, 2012 at 17:36

It wont rain on July 1st!  As I am last I will have tea and cake at the ready so people can relax in the sun!!

Permalink Reply by Alison P on June 16, 2012 at 15:35

Thanks everyone who has agreed to take part in this. I'm suggesting the following order - it takes account of any time preferences you had, and tries where possible to group gardens geographically. I'm suggesting overlapping one hour slots so that if people want to visit a few they don't have to hang around. Please can you shout now if the time slot doesn't work.

In terms of next steps, I've created an open gardens event for July 1st (here) and asked people to indicate if they want to attend. I'll then send anyone who does our full addresses, and let you have a list of names. Of course not everyone will visit every garden!

1. Seymour Rd. 10-11. North facing Harringay ladder garden with some paving and a bit of decking around the house. I've recently dug up the lawn to fit in a few more plants! I don't really do fruit and veg. Plants include roses, lots of ferns, a rowan tree, cornus, witchhazel, euphorbia, dahlias, japanese anenomies, daphne etc
2. Seymour Rd.  10.30-11.30. South facing, small, secluded garden which looks at it's best right now (oriental poppies, white calla lilies, peonies, purple irises, clematis, roses, elephant ears, very robust grape vine shrub, some other shrubs I cannot name and small loan in the middle.  I also try to grow some strawberries and a few tomatoes.  It would probably look quite bare on the 1st but if anyone wants to have a look they are welcome.
3. Rutland Gardens. 11-12. My garden is south-facing in Rutland Gardens. I like to add more into it each year - just had a great day filling it up with some more vegetables. I like to plant edible plants (although not all are), mainly lots of fruit, herbs and veg. We have 5 apples and 4 pears trees and loads of currants bushes - have just found space for new french pink-currants, so am looking forwards to see and taste them. Tayberry is fab this year after being nothing for two years, blackberries are flowering well. We also have a roof-top alpine garden on top of our shed.
4. Beresford Rd. 11.30-12.30. I have a south facing ladder garden except that having two very tall Lime trees at the bottom means only half the garden is in sun.  I have no lawn just beds and a couple of seating areas and paths made of gravel and paving.  I try and keep it under control but my garden has a mind of its own so its very informal with mixed areas for flowers fruit and veg and a bit of a woodland feel down the end.  I try and garden organically and encourage wildlife.  My little pond even has a few newts!  My prize and joy Includes a 12ft Banana tree which I love to bits.
5. Effingham Rd. 12-1.00. Decking, ponds and various old bits of metal and lots of other strange bits!
6. Wightman Rd. 12.30-1.30. Large garden backing on to the new river. The garden has a large 70 year old pear tree, a 35 year old walnut, three 25 year old apple trees, a plum tree, an ornamental crab apple and three dwarf fruit trees.  There is a grape vine which probably dates from 1962.  Continuing with the fruit there are four gooseberry bushes, three blackcurrants, a 15 foot row of raspberry canes and two thornless blackberries. There is some shrubbery with an ornamental Japonica, a Hebe, lilacs, a dogwood, Hypericum and a newly planted variety of broom.  There is also an ornamental cherry and a sizeable weeping willow and, mostly along the river path fence, several climbers, roses and Vyburnums.  The ground under the trees is mostly mown grass.  There are, at two different levels, clear areas of mown grass large enough for games such as badminton and archery.  There is a garden shed, built for goats and later converted to a play house and there is a swing suspended from the pear tree. About 10% of the garden is cultivated soil and this is used for vegetables, especially potatoes, climbing beans, courgettes and beetroot. There are also some slightly raised beds near the house giving about 300 sq feet of space for growing herbs, salad, chard, rhubarb, broad beans and strawberries.  Various other plants are scattered about such as horse radish, globe and Jerusalem artichokes and angelica.
7. Sirdar Road (just off Westbury Avenue). 2.30-3.30. We would like to join in and open our west facing garden on Sirdar Road. It is a small garden behind the house about 5 x 15 meters, which we have unusually shaped around a tiny bit of lawn with front and back patios and a winding brick-paved path, combining fruit trees (cherry, apple and fig), grapes, blueberries, red currants, with flowering trees (evergreen magnolia, ornamental cherry) and perennial flowering shrubs (roses, choisa, celmatis, Mexican orange, many types of jasmine and others), bamboo and a tiny pond, and rhubarb, strawberries and a range of kitchen herbs variously grown in the ground and in pots. We have begun a small annex on the roof of the old one story kitchen extension growing tomoatoes, mangetout, red beets and beans in pots.
8. Erskine Cres, N17. 3-4. I've sown a selection of wildflower seeds and they're coming along very nicely now.  In addition to the wildflower area, there's a small herb section and also a small pond, which I've also recently installed. It measures about 4ft x 2ft, with a mixture of surface and marginal plants, including a water lily, mace and, of course, oxygenators. Dense ivy is on two sides of the garden, where nesting birds have been seen for at least five consecutive years and, at the back, several varieties of moss have been introduced in the darker corners, along with lichen-laden branches and ferns, to add a woodland feel.  Apart from looking nice, this dead wood is home to many varieties of mini-beasts -- that's great for birds and invertebrates too! The whole garden is a postage stamp! It's only 15ft x 15ft, and is a prime example of what can be achieved within even the tiniest of spaces. It's been designed solely with wildlife in mind.  The few cultivar plants there are, are slowly being phased out.
9. Stapleton Hall Rd N4. 5-6 . I have a 100 foot long by 30 foot wide south-facing garden on Stapleton Hall Road, more or less opposite St Aidan's Primary School.  It has a patio leading out from the French doors - or at least it did have until I dug most of it up for some raised beds for veg.  It doesn't have a lawn at all,but two wide borders separated by a railway sleeper path (appropriately running down almost to the Gospel Oak to Barking railway!  It has a large pond in need of attention and a greenhouse at the bottom.  Lots of trees, shrubs and perennials plonked any old how - and weeds (but they seem to be OK as some of the Chelsea show gardens had carefully planned weeds this year!).

 

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