Planning a meeting hut and another rude veg!

Members of the Empty Common Garden met with representatives of the University of Cambridge's Architecture Department to set up a competition to design a meeting hut. Thirty-seven first-year students took part. 

We discussed the right location for solar panels - possibly best on our black shed as it's vandal proof - and generally agreed that we need to keep costs down as much as possible. Among the things we considered is if we need a proper floor or if we can just put a layer of weed-suppressing mat; disabled access; a green roof; a service hatch for when we have events running in the garden; a porch or covered seating area and - last but not least - how easy it would be to build the hut. We also talked about having a small wood burner and low-power led lighting.

The students were given three weeks and last week we chose our six favourite designs.The meeting hut will allow us to gather, share skills and hold informal learning sessions. As we have run arts projects in the past, it would also be good to have some exhibition space on the walls, as well as a whiteboard and a small screen for projections. We would like to be able to accommodate seating for 20 people. Building materials should be sustainable, including timber, rammed earth, hempcrete, wattle and daub, straw bale, cob, glass bottles, cordwood.... We'll keep you updated on the project, so watch this space. 

On the growing front, we have been mulching the garden and done some serious weeding. Our main problem is no longer horsetail but comfrey - any little bits of root are making new plants and they are really difficult to shift. 

We are also going to manure the beds outside and inside the polytunnel. The days are getting longer and we have been harvesting cabbages and parsnips. We also planted a dwarf crab apple tree. Here is a photo of another rude veg... we are building a collection of these.