The Community Vegetable Garden

The community vegetable garden was established in 2016 by the then Environment Representative, Laila Atalla, with the help of Edible Campus and Transition. The small courtyard, which abuts the rear of 5 South Street, had previously been overgrown and out of use. The wood for the raised beds was very kindly provided by a local farmer, and the eagle-eyed will notice the holes bored in the wood, which come from horntail wasps.

In 2017, the garden was already producing sufficient food, but for many things, such as artichokes and Swiss chard, residents were unsure how to utilise them. To help encourage residents to use the garden produce, the then Environment Representative, Josephine Tomkins, created a community recipe book with the help of the residence manager, Lisa Hegg. This was left in the common room for people to access and add to, and paired with fortnightly updates of what was ready for harvesting and potential uses for the produce, aimed to ensure nothing went to waste.

In 2018, a number of additions were made to the garden. A second compost bin was added, and a strawberry patch with a woven wicker fence was added on the left side of the garden, which in 2017 had been a wildflower patch for bees. One of the moveable beds down the right side of the garden is given over to very successful strawberries, and runners from these were planted and cut to use in the patch. In addition to this, later in 2018, more strawberries were planted in hanging pots, hung from the fence down the right of the garden, and the old barbecue from the main garden was transformed into a planter. 

From the garden's inception in 2016 until 2018, donated straw was used to help keep weeds down between the beds. In 2019, Transition was given a great deal of wood chip, and some of this was used as a more permanent method to keep the weeds at bay.

After three years of successive Environment Reps and with dedicated help from the Transition team, as of 2019 the garden was finally truly well established, strongly producing fruit and vegetables for residents.

The 2019-2020 Environment Rep, Sadbh Kellett, has continued to forge boldly forwards, spearheading the installation of a wildlife camera and a themed garden exhibition amongst other things, all of which have resulted in winning the Transitions Award for Semester 1.