Welcome to the Blog for the Highbury Grange, Peckett and Taverner Square Community gardening activities.

These are voluntary activities aimed at making the place where we live more pleasant, our environment more friendly to wildlife, to help knit us together as individuals into a community of friends, to foster a sense of belonging, to learn about nature, and to enjoy ourselves!

It all started when Graham went to interview Naomi Schillinger and Nicolette Jones about their Blackstock Triangle community gardening project which has bloomed (sorry for the pun) since they got it off the ground (again sorry). It has features on TV and radio, been part of the Chelsea Festival Fringe, knitted neighbours together, helped them learn about plants - and become connoisseurs of cakes via the Cake Sunday activities (don't tell Weightwatchers!).

Graham liked it so much he began to join in, at first baking cakes for Cake Sundays (where seeds are given out along with advice, over stickies and tea), then helping distributing compost (which was huge fun, there was so much laughter it's a surprise any compost was delivered).

Graham greatly admires what Naomi, Nicolette and the others in the Blackstock Triangle scheme have achieved and decided to transplant it (can these puns get any worse) on a much more modest scale.

The Highbury Grange activity started in 2012 with plants around some of the tree pits. Then in 2013 Graham asked if he could plant up a patch of waste ground beside one of the entrance roads to the Taverner and Peckett estates. The answer was yes, and plants were duly added. We have now reached an exciting stage, with raised flower beds being added to what was the waste patch (the soil not being very deep in places). Grateful thanks should be offered to the local Tennant Management Association (TMA) for funding the raised flower beds - and especially to Helen  and Gail of the TMA for all her help.

Now we have a modest scheme going. Teresa does a sterling job with watering in dry weather, various people have donated teapots which we've planted up, Bridy gives advice and donates cuttings, Mrs Ahmed is revamping her lawn,  Helen and Graham dig and plant, and the whole operation is closely supervised by John's dog, Flynn...

We're a happy and friendly group - do come and join us!