ECCG is featured on a radio programme

 

The ECCG is on Cambridge 105 radio, learn about our permaculture and hear from Rachel and the volunteers.

You can find the interview 42 minutes in - enjoy!

We need more volunteers, listen in and get in touch.

July fun at ECCG

This summer has been challenging, we had a lot of rain so there hasn't been an urgent need for a watering rota as in previous years. In between showers we enjoyed the garden and the meeting hut, which is popular with many groups. A calendar is on the right side of this page.

On Sunday 7 July we hosted the Transition Annual Picnic. It rained just before it but we were then able to enjoy some delicious food and good conversations. The earlier downpour did have an effect on attendance, we had a bigger number of people in previous years. Thank you Anna for the photos!

Following the picnic, a dance group used the garden. They were also lucky with the weather. We are sharing this picture with permission of the people photographed.

Volunteers from AstraZeneca visit ECCG agin

An energetic and enthusiastic group of volunteers from AstraZeneca came back again on a beautiful spring day to spruce up our community garden.

They worked some magic on our seating area by putting planks on logs so they are more comfortable for guests to take a rest and admire the garden. 

They also did some paving work, helped with weeding, sowing and planting seedlings. Thank you for chosing ECCG for your volunteering day!

Charles Dowding visits ECCG

 

On Monday 11 March, ECCG welcomed Charles Dowding, the No-Dig veg-growing expert and writer. Charlotte, volunteers, members of Transition Cambridge and our ally at the council, Public Realm Project Officer Declan, met Charles and shared tea and cake in our beautiful new hut. If you click on Charles's name, you can visit his website, which offers many useful videos. 

Charlotte showed him around and we all gained a few tips from him while sharing our love of growing with tea and cake. Declan wrote to thank Charlotte and the volunteers and quoted Margaret Mead's well known saying: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it's the only thing that ever has." 

He added, recalling the early days of ECCG: "Seeing the wonderful group behind Empty Common Community Garden today was a heartwarming experience. Now with the wisdom of hindsight the empowerment of having a brilliant team (in key roles) to conceive and grow this project all those years ago, and also having important support from key figures (I could name a really important one – who stuck their neck out at the time), enabled a vision I, for one (and maybe you) could never have likely expected. If you said back then, a famous gardening TV personality would visit the unshapen boggy mess; that Andy and Rob negotiated in an unorthodox fashion – actually getting swamped in the mud at one point and having to be lifted out (!) – then I would have said you were probably barking…. But then again, we were all probably free-spirited enough, community minded and selfless to know the journey would be worth it."

We are getting ready for spring now and sowing seeds, but the soil being so wet is only just warming up and showing a few seedlings. Next week it will be time to start hoeing in earnest. Come and join us, the daffs are out and it is looking lovely. We are there every Sunday morning from 10.30 am unless it's pouring with rain!

Counting down the days to spring

    

It is early March, but it's still cold and rainy at times. Today is a lovely sunny day and there are bulbs and crocuses among the grass, days are longer and birds are more active. In February we did an RSPB bird count but our volunteers only spotted two wood pigeons. It would be very different now.

John and Charlotte found an old pot-bellied stove and in this photo it is being tested before fitting.

Now it is fitted; the hut is cozy on cold days and we can boil up our tea on it. We will put some pretty tiles behind it and an outer chimney to protect our whiteboard, but it is really very close to being completely done.

Next job is to fit a gas ring properly. We have applied for a grant, so fingers crossed.

We planted six mashua last spring, a herbaceous perennial climber related to the nasturtium. Below you can see about two thirds of the harvest.They are a great groundcover too. They taste peppery when raw, but are much milder when cooked.Charlotte likes them best when roasted.

Is spring coming soon?

 

On Saturday 3 February, our blogger Simone led a walk to the Empty Common Garden with members of the University of the Third Age Cambridge. The garden looks very tidy thanks to the efforts of our volunteers. The polytunnel is in order, awaiting to kickstart the growth cycle as soon as the weather permits.

We are having a few warmer days and there are early blossoms on trees and snowdrops here and there.

Our Heads, Hearts and Hands meeting hut has been busy in 2023 with various groups using it for workshops and get-togethers.

Contact Charlotte for bookings - csynge@googlemail.com - tel. 07752 143683.

A writing workshop in the meeting hut

Festive greeting and a new crowfunding campaign

 

We have not seen any snow this winter, so here is a photo from the archive (winter 2017). 

Our meeting hut is getting booked for all sort of events and we would like to be able to offer it all year round to local groups. 

We want to add a wood stove and a gas burner for hot drinks so we can run meetings and workshops all year round. This hut is for meetings, events, tea and an environmental hub for groups working towards a sustainable future.

Below is the link, if you want to contribute to this worthy cause.

Crowdfunding to Fit a wood stove and gas burner in our HEADS, HEARTS AND HANDS HUT so it can be used all year round. on JustGiving