Camden had about 10,000 bulbs sitting waiting to be planted in St Andrew’s Gardens. FoSAG first asked who would like to help on the weekend of 27th/28th November and to either contact FoSAG or turn up.
Result: We have had 2 very productive weekends in a row where at least 9,000 bulbs have been planted. We have had wonderful help from our friends at Russell Square Gardens and St George’s Gardens. The Calthorpe Project Gardens have also been incredibly supportive in supplying extra equipment when we needed it. Thank you to all who helped! We did it solely through community effort!
We need to rake leaves at some stage soon. Bulbs need to feel the sun and light to push their way through.
We still have areas very neglected in SAG, which despite pleas for attention, have remained so far too long: esp: West wall, North West corner and the ‘wild flower’ meadow. There is also a broken tomb in the middle of the gardens that has been crudely cordoned-off for years (between 5-10 years according to local residents) Re the East wall: we can thank local residents and UCL students for the work clearing it! We again have a view of the tombstones (including an infant tomb) hidden there!
TCV – ‘The Conservation Volunteers’, (not to be confused with ‘The Corporate Volunteers’) used by Camden in the past to maintain some semblance of order in the gardens, are hardly in swing at the moment and turn up but twice a year even if things are going well. FoSAG, having spoken with them when they turned up for a day in September, came to the agreement of ‘use your common sense’.
On a note, to bring a smile to your face, we have cheeky fat squirrels in SAG who love to dig up the bulbs planted. Hopefully they can’t dig up thousands of them!